Fish Id

found this little guy in with the feeder fish i got today and was wondering what type of cichlid it is?

Looks like a Elassoma spp. (pygmy sunfish), which exact species depends on where in the US you are, to find out google which ones live in your state and compare pictures.

Don't know if you've read this yet, but feeder-fish are a very unhealthy and risky food to give to your fish - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/148384-feeder-fish-mini-faq-the-pros-and-cons/ .

It's not for my fish it was for my turtle and it looked like a cichilid at first so I kinda put it aside and was trying to figure out what it was

HannahBear77 said:

It's not for my fish it was for my turtle and it looked like a cichilid at first so I kinda put it aside and was trying to figure out what it was

Click to expand...

Either way, not healthy for your turtle either...all the info in that thread applies to turtles too, feeder fish are a terrible and irresponsible idea (not saying that your irresponsible, as you didn't know any of this til now).

Plus, most turtles are mainly herbivorous when adult - what species are you keeping?

The fish is not a cichlid, it's in the genus I mentioned.... It's a coldwater US native fish.

Well thanks for the advice now Ik what it is lol
It's a red ear slider I think, we actually rescued him from my brothers fiancé sister when she found him at the beach and decided to bring home which I think she should have left him there cus he was put in a fish bowl with barely any water and barely... He eats. Both fish and plants we have had since he was a little baby

How old is he now? I hope he's not still in a bowl - red ears get huge! We're talking a shell diameter of over a foot, and they grow very fast when healthy! They also live for a very long time (30 years+), and it can take years for them to show health problems when kept incorrectly - by which time it's too late to do anything to save them.

I know this from dealing with many abused red-eared sliders - so many people have no clue how to look after a turtle and pet stores are usually useless for information - most just want to sell things.

Stop feeding him fish - and get him on a diet of 1/2 turtle pellets (from a pet store, these contain the necessary vitamins and proteins) and 1/2 fresh greens - not iceberg lettuce, spinach, curly kale - anything that's suitable for tortoises should be suitable for turtles, you will need to check on google before feeding.

Turtles are very specialised animals to keep and require very large aquariums, with very large filters and expensive UVB light fitting and heat bulbs. If you cannot commit to owning and maintaining a massive aquarium (I would recommend a minimum of 2 foot wide and 4 foot long) with specialist reptile lighting and over-sized filtration - then return the animal to the wild where it belongs .

This page is a good read: http/www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/res.html .

idk how old he is now we have had him since a no bigger than a half dollar coin

thanks you helped out a lot and i will deffiantly will stop feeding him the fish, i will end up releasing him back into the wild because we cant afford it any more and i dont have the space, which will be sad when i do cus me and him are best friends but o well its for the best and he will be much happier being free