TURTLES with FISH ???

[gaurang]

HI ALL,

I JUST WANTED TO KNOW THAT CAN I HAVE TURTLES AND FISH IN SAME TANK ?

I'VE HEARD THAT TURTLES CAN EATUP THE SMALL FISH......

PLEASE EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS ON THIS.......

BEST REGARDS
GAURANG SHAH.

[Faramir]

Don't shout!

Turtles eat fish. Not just the smaller ones either. They'd probably snap at anything.

I wouldn't recommend it.

[gaurang]

THANKS BUDDY (FARAMIR)

HEAH I'M ENA SHOUTING MY CAPS LOCK IS NOT WORKING:D

[RyJ]

Yeah, your fish aqaurium would soon turn into a turtle tank.... :)

*Sigh* Turtles are really awesome though, I wish they were legal in my area to keep.....

[delmore]

I have kept 4 inch red eared sliders with fish. Here is my experience:

zebra danios - sound sleepers. Get picked off at night
Guppies - smart ones will avoid getting eaten indefinitely
Blue Gourami/Gold Gourami - these fish are tough as nails. Mine lived with turtle for 1+ years til I moved it
Convict (or similar) Cichlid - this is your BEST bet. I have one with the turtle now, and they stay out of eachothers way.

The key to keeping them together is a very large, cycled tank, with over filtration and huge water changes 2 x a week. It can be done!

[aquatix02]

i find that in general, turtles require a much larger filtration unit and more frequent water changes as they are messy eaters... a terrarium is also not an easy job to maintain.. (soil changes etc..) due to this, i don't like to keep them as they are a lot of work to keep happy. they may be hardy... but to keep them in an environment that they will thrive in... IMO... its just too much work! so unless you're prepared to keep up with the regular water changes... and read up enough on turtles.. don't keep them! or maybe its just that i'm more of a fish person. :)

[waterspirit]

I had a red eared slider with a pumpkinseed sunfish once. The next morning, the fish was torn to shreds by turtle half its size.

[Greg Maugeri]

my friend has a turtle which is about 3inches in a 55 with other cat fish and the turtle doesnt bother anything............anyone know the name of the turtle? we actually got it from winning one of those games in a carnival:D

[aquatix02]

i remember that my dad used to have 4 inch red-eared sliders in an enormous 640G tank with silver dollars, pacus, tinfoil barbs and other large fish... the sliders snapped and hung onto the tail fins of the larger fish when they swam past...

if they can harass such large fish... think what would happen in a small community tank! anyhow.. i did notice that the fins are the first to go when the sliders attack...

i would say its better not to risk it having them in the same tank...

[jerky1280]

My tank has the following:

3" Red Eared Slider
2 3" Gold Gouramis
2 3" Chinese Algae eaters
1 4" Red-tailed shark

The turtle snapped at the fish a couple of times when I first put them in, but after a while she got used to them and now leaves them alone. She will snap at any new occupants, however, and will eat whatever she can fit down her throat. We used to feed her toughies once or twice a month, but have stopped feeding her live food since co-habitating with fish.

I think your chances of sucessfully putting fish and turtles together is higher if you introduce the fish when the turtle is very young. That way she gets used to them as part of her habitat, rather than food.

I think it is a great combination. The algae eaters hide most of the time, the shark keeps to himself (and chases anything out of his cave, including the turtle), and the gouramis are so bold as to try and steal pellets from the turtle when she's eating!

This all being said, I did loose several fish to my turtle until I figured everything out.

[OrionGirl]

Long term, tropical fish won't stand a chance. Sorry, but you asking a predator to ignore it's prey. Might happen in the short term with a small turtle and larger fish, but once the turtle matures it will eat any fish it can catch.

[Decz]

At the Big Al's store up here, there are red-ear turtles in the gold fish ponds. I'm not talking about baby gold fish, more like the 3 inchers... Anyway, it's very common to walk by the ponds and see many many halfs of gold fish, because teh turtle just took a good sized chomp here and there. Pretty gross, but reality.... :\

[MrArapaima]

Pig nose Turtle AKA Fly River Turtle

These turtles are Awesome. They're truly Aquatic. I so quite a lot of juveniles lately in a very dear price. It's not the money but not unless you can provide them a pond when they reach adulthood this is my Turtle!

[JBTodd]

Hi All,

I'm new to aquaria central and to fish in general (I'm just starting my first tank). However, I am not new to reptiles and turtles. Although I haven't ever kept them , I have care for the ones at the local science museum, and I have friends that do. There are a few species of aquatic turtles that are herbivores, but they are generally fairly expensive ($30+), and do produce a lot of waste. As for red eared sliders, they can get pretty large. I've mostly cared for yellow pond sliders which get to be a similar size, and they were each 8 inches or bigger. The only fish they were kept with were bluegill and catfish in a LARGE outdoor pond, and the pond still had to be cleaned often due to waste.
If you want some good info on aquatic turtles, go to Kingsnake.com (http://www.kingsnake.com) and go to the aquatic tutle forum. They might have an idea on what turtles can happily live with fish. Hope it was a bit of help!

[gaurang]

THANKS EVERYBODY FOR YOU HELP. IT REALLY DID HELPED ME A LOT.

[Shay]

I'm doing this right now with a musk turtle. The fish is in a 110 with sunfish and a Texas cichlid pair.

My turtle doesn't bother the larger fish, but will snap at minnows or shiners which I put in every eight weeks or so. He also loves insects and will be the first to the top of the tank if I drop in a cricket or beetle. He does very well on the pellets which I feed to the fish.

I had this turtle in a pond type tank for 18 months and never saw him leave the water, so I don't believe that he needs to. The way my tank is set up, he could easily get out of the water and onto the glass above the tank is he feels the need, but again, he never has.

A quick edit: I forgot to mention that these turtles max out at three to five inches long.

-Shay

[Nippy]

I know of a girl on another board who has 2 turtles and 2 oscars in her 125(there may be a pleco or catfish in there too, don't remember). As far as I know, she's had the set-up for awhile and it works just fine. Of course, her oscars are of a decent size. ;)