Once upon a time I put a quarter size snapping turtle in an aquarium,
which had some squiffy little scavenger fish and a pleco... in the
year that it took to outgrow the aquarium becoming about a foot long,
it never bothered a single fish.

I dare say it would have scoffed a dead one floating around, it sure
had an aggressive appetite, it seems active perky fish just dont
interest a turtle, being faster and more maneuverable, in water

Snapping turtles are quite shy critters, moving very slow and careful
a lot of the time, the only damage I'd expect from them is if they
found a tasty crate of water lilies to chobble on

You could try spotting where the turtle is, and getting in the habit
of dropping a tasty morsel in a regular place so it becomes docile to
your visits... as you throw a few chicken tid bits in, see if it pays
any attention to the fish that that come along to snatch a snack...
I'll bet the turtle quite often looks pathetic, as fish dash off with
his morsels...

Table scraps of chicken and beef will go a long way to feeding and
taking the edge off the appetite of a rapidly growing turtle, perhaps
a submerged mesh of chicken wire submerged may deter the little fella
from his favorite fresh salad snacks...

While they are at the tiny stage freshwater turtles are fabulous
residents in all but the smallest pond.

Between the snails, tadpoles, worms, crickets that can crowd a pond
they will 'even out' the excesses that nature provides and do it with
great appeal, a regular tidbit of chicken, beef or worm might even get
them to be quite tame, take care to only put in what the turtle can
finish so no scraps end up going off.

After about the 6" stage, the turtle is getting up to a size which can
ding things a bit much, when your favorite waterlily is starting to
suffer, you may want to think in terms of sending them for a long
holiday on your favorite local lake, assuming its a native species

The stage at which the turtle becomes a problem depends mostly on the
size of your pond and how vulnerable your plants are. If you have
heavily planted ponds twenty foot or so in size you would hardly be
bothered by a one foot long turtle, while a little preformed tub would
soon show signs of plants being pecked at and the water going a bit
'niffy'

While most fish are safe from turtles, there's always the day when
their appetite is perky and they can be tempted to peck a fin I dare
say... If ever you hear of a turtle chomping on a fish, odds on that
fish had died or was crippled anyway....

Most turtles are smart enough to let fish grow bigger and die
naturally, before they take advantage... Aggression in turtles is
usually limited to live stuff that fits in their mouth easy... in most
well stocked ponds there are ample tidbits to keep the less than six
inch turtle well fed.

Right now I have a one foot snapper ambling about, almost impossible
to find most of the time among ponds where unknown numbers of intsy
wintsy little yellow belly hatchlings barely an inch long scuttle...
the only noticeable effect they seem to have is the small frogs are
definitely trigger happy at jumping and once in a while a water lily
crown gets levelled when the mr. snapper decides it's salad for supper
day

I get turtles turning up here, whether I like it or not. I still have
yet to find the snapper that levelled two baskets of water lilies last
year, I saw it once and never again, its head maybe 2" wide. I ended
up making a turtle trap with a one way gate so I can catch th eturtles
easy now and relocate them to quiet state park lakes in good
condition. First time out, it caught a 9" x 6.5" yellow bellied
turtle, next, the snapper, I hope

Little hatchling turtles have been quite a pleasant surprise, they
have turned up on three ponds here, so far... on one pond which has a
couple of small kois in it. They might be very useful at cutting the
snail numbers down so that's definitely a plus, most of the ponds here
have no fish and large snail numbers would damage small crowns of
water lilies for sure

Some turtles I'd go out of my way to introduce, the eastern painted
turtle is a small turtle, that would be very suitable for a pond
larger than 10' or so, the eastern mud turtle is already ambling
around. All rather more interesting than kois and goldfish, for sure
and a lot less bother to maintain...

In my own observations of tossing meaty morsels into a native ponds,
I'd definitely say fish have no fear of turtles and wouldn't hesitate
to steal the turtles snacks... So for sure I have a soft spot for
those dozy critters, until the day they decide to munch heavily on
waterlilies, that is...

Over 100 aquatic plants available!
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html
http://community.webshots.com/user/adavisus
(photo albums of aquatic plants and descriptions)

"Bill" wrote in message ...
A moderately large Turtle has entered my pond.

Will it eat my Gold Fish? How can I get rid of it? I tried netting it but
every time I approach the pond it dives for the bottom and I can't see it to
net it.

After I get rid of it how do I keep Turtles out?