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

 

[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

 

[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.