Turtles Favorite Fish Essays - Turtle, Living Fossils,

Turtles Favorite Fish The project I am working on is called "Which Type of Fish do Turtles Prefer to Eat?" I chose this topic because I wanted to see if the size and color of the fish really matter when it comes to the turtle's eating. I also chose this topic because of the fact that I always have greet colored fish left in the tank after I feed my turtles. I am especially interested if the size of the fish matters when the turtles are eating. I say this because when they are eating it looks like they go after a particular type of fish it usually is the bigger fish in the tank. But the main thing I really want to figure out is if it really matters to the turtle. I want to know this because maybe turtles are like other animals in that they might chose the food they eat or maybe they don't care what they eat. Materials The materials I used to conduct my project were very simple. I used two turtles which were my own and I uses a thirty gallon tank to house the turtles used goldfish as the food for my experiment. The goldfish I used varied in size and color. Some of the fish were big and some were of medium or small size. The color of the fish also varied. Some of the fish were orange, white, red, or Gerry used a video camera to record the turtles section of fish. I recorded the activity of the turtles when I was not there to watch them. Some of the other things I used were a feeder to help me monitor what type of fish I was feeding the turtles. Procedure The procedure I used was simple. Every day I would put in different types of fish. One day I would put in big fish with a orange color and the next day I would put in fish that were smaller and that have a different color. I did this for three months. After each feeding period I would record my results. Hypothesis I think that the turtles will eat the fish according to their size. I feel that the big turtle will eat big fish and the smaller turtle will eat the smaller fish. And for the color of the fish I think that the turtles will choose the brighter colored fish because they are easier to see and that the turtle may have an easier time distinguishing it as food instead of a rock or log or something floating in the water. Results The results I had were that the smaller turtle still ate the bigger fish and that the turtles seemed to always eat the brighter colored fish first. Really I think that the turtles really didn't care what size e the fish was but what the really cared about was the color of the fish. I say this because each time I fed them there always seemed to be a lot of gray colored fish left over. The results of my experiment somewhat correlated to my hypothesis in that the color of the fish has an affect on what the turtle will eat. Conclusion The conclusion of my experiment is that the turtles don't really care about the size of the fish, but the turtles really care about the color of the fish. I know this because during my experiment the turtles seemed to favor the orange fish and the always left the gray fish there. Even when there were only gray fish in the tank the turtles still did not choose to eat them. So in conclusion of my experiment the turtles don't really care for size but the turtles really care about the color of the fish. General Information Scientific classification Trachemys Scripta Elegans. Common name Red-Eared Slider or Florida turtle. Geographic distribution This native of the south of the United States is found in many places of the world. It has been introduced by people who bought them as pets to later release them in the wild when they decide they don't want to keep them anymore. This represents a big problem. In southern Europe, for example, the red-eared slider competes for survival against the costume of Europe who is now in danger of extinction. Size It can grow up to 30 cms (11.8 inches). Longevity In the wild it can live about 20 years, but in captivity some specimens have been reported to live