# keeping turtles with fish



## Frozenmouse (Sep 26, 2009)

i would like to put a turtle in my fish tank its 6x3x3 i have a couple of oscars about 6" a salmon cat fish about 8", just wondering which one if any of the turtle species can be kept with fish . ( friend of mine had a nt long neck it was insainly vicious and would go bezerk and try and eat anyone that went anywhere near the tank) are all of the aussie turtles like this?


----------



## azn4114 (Sep 26, 2009)

i wouldnt trust any turtle with fish,they are to aggresive,but i have kept fish with my turtles,if i put about 50 fish in the tank 5 or so will survive(they learn to stay away and are too quick)


----------



## reptiledude1 (Sep 26, 2009)

iv always had fish in my tank its better, they entertain the turtles its fun watching them chase em so, what if they survive.i have got about 30 guppys witch keep having babies


----------



## bfg23 (Sep 26, 2009)

hey dabool, do you mind putting up some photos of that fish tank, its huge.


----------



## Frozenmouse (Sep 26, 2009)

my tank is small compared to some of my friends tanks here is a very bad photo they start to get expensive once you go above 28" high you have to go to 12mm glass . this one has 10mm glass with lots of bracing on the top.
the filtration is 2 fluval fx 5s which give about 8x turnover and hour which is modest some once the turtlr goes in i was going go to 10x turnover.


----------



## Frozenmouse (Sep 26, 2009)

what about pig nose tutles i have seen them with fish.


----------



## Kitah (Sep 26, 2009)

Dabool, when my Kreffts boy was little he'd go nuts and catch all the fish in his tank. Now, however he tends to ignore them- he very rarely catches them anymore, if at all. Shortnecks tend to be more carnivorous as juveniles/hatchies, and as they age and get larger they begin to consume more vegetable matter, becoming more omnivorous. Having said that I think there's always a risk of loosing fish, or getting chunks taken out of them if you house them with turtles. From what I've seen with a friends longneck, and what I've read, they love their fish much more throughout their lives and as adults, and they are superb at catching them!

Can't comment on pig nose turtles, never even seen one in person. Awesome looking from pics though, but I believe they're expensive?


----------



## bfg23 (Sep 26, 2009)

thats nice dabool. I bet that driftwood was expensive lol, i went looking to buy some driftwood from local aquarium shops. Once i seen the price tag on some i decided i would find my own.
I am thinking about getting a second filter instead of just upgrading mine to a bigger one. My filter barely makes a current.


----------



## Frozenmouse (Sep 26, 2009)

shadow x , yeah the pignose are a bit rare i would spend the money if i could find who has them ?
the driftwood is mopani i it has heaps of tannin and has started to clear up now tho.
it costs a fair bit these pieces are about 3' x 2' i got them from an aquarium that sold them to me at a good price the small pieces you can get from pet shops cost big $$$s


----------



## TA1PAN (Sep 26, 2009)

i have a longneck and i have a short neck turtle.my long neck turtle will eat anything that goes in the tank lol.i have barbs in there with the short neck and he sum times chases them but they are way to fast for him.u could put fish in there but make sure they arnt viscous fish and alsomake sure they are really fast fish,but there could always be a chance the turtle mite catch them.


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

I got my saw-shell today! Had to brag.. See if you can spot him
View attachment 103018

Is 'tannin' the yellowing of the water from driftwood? My tank is extremely yellow in bugger all time. Any way to stop that?


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

Mid if you go to your aquarium dealer and ask for some purigen its a small bag of stuff you can put into the filter works AMAZING and you can renue it .... its little tiny beads of stuff ... takes ANY nastys out of the water its expencive tho ... about $30 one bag .,... but omg it works a treat!


----------



## bfg23 (Sep 26, 2009)

there is no way to stop tannins leaking.
You can soak the log before putting it into the aquarium for a week which usually gets rid of all the tannins in small logs.
You just have to do half water changes weekly until the water clears up.
Damn you, I want a saw-shell to put in with my croc to live together.


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

again there is away ..... get some purigen ,,,,,, amazing stuff ....


----------



## bfg23 (Sep 26, 2009)

Will purigen stop the tannins leaking or just clear up the tannins that have already leaked into the water?
I will get some of this purigen stuff for my croc tank, but i don't want the log to stain the water faster than the purigen clears it up.


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

Purigen is a synthetic adsorbent, not a mixture of ion exchangers or adsorbents, but a unique macro-porous synthetic polymer that removes soluble and insoluble impurities from water. Purigen removes proteins, nitrites and nitrates, ammonia, and a broad spectrum of organics. Purigen darkens progressively as it exhausts, and is easily renewed by treating with household bleach.


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

well i used to have it on my tank and i'd always have a issue with the tannins up untill i got that stuff and as quick as over night all the discolour was gone and never ever had a issue with that drift wood again even when i put it in a tank without the purigen .... im just going from my experance with the product ... and i found it a amazing thing .... I even have a liuttle baggy of the stuff under the filters in my froggie tank now ....


