Red Eared Slider Question

[bellyboo]

I apologize if this is the wrong folder!

My local humane society just had a red eared slider come up for adoption and I'd like to help the little guy out. We have a 55 gallon fish tank and owned two RES in the past. They died an unfortunate early death when they were eaten. My mistake, I know. I felt/feel horrible about it. It was a stupid error...home too late one night and left them out in their pond over night.

Anyway....here is my question/concern. We currently have fish living in the fish tank. Two fan tail gold fish, a pleco, a little cat fish, and 3 tetra's. Mixing turtles and fish is a no-no, correct?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Yvonne G]

It would be ok, except, if the fish are pretty slow-swimming, they will get either eaten or chewed on. Turtles don't expend too much energy chasing fast-swimming fish, but fish ARE on a turtle's menu.

 

[bellyboo]

Eh, that's what I was thinking. My kiddos would be heart broken! Lol! Honestly though, the fish could easily be down graded. It's a huge tank for so few. I just didn't know if i wanted to be the crazy lady with 3 dogs, 2 cats, a fish tank, a turtle tank and a tort. Lol! I'd like to help the poor guy out though. From the sounds of it he came from a home where the people had no clue what they were doing. Impulse buy, then turned him over.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[african cake queen]

hi, i took in an abused slider , got her better and rehomed her. i would take the fish out if you dont want them to get eaten. good luck. post picture if you take the slider.

 

[bellyboo]

I think I will take him in. I can put my fish in a 10 gal for now. They would have plenty of room. I spoke with the gal at the humane society and they practically begged me to take him. They have no clue how to take care of him. We're a smaller, rural town and they normally only have cats and dogs.

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And thanks for whoever moved my thread! Lol! I thought it was probably wrong, but I'm on my iPad on the app real quick and didn't see the other. Sorry!

 

[ascott]

Good save....you rock solid!!!!

 

[bubbles01]

BE THE CRAZY LADY!!!! Hats off to you, help the little guy out. x x x

 

[bellyboo]

BE THE CRAZY LADY!!!! Hats off to you, help the little guy out. x x x

Ha ha! I think I've been the crazy lady for quite a while. Many of our friends have no pets or kids, so we're all full of crazy compared to them! I love it though...life would boring without a little crazy.

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Another goofy question...the tiny aquarium rocks won't hurt him, will they? I mean, will he eat them? It's been 7 years since I had mine, and we never had rocks, so I'm not sure and not finding a definite answer online. I'll get them out this week, but if I go get him tonight I won't have time to set every thing up since this is a spur of the moment adoption. Form the sounds of it he's in a TINY bowl there, so I'd like to go get him.

Thanks again!

 

[african cake queen]

frankie did eat pebbles , i dont think gravel would be good. think about feeding it in another container , plastic bucket or some thing. it will save your filter and keep water cleaner longer. frankie got pelet food, fish, and night crawlers. when she was little it didnt matter too much , but as she grew so did her tank. thank goodness you have a big tank.'lol' did you say if it was a male or female? you have a good heart. good luck.

 

[bellyboo]

frankie did eat pebbles , i dont think gravel would be good. think about feeding it in another container , plastic bucket or some thing. it will save your filter and keep water cleaner longer. frankie got pelet food, fish, and night crawlers. when she was little it didnt matter too much , but as she grew so did her tank. thank goodness you have a big tank.'lol' did you say if it was a male or female? you have a good heart. good luck.

I *think* it's a male. HOnestly, they didn't know much about it. I'll get all of the gravel out, hopefully tonight. I think one shouldn't be too horrible for it though.

Thanks so much!!!

 

[african cake queen]

frankie did eat pebbles , i dont think gravel would be good. think about feeding it in another container , plastic bucket or some thing. it will save your filter and keep water cleaner longer. frankie got pelet food, fish, and night crawlers. when she was little it didnt matter too much , but as she grew so did her tank. thank goodness you have a big tank.'lol' did you say if it was a male or female? you have a good heart. good luck.

I *think* it's a male. HOnestly, they didn't know much about it. I'll get all of the gravel out, hopefully tonight. I think one shouldn't be too horrible for it though.

Thanks so much!!!

they are lot of fun. use to put frankie outside in a kiddie pool in the summer.they love the sun. the mailman just loved it!
and i too dont think just one is too bad. good luck.

 

[ascott]

When I first took in my two RESs they use to have gravel...well after caring for them and having to clean out their tank enough times....I decided to kick the rocks out because I always was concerned with them taking in a pebble and getting impacted as well as the tank was much cleaner and much easier to clean thoroughly...so about three weeks after all pebbles and rocks were removed I turned on their lights one morning and while checking them out I looked at the bottom of the tank and to my surprise two pretty good sized pebbles!!!! So apparently one or both if them had eaten a pebble and it took em about three weeks to get em out....man that freaked me out...so I no longer keep gravel or any rocks of any kind in their tank....they have a tank topper I made for basking and dry out...a basking float and water...that's it (week a filter and heater too of course )

So I usually will advise against adding rocks...I know lots of folks do..but after dealing with a CDT that was impacted solid with sand and then the crazy RES pebble deal...I am always cautious with items that can serve as increased impaction risks....

 

[african cake queen]

the same thing happened to me too. i also seen frank swallow a pebble on the ground outside. my vet said that was strange that frank ate it on land and not in water. i dont know, but she did it a couple times. had to be careful after she passed a few stones. it does freak you out.

 

[dmmj]

RES will eat anything they can catch. possum babies, birds, plants, fish.

 

[bellyboo]

When I first took in my two RESs they use to have gravel...well after caring for them and having to clean out their tank enough times....I decided to kick the rocks out because I always was concerned with them taking in a pebble and getting impacted as well as the tank was much cleaner and much easier to clean thoroughly...so about three weeks after all pebbles and rocks were removed I turned on their lights one morning and while checking them out I looked at the bottom of the tank and to my surprise two pretty good sized pebbles!!!! So apparently one or both if them had eaten a pebble and it took em about three weeks to get em out....man that freaked me out...so I no longer keep gravel or any rocks of any kind in their tank....they have a tank topper I made for basking and dry out...a basking float and water...that's it (week a filter and heater too of course )

So I usually will advise against adding rocks...I know lots of folks do..but after dealing with a CDT that was impacted solid with sand and then the crazy RES pebble deal...I am always cautious with items that can serve as increased impaction risks....

I never had anything in the bottom of the tank with our other two. I never wanted to deal with the mess! I took about half of the rocks out tonight and will get the rest tomorrow when I do a full water change.

 

[zesty_17]

keep in mind that goldfish/feeder fish tend to have high bacteria levels and if fed for extended periods of time can cause septicemia in water turtles. i have unfortunately witnessed this lesson the hard way

 

[bellyboo]

keep in mind that goldfish/feeder fish tend to have high bacteria levels and if fed for extended periods of time can cause septicemia in water turtles. i have unfortunately witnessed this lesson the hard way

Thanks for the info! The fish are all out into a smaller tank, so he's alone. I'll give him a 100% water change as well. Do you think that needs to be done tonight, or will I be ok waiting a day?