TURTLE & CICHLIDS TOGETHER?

[smidey]

I have two separate tanks, a cichlid tank & a turtle tank. I am new to aquaria keeping & have had a few problems with the turtle tank, heater died, filter not good enuf etc. On two occasions I have had to put my young Snake Necked turtle (2-2 1/2inch shell) into my fish tank. I understand that these turtles are dirty little critters (urine & faeces) & wonder if anyone knows how long he could be in with the fish before he makes the water quality too bad for the fish or whether it is possible to keep them together indefinately with enough filtration. I understand that eventually he will grow quite large, my tank is about 200 litres so its big enough for a while yet. Has anyone given this a go before? Or will the turtle start to eat my tetras? I welcome any thoughts you have

Smidey

[TimTam22]

I have heard that just by puting in a heater that was used in a turtle tank into a fish tank you can kill the fish

I also know someone that had about 2 hundred guppies die from something that was use for there turtles got mixed with the fishies.

Although at animates melling in lower hutt they have a breeding pair of convicts in with there large turtles as well as about 10 baby convicts and a pleco. And they all look healthy :-?

So really I'm not much help sorry.

My turtles tank has quite a low PH so that may effect the fishies also. :roll:

[TimTam22]

And yea if he can catch you tetras he'll eat them!

What size is your turtle tank? I'd recommend an external canister filter for the turtle, will keep the water in great condition. 8)

When I first got my turtles I had an issue with my band new filter so they didn't have one for 3 weeks, but I just did daily water changes and they were fine.

I also accidently left the heater off for a week and a half once; :oops: after cleaning the tank I forgot to turn it back on, they were fine they didn't even act any differently.

Your definately not the only one thats had problems :roll:

[Rozski]

The Animates here in Palmerston Nth also has cichlids (and plecos i think) in with their large turtles. Never really thought about it before :-?

[minchton]

we once purchased a tank which was 12 months old. It had a shark,angel,firemouth, and a number of tetras along with a red eared turtle.

these had all got along famously until the turtle realised that anything else in the tank was meals on fins. He started with the shark and moved his way down by size, we had to remove him quickly.

On saying that I have a 6ft tank with 5 turtles which I try to feed guppies but the turtles just let them breed and only eat the guppies when they have died.

[SpidersWeb]

I kept platties in a 3ft aquarium with a palm sized red earred turtle. We used slate rocks as his ramp, so if one fish was getting picked on there was a resting area, and a safe place to sleep, in between the slates was a good hiding place for the baby fry as well.

The platties were quicker than the turtle, but if he got one, there was another twenty or so on the grow. He knew they were food, but turtles aren't the fastest of swimmers, just as long as the fish isnt stupid enough to swim around its nose.

[evilknieval69]

i have a mate who has a tin foil barb and a pleco with his turtle (temporarily) and they get along well.

I reckon you should just try it and if it works it works, if it doesnt, it doesnt.

HTH

Rogan

[fishboi]

as long as there is an area where the turtle came come out of the water and be completely dried off it should be fine.

spot feed ur turtle and make sure its well fed and it will leave ur fishies alone. unlike fish the turtle will not eat once its full.

u will need some carbon in ur filter as turtles discrete a lot of urine. i've keep all sorts of fish with turtles and works fine just doing the above.

[land_lubber]

A friend of mine has turtles and cichlids together and the turtles ate all but one of the cichlids, but now he has more and bigger ones and the turtles seem to leave them alone.

[WTM]

I always remember the formula oft stated on turtle forums...

Fish + Turtle = Fed Turtle

...maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will happen...

Seriously though, the question is whether you mind him/her eating some of your fish, if you don't mind give it a go....

Convicts are often listed as a good fish to have turts due to their ability to breed rapidly..

Large Plecs are also good, due to their size...

WTM

[smidey]

Ok, I have watched the snaked necked turtle for a few days now & he doesn't move fast enough to catch a cold let alone a fish. He is only 2 1/2 inches long max so he's no speed demon & he may get lucky if a tetra falls into his mouth. At the moment both fish & turtle have a mutual curiosity for each other including my BN catfish giving the turtles shell a scrub & my clown loach have a fascination with the turtles tail. The only change I have noticed with the tank condition is the PH has dropped a little which I have remedied with larger water changes & a little PH up. The only future problem I see is the lighting, turtle UV tube on fish??? & then finding tubes to suit my 1000mm tank hood. Will keep an eye on things as it goes along.

[alanmin4304]

I have a large pleco with my mature turtles. They started out as babies together and get on well. I also have a lot of guppies which were fed out as babies and have survived and bred as well. I catch small fish in the river and they get eaten straight away and some would be 100mm long. If it is a fish and slow enough it will become turtle tucker. Pleco must not look too attractive.