Feeder Turtles!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Good morning everyone! :D

Apologies for getting everyone so worked up. The turtles on sale are definately on sale as feeders for large fish. I know the manager of the store well and he has 2 asian aros that he feeds them (amongst other things) to.

IMHO they are also farm raised, but I could find out for sure when I go later in the week. The are really cheap and are all almost exactly the same size. I think if they were collected from the wild this wouldn't be the case.

As for the ethics part ... (sigh) ... I think that's all down to personal preference. I believe that humans distance themselves too much from all the killing that goes on for their food. We would happily eat a steak, but don't want to feed turtles/frogs, etc. to our fish?

I'm not saying that I support it and I haven't fed them yet as I'm still not sure what to think about this. But the fact is that they're feeders and WILL end up in some big fish's stomach. I try to give my fish a wide variety of different foods and that's why I was considering feeding them..

I really didn't mean for anyone to get upset and I would appreciate it if everyone would continue the discussion in a respectful way. ;)

Thanks!
 
cichlaguapote;610735; said:
Is being a MFKeeper about what you can feed your fish? Or about the fish you keep themselves?


Keeping cool and monsterous fish has nothing to do with what you can give your fish and have it digest. It has to deal with the size, mass, and attitude of the fish you keep. Furthermore I see no need to expand what people normally feed as "feeders" when beyond that point there are so many non-live foods that are better for the health and welfare of the fish. I'm not sure at which point your fish's life has any more value than an other creature on the earth whether it be a tiny frog, a turtle or a goldfish. People feeding these animals are probably the same that will argue with the kid who has an oscar in a 20gallon.

People with this biased opinion that love their fish but don't care about the welfare of other creatures or not that makes me not want to keep fish sometimes. The frogs and turtles will probably end up as feeders if not for your fish than a human or other animal. But nature is nature and there's a difference between what goes on in this world thats wrong and what goes on thats wrong and you support or think it's ok for some hypocritical reason. And don't use the "it happens in nature" response because you can't replicate nature in a glass box filled with water and artifical lighting.
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i prefer to keep ethics out of fishkeeping entirtly....because if u look at it, everything we do is unethical, putting huge fish in a glass box filled with water, no matter how good they r treated has to be no worse than feeding those fish feeder turtles. ive always been one to support a varried diet, to the extreems at times, if there were feeder rabbits my cats would be getting them, trust me. an animal is an animal, let that animal be an animal, it almost hurts when i see my bichirs and dat stoop to eating pellets. never the less its necessary to give them that form of complete nutrution.

by saying that we are monterfishkeepers i was implying that we go to exremes that the other garden variety fishkeepers woulnt consider, including feeder turtles. i think that the term "monster" also is a descripter of the fish keeper himself as well. fish first, everything else second.

i just opted to purchase a polypterus ansogrii over a car.....and will probably end up making several other life discisions around my fish. everything i do IS fish, fishing, fishleeping, plannign on gettin a nmarine biology degree. u can bet ur ass, fish r first in my life, even before myself. which brings me to my second point. i also said that i ditnt know the effects of the turtles tenedency to carry harful pathogens. so if there is enuff research done that comes to the colclusion that the turtles will have no adverse affects on the fish...(cuz why in hell would u feed nething to your fish that could be potentially harmful:nilly: ) then i see nuthing wrong with it.
 
I really doubt the asian aros are eating RES in the wild.
 
RadleyMiller;611533; said:
I really doubt the asian aros are eating RES in the wild.
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Most fish are opportunistic feeders, so I think they usually wouldn't, but if an asian aro happened across a baby soft-shelled turtle on the wild ... I'm sure it wouldn't pass it up.

What's RES? :confused:
 
JardiniBoy;611603; said:
Most fish are opportunistic feeders, so I think they usually wouldn't, but if an asian aro happened across a baby soft-shelled turtle on the wild ... I'm sure it wouldn't pass it up.

What's RES? :confused:
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Red Ear Slider.
btw RadleyMiller he didnt say it was a baby RES.
 
well in the US, I would say 90% of turtles under 4" are red eared sliders, and where I live they have become invasive and a nuisance to local pond life.
 
Ok ... tell you what. I'm gonna buy some of the turtles (and some feeder frogs) to trade with a friend who has a little pond on his balcony and will give me some floating plants ... don't worry, I won't give them to my fish and there's also no chance of them making it off his balcony and affecting any existing populations.

I'll try and get some pics and any other info about them and post it all up.
 
i am sorry i would not feed turtles .. not to mention the under size turtles are illegal in the us...as far as the monster in me i would not mind seeing one fed
 
midnight;612187; said:
guys dont think this is in the us
Location: Taipei
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i undertsood :) i should have said plus here in the us sorry
 
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