Keeping Murray and macleay river turtles together

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Grace Sherman

New Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2019
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hello everyone!

I currently have a almost 2 year old Murray river turtle who has a beautiful temperament and I absolutely adore. As I was looking through gumtree I saw someone who wanted to sell their one year old macleay river turtle. I was wondering if adopting and introducing another turtle into my aquarium would be a good idea. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thank you!
 
Hi there. Definitely not a good idea at all. Turtles are best kept on their own in aquariums, never in pairs or threes. Specimens of the same species that are the same size can coexist in very large aquariums where there's a group of no less than 4 individuals and the volume of the aquarium allows for 100 litres of water for every kilogram of turtle.

Turtles in the Emydura complex which both Murrays and Macleays are, are notoriously aggressive. They're also literally the biggest Emydura Sp and the smallest so putting them together is a recipe for disaster. Murrays grow to over 40cm SCL while Macleays max out at around 16cm.

Here's a visual comparison of what you're looking at...
Here's an adult pair of fully grown Macleay River turtles...
Adult pair of Macleay River turtles.jpeg

Here's a adult Murray river turtle (not my image) this specimen belongs to a friend.
Adult Murray River turtle.jpg

The 2 aren't even remotely in the same league.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top