Aquatic turtle and fishes together?

Question

I just got two aquatic turtles and I was wondering if I was able to put fishes inside the tank together with the turtles? If so what kind of fishes should I get?

Answer 1

Hi Christian !

How are you ?

Lot of people thinks about putting a fish together with their turtles in the same water tank. The problem is if you put the turtle in a fish tank or if you put a fish in a turtle tank.

If you put a turtle in the fish tank some turtle care problems might appear:

- First of all a fish tank usually doesn't have a land are which is vital for the turtle.
- Fishes are tiny little pets that usually don't need a very high water level. But the turtles are bigger and have to swim easily. So the water level in a fish tank could be to low for a turtle.
- In the fish tank the filtration is usually inappropriate for a turtle so the water could get dirty very fast.
- If you put a turtle in a fish tank eventually he turtle will eat the fish.
- It's good for fishes to provide them with plenty of plants so they can swim around the or hide. But the turtles will surely eat all the plants in the tank.

The best way to keep fishes and turtles together is introducing the fishes in an environment specially setup for the turtle. By using this method you won't have any turtle care problems. So make a correct turtle tank setup and then and the fish. The turtles will eat the fish, but if you add at least 20 fishes they will probably survive for an year.

There are some advantages for having some fishes in the turtle tank:

- You'll never have to feed the fish. The usually eat left-over food so it won't be expensive to keep them.
- You can consider the fish in your turtle tank as some kind of water quality monitor. You can think that, if the fishes are healthy than the water in the turtle tank is quite acceptable.
- The fish in the turtle tank can become a good emergency food for your turtles.
- Most captive water turtles don't swim enough and don't get enough exercise. But with the fish in the tank they won't get bored anymore.

So it's not such a bad idea to keep a fish together with a turtle in a turtle water tank.

Best Regards,
Shabbir Hazari

Answer 2

Yes turtles and fish can live together if you set up the tank correctly. It is true the turtle may eat your fish but if you keep him well feed, this shouldn't be an issue. The issue comes from the light. You need a strong light for your turtle to kill bateria that may harm it. This light also creates a lot of green water which is free floating algae. Although this will not harm anything, it is a eyesore. In most cases you would want to use minnows or goldfish in the tank. They are fast swimmers so the turtle will not easily catch them, unless they die and then the turtle will clean that mess up for you :)

Answer 3

Turtles will eat your fish one bite at a time. Plus they dirty the water much quicker than fish. I have two turtles in my Koi pond but, its 1500 gallons. They feed mostly off the algae and baby fish. It helps keep the population down. I have about 37 adult fish Pond and Koi.

Answer 4

No you can't put fish and turtles together unless you put feeders in for them

you will need to fill your tank half way with water
Put a basking place for them in so they can get out of the water and dry out, or they will get sick
and a heater for the months from October to april, which you can purchase at any petstore and is made especially for turtles

http://www.reptilecare.com/turtles.htm


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Answer 5

The turtles will eat the fishies:)

Answer 6

you should be fine, maybe not fighter fish though just in case they go for each other and upset the turtles

Answer 7

betta