Habitat - Indoor :: Turtle tankmates???

[syberia]

Hi,

I bought a Yellow Belly Slider recently, hes doing fine and in great health , but could be a bit lonely! What else could I put in there with him?? Hes pretty young and small (2inches), and lives in an 84l tank.. (not sure how much in gallons). We would put another turtle but the tank is not big enought for two...

We were thinking about getting some fish... which ones would you recomend?

Thanks!

[Vtolds]

Your tank is around 20 or 22 gallons if it hold 84 liters, if you put a large pleco in there he would probably be fine for a while but your turtles are more likely to try to eat fish than larger ones so it is a risk you would have to take.

[FLhaven4strays]

Turtles don't need another turtle for company - in fact they're likely to fight - so even with more space I wouldn't go that route. Anything else that goes in the tank has a high chance of becoming food. That said, I'd second the pleco idea...I've had pretty good luck with them, though many others on here would strongly disagree. Try giving turt some 'toys', like hollow logs or decorations to play with, floating plants to swim among / climb / eat. I saw a good idea on here - someone filled a plastic container w/ rocks (too big for turt to eat!) for them to dig in. I put several beautiful feeder minnows in with our hatchling...he ate a few but the rest have survived for weeks and are quite pretty to watch. He chases them - and catches one now & again - but they're cheap & good exercise / fun.

[Vtolds]

I have also read that bubblers can keep there interest and so cant ping pong balls.

[syberia]

Thanks for all those ideas, you have been really helpfull!!

[DocShay]

I've had 2 tinfoil barbs for over a month now - they're nice and quick and my turtles gave up on em! I found them to be great tank mates.

I suggest getting 2 though, since they're a bit of an edgy fish they may pick on your turtle if you only have one. But if you have two, they'll just bug one another.

[GThiele93]

Ha, Honestly if yours are hatchlings and your tank is big enough you can have anything. I have a 125 gallon with 2 1.5inch turtles. I also have
2 common plecos(2 inchs)
1 long fin albino pleco(2 inchs)
1 Moray Eel (7 inchs)
1 Rope fish(6 inchs)
1 lung fish(3 inchs)
4 small angel fish (3/4inch)
2 Large angelfish(2 inchs)
1 Blue Cray fish(2 inchs)
1 Fresh water flounder(5 inchs)
1 Large Electric Blue chillid(5 inchs)
1 Coblat zebra chillid(1.5 inchs)
2 albino African clawed frog(1.5 inchs)
4 mystery snails

The turtles give me no trouble and dont bother anything. The crayfish is the killer

[tennisnut]

I put several beautiful feeder minnows in with our hatchling...he ate a few but the rest have survived for weeks and are quite pretty to watch. He chases them - and catches one now & again - but they're cheap & good exercise / fun.

That's cool! I've only seen rosy reds and guppies. Where can you get pretty feeders and what are they called?

[megcornell]

I would think a pleco would be too large to add to such a tiny tank. 22 gallons is already too small for the turtle, plecos will die or get ill if the water quality is poor. I'd add some feeders or some river rocks to push around.