Native Species

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i'm sorry vicious_fish..just wanted to keep bluegill in the tank, and make sure my turtle is safe when he does eat them.
bluegills looks better than rosiereds..

and what did you say that the sonora mud turtle's wild diet was?? sorry to ask again..
 
JEAE21;1126738; said:
i'm sorry vicious_fish..just wanted to keep bluegill in the tank, and make sure my turtle is safe when he does eat them.
bluegills looks better than rosiereds..

and what did you say that the sonora mud turtle's wild diet was?? sorry to ask again..
Click to expand...

It's cool man. If I were you I would feed him Reptamin pellets, freeze-dried shrimp, frozen shrimp, earthworms, aquatic insect larva, some raw fish, crickets, grasshoppers, a few koi or cichlid pellets, shrimp pellets, and a small amount of raw tuna fish. Remember to vary the diet as much as you can.
 
Doing a simple google search will allay any fears and answer any questions you may have. Here is some info from a couple of sites:

Primarily carnivorous, although some aquatic plant material is taken. Feeds mainly on aquatic insects and larvae, and includes fish, frogs, carrion, small mollusks and crustaceans in the diet (http://www.friendsofsaguaro.org/turtle-sonoranmud.html).

Although the Sonoran mud turtle favors invertebrate prey such as crustaceans, insects, and worms, it also eats some fish and frogs. It is also known to scavenge (http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_terrapene.html).

Part of their diet is fish. Blue gill and bass are extremely fast, mud turtles are slow and not great swimmers. I would assume the turtle will eventually get the bluegill, but it may take months, if not years. I've had a musk turtle (much better swimmer than muds) in a tank with 5 bluegills for over 6 months and he will occasionally chase the fish, but has never even bit one, let alone caught one (at least no evidence of any bites on the fish). On a previous, deleted post, it was posted that the spines will kill a turtle. Do not worry about that. Turtles have been eating fish for thousands of years.

The websites above do state that fish is only part of their diet. So I would not feed them fish exclusively. The list from viscious looks good. Like he said, variety is welcomed.
 
hey thanks vicious and mj for the link.

i'll try to vary the diet as much as possible. i gave him strawberrys and i had him on a tuna sashimi diet the first day he came. what kind of aquatic turtles do they eat? and i will be getting some crawdads but should I break their pinsers off first?(what's the best size to feed)

and mjmc, how big is your turtle and the bluegill.

i'l try different sizes and see what would happen.
oh how big is your tank, do the bluegills have alot of space to run?
 
My tank is 65 gallons. My musk turtle is about 1.5" long. My largest blue gill is probably 3" (He was about 2 when I got him). When the turtle starts chasing them, they do have lots of room to avoid him. I wouldn't worry about the crawdads hurting your turtle. Just ensure you get the right size. A 2" crawdad will be a good meal and can't really hurt your turtle.
 
oh thanks man! are the bluegill in there for food or pet purposes?

The ones i'm gonna get are going to be pet purposes until they get eaten or so.. but i am guessing the 7" one will be safe for awhile..

and should I take the pinchers off the 2" or can i leave it like that?
 
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