im thinking of giving my res a new look (yeah the rocks suck to clean) but im wondering will my res eat koi? i was thinkin of putting a couple of koi in with shelly and the pleco your thoughts? yes the fish are bigger than her

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I'm not sure, if they are bigger than her she might still nip and them and sample her tailfin and what not. I probably wouldn't do it for that reason.

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I wouldn't recommend it either, for various reasons. For one, turtle water gets dirty enough as it is. Adding fish to the water only increases the amount of waste entering the water, and koi are carp, which add even more nasty waste than most other fish. In a lake the presence of fish is negligible, but in a small turtle pond, their constant presence will be more of a nuisance to the turtle than anything else. Also keep in mind that koi may start small, but they get big. Red-eared sliders get big fast too though, and you may find some nipped tails on your koi. Basically what I'm saying is there are several downsides and no advantages to adding fish to your slider's habitat. I would advise against it.

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I am with them. Don't add fish!

Thanks guys maybe ill get shelly another turtle friend instead

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0.0.1 Iguana Pickle
0-1-0 Bearded Dragon Honey
1-1-0 Red Tail Boa Libby&Dogma
1-0-0 Cat Rajha
0-0-1 Charcoal Corn Snake Strider
1-1-0 Chinese Water Dragons Isis & Osiris
1-1-0 Cockitiles Hawk&Ashley
1-0-0 Tangerine Leopard Gecko 9erz
0-1-0 Leopard gecko Jets
1-0-0 Mali Uromastyx Uri
0-0-2 Betas Holly & Go (kids fish)
0-0-1 Red Eared Slider Shelly
R.I.P hamster hamtaro
R.I.P Wolf Lab Cross Kenya

I know this is an old thread, but you could put fake KOI in there, if you just want the look. Pond supply stores have good looking "models" that at first glance don't look fake (particularly under water), but they don't move either (read: don't pester your RES), don't poop, don't have to eat, don't have to be "wintered", and still add color to your pond.

It's an idea anyway.

Fake koi? I think Lacey has one of those Inspired by the pet rock no doubt What will they come up with next.

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Aren't carp bottom feeders like catfish? To the best of my knowledge, carp will eat anything, including the waste of other animals. I am no expert mind you, but I have gone fishing for carp and they were always a throw back fish because of what they eat. I have no Koi experience at all, but if they are feeding on the wastes of the pleco, RES, and themselves, wouldn't that help to keep the water cleaner? (I am asking more questions in my statement above than I am answering them.)

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Carp (which koi are) will eat almost anything, but keep in mind goldfish are also carp, and you definitely have to clean their tanks. They produce more waste than tropical fish, and if they could live off their own poo then you'd never need to feed them, which isn't the case. Even with the koi eating poo, they're making more of it themselves, and they'd still need their diet supplemented with other foods.

They also produce high levels of ammonia (just because the water's clear doesn't mean it's clean ). In addition to that, koi are a cold-water fish, and plecostomus are tropical. Considering how large both koi and plecos can get, it would take a rather large pond to house them all, especially if they're already larger than an adult red-eared slider.

Carp aren't quite the garbage disposals we make them out to be though. Although they will eat a wide variety of organic matter, they primarily feed on stuff other animals also consider food, mainly bits of plant and animal matter (though they will also eat poo). The US is one of the few countries where carp are found in which they are simply regarded as "trash fish". They're actually farmed for human consumption on a great scale elsewhere in the world.

I sound like a spokesperson for carp or something, lol. But basically adding koi to a turtle pond still offers more downsides than upsides. A large pond with one or few koi woudln't be too bad, but a bunch of them would defeat the purpose if your goal was to keep the water clean. It's too much of an enclosed environment. Snails and crustaceans would probably have less negative impact, but they'd also be eaten by the turtle.

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Thanks for the info matt. The Merrimack River in MA is loaded with carp. They are great to catch as they are like reeling in moving logs, but I too consider them a "garbage" fish. lol I wouldn't knowingly eat one because of how I was brought up and how they have been portrayed.

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