turtles fighting

[shays]

hi All, Im new to this forum but noticed how helpfull it can be to find others who have had some experience and thought I'd give it a try myself

I purchased two baby murray river turtles both around a 20c piece size but even though i feed them both the same one has grown twice the size as the other one..
they are in the same enclosure i fed them seperatly in seperate container and they are the same age.. but one has become larger and nastier.. he bites at the little one..
we always new he has a little bit of an attitude problem when we first got him my husband joked about him having A.D.D becuase he was soo hyper and the other one is soo slow and calm and friendly.. the tiny one is trained and at dinner time swims into my hand to be picked up but the big one just freaks out no matter what way i do it.. my problem is now the big one has just bitten the little one on the neck.. nothing too serious the skin didnt break but you can see the mark where he had a good go at him.. any suggestions?? or are they doomed ot be seperated? I have had them now for just over a month.. thanks in advance for any advice
regards shay

 

[luke.r.s]

have they got good areas to hide from each other, bask etc? as the bigger one may be stressing the smaller one which would affect his growth.
adding some more water plants etc may help with this, but seperating would be the best option.

just my ideas so may be compleatly wrong but something to think about anyway - a pic of the tank may help.
-L

 

[ldheav]

feed outside the tank in seperate water bowls. is the fighting just happening when u are around, as in when they can see you ? , they may think you have food

 

[shays]

I always feed them both in separate tanks, they just live in the same tank.. Im not sure if they do fight when im not around only when i am around do i see it.. the bigger one hasnt hurt the smaller one badly *YET* but he has given the little guy a bit of swelling on his neck and some scratches.. no actual cuts. I have managed to train the little one to go into my hand at dinner time so its really easy to get him into his feeding tank but the bigger one is stubborn and it takes some time to convince him to go into his feeding tank..
so im really not sure if he considers me to be bringing food but he never seems to want to go into his feeding tank. shame they just cant talk! hehe..
regard shay

 

[shays]

thanks luke, I will go out tomorrow and buy a heap of plants for them to hide in amongst that is definetly something thats lacking.. if all else fails Ill separate them but ideally id like to keep them together so ill try and add the plants first to hide in amongst. regards shay