# Turtles and cichlids?



## shrillmicrobe (May 6, 2010)

I have recently lost one of my fish, and now I am left with 2 cichlids in a 55 gallon tank. I was toying with the idea of dropping the water level to accommodate the addition of a turtle. I would create a floating "dock" for the turtle and an incline of gravel along one side. I don't know if my fish and a turtle would co-habituate or would dropping the water level put too much stress on the fish?


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## tokyo (Jan 19, 2010)

What kind of cichlids? SA, CA, African? What size and how many cichlids do you have? What size is the turtle?

I know SAs and CAs can sometimes coexist with turtles in large tanks, I'm not sure if this would work in a 55g. A 55g will probably be too small.


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## shrillmicrobe (May 6, 2010)

i have a turquoise severum and a striped convict, I believe they are South American.
The fish are fairly large, the Convict was injured when he was younger and rarely comes out of hiding.

This is my severum










I have not gotten the turtle yet so I can't say on the size of one.

this is the tank









the FGT seen in the picture is no longer with us, he died yesterday.


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## tokyo (Jan 19, 2010)

Oh, I recognize your fish. I thought I recognized you screen name from another post. :thumb: Thats really too bad about your GT it was a beauty.

I really don't know enough about turtles to give you a reliable answer. I do know that people have done it succesfully before in tanks 150g+ before. But I really have no idea how they would do in a 55g.

I imagine if you got a smaller species of turtle like a common box turtle they might do alright. But I personally wouldn't try it with anything larger than that.

Definitely do your research first. I imagine some turtles are probably more aggressive than others and would be bad news for the cichlids.

Like I said though, I have no experience with mixing turtles and cichlids. I'm just thinking out loud.


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## drthsideous (Apr 12, 2010)

I kept and bred many herps for a long time. Your idea is good and there are plenty of turtle species that wouldn't interfere with the fish, the problem is finding one that doesn't get big. The majority of readily available turtles on the market tend to get 10" plus. The other problem is that turtles are very very messy in terms of water quality suitable for fish. Kingsnake.com has a classifieds section, I would go there and see whats around, and research the turtles you think you like. I wouldn't get one that gets any bigger than 7" due to the narrowness of a 55.
Jeff


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## ChadRamsey (Mar 12, 2010)

the only downsides that i would foresee is that you would have to drop the water level a good bit.

and that fact that most aquatic turtles will eat fish and are quite messy would be a deterrent for me


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## mrs.som (Nov 14, 2009)

The other issue here too is that turtles need a special light to get their vitamin D, otherwise they will have health issues. That may be hard to incorporate into your setup.


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## redblufffishguy (Jul 16, 2009)

You could drop a soft shell turtle in there no problem. You don't have to change the water level at all. They do get large, but it will be several years before it will out grom the tank. And they do eat fish, but your fish are far too large to tempt the turtle.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Make sure you get the right type of turtle. Many species couldnt live in the type of set up you are talking about.

I kept Yellow Belly Pond Sliders alot in the past and they love the type of set up you are talking about. Also you dont have to drop the water level as much as you are thinking. I had my tank set up with the water about 6" from the top.

The hardest part will be making the land for the turtle to stay on. You need something where he can get totally out of the water and rest. I had a very large fake driftwood with a flat top that the turtle could get totally out of the water. In another tank i made a platform that hooked onto the back of the tank.

As far as what the last poster said about Vitamin D you can either buy a special bulb, dip their stick food into vitamins before you feed, or take the turtle outside once or twice a week and let it walk around in the sun (i used vitamins and took my turtle outside).

I eventually had to let the turtles go back into the wild because they got too big for the tanks. I would catch them locally when they were babies (1"-2") and keep them until they got about 6" long (shell length).

Another problem you will run into (if you cannot catch them locally) is turtles you buy will be larger than 3" and when they get too big you cannot return them to the wild (depending on where you live and what type of turtle you have).

As far as your fish go they look plenty big to live with a turtle. Just make sure you feed the turtle the proper food and you should be good to go. I would catch minnows from the same pond i caught the turtle and put them in my tank. The turtles would eat them up but the fish were only 1/2"-1". If your fish is the same length as your turtle then you should have nothing to worry about.

