Habitat - Indoor :: Turtle in a fish tank

[grizz2534]

My fiance really really wants an RES. But we don't have the money to buy a huge tank. I do have a 55 gallon aquarium, but it has fish in it. I'm not too worried about the fish i have 1 oscar 2 jack dempseys some silver dollars and a leporanus (sp??) if anything they'll get eaten. If i drain some of the water out, get an underwater filter and get a screen top so I can put a basking lamp, would that be a good tank for a turtle. I work at a Petsmart and we accidentally got one in that's about 3.5 inches (stupid supplier) since we can't legally sell it, my manager new I was looking into them and they are going to adopt it to me if i want it. I just wan to make sure that the 55 will work for a few months until save the money to get a huge tank. Thanks for the info.

D

"Diamond" Dusty Dally
US Navy Veteran
Petsmart Pet Care Specialist
Go Griz!!
1.0 Black Pug (Orion)
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko (Bandit and "no name yet")
1.0 Chinchilla (Eeyore)
1 55 Gallon Aquarium

[untsmurf]

The 55 should sustain you until you can get a bigger one. You shouldn't get a screen top though because it filters out a lot of the UVB. If you can get a mesh top (a screen with bigger holes) or maybe some plastic egg crate, that would work better. You'll need a filter that is rated at least 2x the size of your tank and you'll need an underwater heater for the winter.

I'm not familiar with fish, but I do know that your turtle will try and eat them. So if you don't want to lose them, you'd have to put them in a different tank. I don't know if they're healthy though. Some fish aren't good for turtles to eat.

[imderanged]

Those are some really aggressive fish. How big are they? I'm not an expert on fish, so I could not say for sure those fish wouldn't harm a small turtle. Also if you have gravel in the tank with the fish, the gravel has to come out. They will eat small stones, but sand or large rocks are ok. Also you need to provide both heat and UVB. But a 55 should be fine for a while.