Fresh water fish for my turtles

[firedragon]

I'm having trouble finding frozen fresh water fish for my turtles, they have live feeder fish (among other things to eat), but the pet shops around here (redcliffe) only have the frozen dinners, frozen and live blood worms and other frozen stuff not really suitable from what i've been told (it's all in brine(sp)).. Is peices of fresh water fish from a fish market or supermarket ok to use????

 

[Tsubakai]

I buy the feeder fish, euthanize them then feed them to the turts. You can also get Black shell shrimp and Krill from the frozen section but its harder to come by. Defrost it in water, rinse it a couple more times then its fine to use. My turts love the krill (its a moderate sized prawn but easy enough for our two year olds to get down). Black shell shrimp is smaller so fine for younger/smaller turts.

 

[bitey]

I buy the feeder fish, euthanize them then feed them to the turts.

How do you euthanize feeder fish ?

 

[Tsubakai]

Several options - either straight into iced slurry water between 0 and 2 degrees (pretty quick death) or the severe sudden brain trauma method (also very quick if you use enough force)

 

[abbott75]

How do you euthanize feeder fish ?

I usually prefer the "turtle jaw method"...

 

[Eastern Snake Neck]

Hi Firedragon,

Yes, freshwater fish from the fish market or supermarket is fine.
Buy a couple of kilograms, chop it up into turtle bite sized pieces, put it into a plastic bag, add your calcium and D3 powder, shake it until the powder covers the fish, flatten the bag and put it in the freezer. Then, when you need to defrost a turtle meal, just snap off the amount of food you need.

Whenever possible, substitute the frozen freshwater fish for fresh (i.e. never been frozen) freshwater fish. When fish is frozen, it loses the thiamine. Like us, turtles need a source of thiamine in their diet. So, unless you are supplementing it in some other way, your turtles could be missing out.

Just one of the many reasons why I advocate a 'natural' diet for turtles.

Regards,
Michael.

 

[Eastern Snake Neck]

Hi Tsubakai,

The feeder fish are very good (assuming they are freshwater fish).

The black shell shrimp and krill are not good. Even though you rinse them, they still contain salt. Australian Freshwater turtles cannot process salt (with one exception). So, whilst your turtles appear to love krill, every time you feed it to them you are damaging their kidneys.

It is a bit like feeding garlic or chocolate to a dog. Sure, the dog loves it. But would you do that to a dog?

Regards,
Michael.

 

[-Peter]

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/AustralianFreshwaterTurtlesandFrogs/

 

[Tsubakai]

Freshwater snails are good and they help keep the tank clean before they are eaten too.

ELN - I thought (could be wrong though) the the Black shell shrimp were freshwater. I also thought that, even though things like krill were from saltwater environments, the intracellular sodium concentration was the same as for freshwater animals. Its quite hard to get the information on this sort of stuff though so, again, I may be wrong.

 

[BJC-787]

in the pet shop in the frozen stuff do they have the turtle dinner.
the pet shop i work at has it and it is very popular and one person that breeds lots of them uses it and recommends it, if they don't have they should be able to get it in as it normally comes from the same place as the other frozen fish food.

 

[firedragon]

Thanks Easten Snake Neck its getting added to the next shopping list...
Yes CASHO B they do have turtle dinner but feeding only turtle dinner is not good for them they need other things as well, thats why i asked about fresh water fish from the market, i also feed mine feeder fish and plenty of plants. As a treat they get moths, crickets, woodies, blood worms, earth worms, and have had silkworms. I tried banana cucumber and a few other thing i've read but they try it once and then don't seem interested the second time..

 

[Eastern Snake Neck]

Hi Tsubakai,

I'm not sure about the origins of the Black Shell Shrimp. Without a species name, it is hard to know from a generic common name alone. I agree that it is difficult to get accurate information.

My philosophy is that if it lives in freshwater, there is a reasonable chance that it is part of a freshwater turtle's diet. Tree dwellers, sea creatures and farm animals are unlikely to also live in freshwater, so I avoid feeding them to my turtles.

Regards,
Michael.

 

[k_sheep]

Does anyone else quarantine the feeder fish they buy from the pet store before putting in the turtle tank? Or am I being overly paranoid?