Housing fish with turtles?

[Itort]

Question : How long has anyone kept healthy DBTs in fresh water? I wondering because when I lived in Maryland as a kid (and I spent my time runnig the'woods' and fishing) I never saw one in freshwater. Saw plenty of river turtle (sliders, painted, ect) but no DBT. Did see them in Chesipeke bay.

 

[Seiryu]

Question : How long has anyone kept healthy DBTs in fresh water? I wondering because when I lived in Maryland as a kid (and I spent my time runnig the'woods' and fishing) I never saw one in freshwater. Saw plenty of river turtle (sliders, painted, ect) but no DBT. Did see them in Chesipeke bay.

From what I have been told. Jonathan from http://www.diamondbackterrapin.com/index2.html

has said that you can keep them on fresh water their entire lives. The downside to it is you have to keep the water crystal clear. And the best way for that is to get an "overkill" filter for your setup.

And on his website it says wild caughts under 5" can be slowly moved from brackish to fresh over time by lowering the saline levels slowly. Anything wild caught over 6" should be kept in brackish water.

As far as CB hatchlings goes, you can keep them on fresh water their entire lives, but have to be real careful about shell rot.

 

[Jacqui]

I had a Pleco housed with our group of female Red eared sliders for over three years, before he died from something other than the turtles. He was placed in the hottub as a small may be 3-4" incher with one other one, who did not survive the first summer. I never saw any missing chunks on him.

It's dependent a lot on the individual turtles in my experience. I always start with cheap feeder fish and work up to more expensive fish (or at least prettier ones ) as I find they survive. Some turtles just love fishing for their suppers, while others never will look twice at them. The group of RES who had the pleco were a group who would not work for a meal, but had a feeding frenzy, if given dead fish.

Odds are helped if the fish have places they can hide in, where the turtle can't go. Plus the larger the tank, the better the survivial odds will be.

Always keep in your mind, that sometime along the way, the turtle may some day decide it wants to have fresh fish for supper.