Will snapping turtles hurt your ponds fish population. Do they serve a purpose? :p

According to "experts", snapping turtles are predators and will take fish. They, and other turtles, have only one redeeming feature that I can think of. They are the buzzards of the pond. They clean up the dying and dead fish and other stuff.
I once read that turtles are not well studied by researchers. Few scientists want to study something that might outlive them.

Here's one post on turtles : http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000029

Do a search & you'll find lots more!

IMO, Turtles eat alot of the same things my fish eat so they compete in that sense & I don't want them in my pond.
If you're feeding your fish it probably won't hurt to have them in the pond.

As so many have said, it all depends on your goals. If you want a few turtles in your pond, as Bob Lusk stated they shouldn't have a huge impact on your fish and as Dave said they will clean up the dead & dying fish the Water Turkeys leave behind.

Ric, I doubt that the water turkeys cause any fish problems in Arkansas. They seem to have a migration pattern that favors East Texas.

Heck, I've heard about an East Texas guy that stocks tilapia for them every year. I figure they feed to satiation there and don't eat until the next early springtime for their trip North. Some retired rocket scientist with 3.5 acre, 2 acre, 3/4 acre and 1/4 acre ponds.

I spent a merry year following the antics of a snapping turtle on half a dozen ponds

Now and then a basket of waterlilies would be snack de jour, another day it would be a cluster of arrowheads gently going 'scrunch scrunch' :::splat:::

It definitely had a fondness for cooked chicken and staying impossible to find for an hour in deep waters

I never got to see hide nor hair of it in all the time it was stalked, other than a brief glimpse of a three inch wide head by flashlight and two inch bite marks on lilypads and a cork float

When a method was finally figured to trap and observe it for a month or two, it turned out to be a quite timid and gentle critter, incredibly unlikely to chase any fish which would be far more nimble and maneuverable to the rather likeable, docile, but rather dozey turtle

Being smart enough to master his environment, the fish that pinched his chicken nibbles were wistfully peered at patiently by the turtle, who knew all rather too well, 'I'm in no hurry'... one day you won't be so nimble and then it's time for you to be supper

Regards, andy
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html

Dave,

Dang, I wouldn't have thought a thread about turtles would turn into a water turkey fest. I almost missed the thread because turtles frankly, don't have much allure to me...but you just never know where a water turkey will show up in a thread.

And for the record, my Tilapia die off before the real onset of the great water turkey invasion...and become food for the fish while dying and I guess the turtles, when completely dead. Okay, there is a link to turtles here.

ML, just couldn't resist when Ric gave me the opening.

Up here our snapping turtles seldom grow to 10"wide, but 6-8"ers are common. I don't know for sure about healthy free swimming fish, but I have seen many fish holding cages badly damaged by snappers and any live fish left on a stringer overnite will be chewed up or gone by morning.In our pond they probably get more ducklings than adult fish so I have no use for them. The little painted turtles clean up the dead fish just as well as the snappers do and don't make us as nervous about our kids and pets. While we do have the odd water turkey, they make easier targets than the snappers. Farther south where there are more city folk and fewer shooters, the turkeys are far more common with all the problems that go along with them....