Its not the easiest thing to do but you could keep a turtle with the right set up. I wouldnt look at it like a fish tank with a turtle in it though. You need to treat it like a turtle tank with some fish in there.


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## tyxpx (Feb 25, 2010)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... /ref=nosim

Turtle topper, is PERFECT for what you are wanting to do, you dont have to drop the water level nearly as much and you can mount the lights the turtle needs. You would just have to figure out the top to cover the rest of that side of the tank if you want to.


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## mrs.som (Nov 14, 2009)

Oh my gosh...that is got to be one of the coolest things I've seen! Makes me wanna do a turtle tank now!


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## tyxpx (Feb 25, 2010)

Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool too. They are pretty cheap and you can use your current filtration system with it and not have to buy a internal filter, you can also keep the rest of your tank as is.


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## PepoLD (Dec 9, 2009)

sounds like turtle food to me =/


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## fishEH (Sep 15, 2008)

What you are talking about is not impossible at all. But as mentioned, there are a few things to consider.
Don't drop your water level at all. An aquatic turt will need as much water as possible. A lot of turtle people would object to a 55 gallon tank but I think you'll be fine. Build an escape proof enclosure above the tank. You can hang the special light in that area too.
Turtle selection is important. Red Eared Sliders are very common but also can get quite large. Try a Southern Painted instead, they don't get very big.
Over filter. Turtles are messy. The get food everywhere when they eat and their poop is big. Try to run a sump which will add to you overall gallonage.

I myself keep a turtle with cichlids in my 75gallon. Here's the stock list.
Southern Painted turtle
Firemouth x3, and a fresh batch of fry
Black convict x4, and some fry
Jack Dempsey
Green Terror
Bristlenose pleco
Most would say my tank is overstocked, and it probably is LOL. But I run a home made sump with a Rubbermaid tote and about 4 gallons of bioballs. So far I've had about 4 batches of convict fry and my Firemouths just had their first batch. Everybody seems pretty happy.


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## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

I keep yellow belly sliders with 2 O's in a 150 g and doing fine, I also resently where given 2 snake neck turtles. I have'nt added any chiclids to that tank yet, but I will give it a try with some snail dweller fry/juvies.

The snake neck turtle is a effective hunter and will catch fish much easyer then most other turtles, but I hope the fast L. bulengeri's I got, are too fast for them to chach.

IMO 55 gal is in the small end for turtles, but it's IMO alway possible to upgrade the tank in a few years when needed, im working on a outdoor turtle/fish pond, for me to enjoy them outdoor during the summer. (to cold here in the winter)

As mentioned you should filter the water alot, but on the other side I have a single large Eheim canister running on my 150 g with 2 O's, 2 turtles a large pleco and some odd eal thingy I was given. With weekly water changes it's not a problem at all, the water is clear and parameters in check.

I have never brought a turtle, all mine was given to me by ppl who's tanks either where getting too small or they did'nt have time or what ever to take care for them. Remeber turtles are pet's for life, they can often survive there owner if they take good care of them.

Turtles need some UV light to optain Vitamin D, it don't matter if you give them vitamin power on there food, if they don't get UV light there system won't uptain the vitamins given very well. I prefere to give them sunlight, either thru a window or direct outdoor, yeah it means I need to clean the glass more often, but I save money on UV bulps and IME it's fine with periodes with less or no UV at all during the winter. Non of my turtles show any signs of signess, they have fine shell development and no signs of nutrition faliure.

So do your research on what turtle to get, there are lot's of cool turtles out there and be shure to look up there adult size. Here the biggest problem is LFS's who miss inform people and don't tell them how big they get, had some people contact me some time ago. There turtle where growing big and agressive, worrying about if it was safe for there little girl. I visit them and they have a alligator snapping turtle, outgrowin it's tank and IMO not something for the kids room. They could take of a finger if some unlucky kid got his hand in it's mouth, so read alot about turtles before you go buy one and so you get the kind you think is coolest of them all.


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