----------



## bfg23 (Sep 26, 2009)

Oh well, i might go get some of this stuff tomorrow, will stop me having to change the water every fortnight or so.


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

i swear by the stuff ,,,, you wanna make sure you have enough for the amount of water you have in your tank though ,,,,, for my 4 foot tank i just needed the small bag ... it stops the ph and all messing up as well


----------



## Frozenmouse (Sep 26, 2009)

midnightserval said:


> I got my saw-shell today! Had to brag.. See if you can spot him
> View attachment 103018
> 
> Is 'tannin' the yellowing of the water from driftwood? My tank is extremely yellow in bugger all time. Any way to stop that?


where is he i was gona download the photo and zoom , i think i am gona try a saw shell with my fish and if it does not work out ill put him in another tank ...how big do they get.?


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

Hahaha he is in the middle, taking a breath. Should have figured. Most people have a tendancy to "centre" the important thing in the photo.

I have these carbon beady thingys in my filter that clain all that. But i have 2 big peices of driftwood, and the stick going across the tank is just a stick i scabbed from a creek AGES ago. So i dont know whether it might be influencing the 'tannin'
The driftwood and stick have been in that tank for well over a year with... not so often water changes.. I had golfish and slacked off..
The PH of the water is a higher number, 7.6 or so. Should i be concerned? I know acidic is worse for turtles but i dont know what the limit of alkaline is.
I was going to do another water change but i dont want to shock the turt with cold water from the tap.


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

And all turtles get pretty big. All need to eventually move outside in a large pond unless you want to go loopy trying to house them inside


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

Mid go find out about some Purigen lol


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

I will. But ive pestered the petshop 4 times today, 3 times yesterday. I think they would be sick of me


----------



## bfg23 (Sep 26, 2009)

Your saw-shell will only grow to average carapice size of 22cm. They are a smaller species of turtle, thats why i want one.
You can probably keep one in a six foot tank its entire life.


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

lol thats what they are there for ..... dont bother asking in a pet shop for ot tho .... would probably be a waist of time go to one that just deals with fish


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

The one that deals with fish here tried to tell me yesterday that theres only 2 species of turtle in Australia, the long neck and penny turtle.
I dont think im even going to bother with them anymore.


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

Lol penny turtle .....


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

How do you use this Purigen stuff? Cos my filter has a big stick with holes in it that spray water out. If that makes sense


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

Back left of the photo, you can see it


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

Mid just pop the little baggy of it into where you put your filter wool in that will do the job


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

It doesnt have filter wool. It has a plastic "cage" with carbon pellet things in there, looks like really big chunks of drawing charcoal snapped into little bits.


----------



## IgotFrogs (Sep 26, 2009)

hrmmmm has it got a filter spounge?


----------



## garycahill (Sep 26, 2009)

Just had a look at your pic to check out your filter.
There is no way that filter will be sufficient for even 1 turtle long term.
You will need to upgrade to an external filter of around 1200 - 1600 litres per hour flow.
Caresheet with all the info you need available here;
CARESHEETS - Australian Freshwater Turtles


----------



## Noongato (Sep 26, 2009)

No Probs, will go filter shopping on pay day


----------



## Frozenmouse (Sep 27, 2009)

carbon is no good its only really used to remove medications from the water it becomes saturated with toxins in about a week depending , but anyway carbon has a very short life in filters , considered a waste of time .
To find a suitable filter ,work out how much water you want to filter volume wise(hight of waterline in cms x width of tank in cms x length in cms then divide by 1000 thats your water in liters then multiply this figure by 5 and thats what i would use as a guide for your tank . 
fluval make great canister filters and so do ehiem just remember you can never over filter so get the biggest you can afford (common sense prevails dont set up your tank like a washing machine have rocks and wood to break up the turbulence) .
Until you have your filter i would do a 50% water change every 3-4 days let the water sit for a day before you add it to let the chlorine evaporate off.
ps post some more pics.


----------



## Slyther83 (Sep 27, 2009)

wouldnt you have to get a basking area setup for almost any turtle? even soft shelled turtles, which are highly aquatic need that I believe.

...and with any turtle I think you will run the risk of them taking a chunk out of your fish. Pred tank gar + turtle would work though I reckon.. swampmates and the gars skin is pretty tough, and I doubt a 1-2 foot turtle would go after a 2-4 foot fish.. but thats just speculation


----------



## Jakee (Oct 6, 2009)

bfg23 said:


> Your saw-shell will only grow to average carapice size of 22cm. They are a smaller species of turtle, thats why i want one.
> You can probably keep one in a six foot tank its entire life.



Saw Shelled Turtles grow to an average size of 30cm. 

Jake


----------



## garycahill (Oct 6, 2009)

The only turtle that I believe doesn't need a basking area is the Pig Nose. The males never come out of the water & females only to breed.


----------



## bfg23 (Oct 7, 2009)

well on further research jakee, it seems you are correct.

my information from 'Steve Swansons Field Guide to Australian Reptiles' says average adult carapace length is 23cm.


----------

