My friend's aunt and uncle have 2 turtles that they can't take care of. If I build a pond this spring w/ goldfish, can I put them in to? It will be an elevated pond, so should I build a "turtle ramp" to the garden below?
i kept red eared sliders for a while in a pond outside and they would nip or even kill any goldfish i put in there. and it depends on the aquatic turtle most turtles don't need allot of land just stuff to sun on like logs or a bank
In a large-enough enclosure, the fish shouldn't have any problems. "Normal" goldfish, i.e. comets, have far more speed and agility than most turtles. Fancies however, would probably be killed. I have probably 2 dozen comets and a few koi in with my turtles in a 1200gal pond and the turtles pretty much ignore the fish. Don't be surprised if the turtles do get lucky once in a while, though.
I never tried keeping goldfish with water turtles outdoors before, but I have had good luck keeping them with sunnies, rock bass, bluegills and bullheads. The first 3 can hold their own against most basking turtle species.