Will an adult eastern painted turtle eat my fish?

Question

I have read many painted turtle websites and know that adult eastern painted turtles eat more plant matter than meat, and I'm thinking of putting a turtle into my koi and goldfish pond, and all the fish are big, do you think it wll try to eat them or bite them? the place I'm ordering the turtle from has fed the thing turtle food for it's whole life, so I doubt it's ever tried fish. think it will ever try? I mean I'm gonna fill the pond with aquatic plants if I get this turtle to lower the chances of it eating the fish, and it also has a lot of land to roam on, but do you think I'm better off making a half land half water kiddie pool habitat?

Answer 1

At the very least, the turtle will bite at them. If it can kill a fish, the fish will become dinner. This is bad. Goldfish are way too fatty for turtle food. It doesn't help the fish any, either.

Answer 2

if he can catch them maybe?

Answer 3

Yes they love to eat fish. I feed pellets mainly and if you drop a fish in its like a feeding frenzy It's like a treat. they are quite good at catching them, you would be surprised. They may even be able to bite them as they pass by and that in time will kill them and then they'll eat them . Kept outside I have had some run away. Some get snatched by raccoons fox and coyotes  and birds will even take them when small.

Answer 4

My son has a small Eastern Long Neck Turtle (Australian) that's roughly between 1-2 years old, he put about 10 small fish in the tank with his turtle and they were all gone the next day. He has put Goldfish (5-6cms long) in the tank and his turtle ripped them apart, he absolutely loves eating the live fish. l have put a stop to him feeding him the live Goldfish as l think it's to cruel to let something die that way, at least the smaller fish are gone in one gulp, so l wouldn't recommend putting the fish with the turtle unless you have plenty of places for them to hide from the turtle. You mentioned having a half land & half water kiddie pool, you do know that your turtle needs to have both water and a dry area where it can bask in the heat, it must be able to get out of the water or else it will drown. There are plenty of pages on the web with information about what you will need for your turtle to be healthy and happy.