What turtle species can coexist with common musk turtles?

MafiaAlCapone

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I plan on buying a new tub for the little guy and I plan on buying another turtle, thing is, I don't know if they will get along. Is there any turtle species that can live with a common musk in peace? Sliders? Snapping?
 

Pastel Tortie

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Definitely NOT a snapping turtle.

Much of that answer depends on how large of a tub we're talking about, and how it's set up. I'll defer to @Markw84 for suggestions.

I have two female three-striped mud turtles in a 40 gallon breeder tank with several inches of water in it. They've gotten along well together, for the most part, for the (almost) three years I've had them. The species is known to generally get along with each other, but the last couple weeks or so, there's been a noticeable increase in aggression in the tank. There may be some extenuating circumstances involved (one may have injured her beak), but it's a situation I'm having to deal with. So there's no guarantee that two individual turtles will get along.

When I got a coupled spotted turtles hatchlings from the same vendor a year later, he advised me NOT to put them in with the mud turtles, even after everybody reached full size. Apparently mud and musk turtles can be tail nippers.
 

MafiaAlCapone

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Definitely NOT a snapping turtle.

Much of that answer depends on how large of a tub we're talking about, and how it's set up. I'll defer to @Markw84 for suggestions.

I have two female three-striped mud turtles in a 40 gallon breeder tank with several inches of water in it. They've gotten along well together, for the most part, for the (almost) three years I've had them. The species is known to generally get along with each other, but the last couple weeks or so, there's been a noticeable increase in aggression in the tank. There may be some extenuating circumstances involved (one may have injured her beak), but it's a situation I'm having to deal with. So there's no guarantee that two individual turtles will get along.

When I got a coupled spotted turtles hatchlings from the same vendor a year later, he advised me NOT to put them in with the mud turtles, even after everybody reached full size. Apparently mud and musk turtles can be tail nippers.
Even between each other? Damn, so the choices seem to be very limited I suppose
 

gtruck777

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Mud and Musk turtles can be pretty nasty to each other, and to other turtles. A map turtle might work, but as mentioned above, musks and muds can be tail biters. If you are keeping two or more musk turtles together or if you decide to add in a map turtle or something similar, I would recommend a very large enclosure. Something like a tuff stuff 110 gallon stock tank, or a rubbermaid 150 gallon. You would need to provide plenty of places for the turtles to hide and get away from each other, as well of lots of plant cover. I know people have been able to make this work, but it also comes down to the individual personalities of the turtles as well.
 

Moozillion

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I know keeping more than 1 turtle in a tank can be done because I've seen it, but it's tricky. You've got to do all the right things (bigger tank than you might expect which is $$$) AND you've got to be in a situation where you can keep a close eye on everyone daily.

You would need to consider the different needs of the different animals.
Snapping turtles are, by nature, VERY aggressive and will happily eat a smaller turtle- even hatchlings of their own species!
Sliders and cooters etc are FANTASTIC swimmers and get much larger than your common musk. They need a lot of water and deeper water in order to be happy and healthy. Although your musk is aquatic, he's not NEARLY as good a swimmer as sliders and cooters are- he'll need shallower water to be happy and healthy. And I know sliders are pretty aggressive towards smaller turtles.

I would think a turtle with similar size and needs to your musk would make the most sense. Although mud turtles are a similar size, they are WORSE swimmers than the musks, and need both shallow water and "furniture" to climb up to the water surface in order to be happy and healthy.
So probably another musk turtle, but only if you have a very large tank with plants and places for them to hide and be out of sight of each other.
I have separate tanks for my razor backed musk and my Mississippi mud.

Let's see what other members have to say! :)
 

Markw84

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You've received very good advice so far. I agree with most of what has been said above.

Common musk are not that aggressive at all. Not at all like a razorback musk male who will try to chase anything out of his area. Common musk are indeed notorious tail nippers. Not aggression, it just looks too much like a worm and they will test it to see if they can eat it! They will get along with most any turtle you put in with them. You just have to be prepared that cosmetically the tip of the tail of the tank-mate may end up shortened a bit. I've never seen one do real damage, but inevitably, they will nip the end of a tail.

They are good swimmers. The actually do best in deeper water. They do look like they are poor swimmers, but in fact they are great swimmers. It is just that they are bottom walkers - so they maintain a negative buoyancy to allow better traction along the bottom. So when they swim to the surface, they real paddle vigorously to get up. But a look at their feet and the large webbing will show you they are indeed swimmers as opposed to mud or spotted turtles who barely have any webbing to their feet at all. I've seen countless examples of musk turtles being kept in very large, deep aquariums - even with no basking dock whatsoever. They are almost totally aquatic.

I love them and think they are tremendously fun to watch patrolling the bottom. Like little bulldogs bounding about the bottom. They would do fine with most any turtle, but I would offer good hides and lots of fake plants. Just be prepared to end up with a slightly bobbed-tail tank mate.
 

Moozillion

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I plan on buying a new tub for the little guy and I plan on buying another turtle, thing is, I don't know if they will get along. Is there any turtle species that can live with a common musk in peace? Sliders? Snapping?
Just out of curiosity, why do you want to add something to his tub?

Are you just having fun and want more turtles? Maybe get a second tub instead!
Are you afraid he's lonely by himself? He's not- turtles TOLERATE each other in the wild because they have TONS OF SPACE in the great outdoors. They also attack each other, too, but we don't get to see that. You could add some fish or ghost shrimp if you don't care that he'll chase and eat them.
Do you feel he needs more stimulation? Add the right minnows and ghost shrimp to interact with him (but know that they'll likely end up being lunch!)
Are YOU finding him a little boring and would like to see a busy little aquatic community? Add fish that'll get bigger (making sure they have lot of space and lots of plants for them to hide in).

Just my two bits!
 

MafiaAlCapone

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Just out of curiosity, why do you want to add something to his tub?

Are you just having fun and want more turtles? Maybe get a second tub instead!
Are you afraid he's lonely by himself? He's not- turtles TOLERATE each other in the wild because they have TONS OF SPACE in the great outdoors. They also attack each other, too, but we don't get to see that. You could add some fish or ghost shrimp if you don't care that he'll chase and eat them.
Do you feel he needs more stimulation? Add the right minnows and ghost shrimp to interact with him (but know that they'll likely end up being lunch!)
Are YOU finding him a little boring and would like to see a busy little aquatic community? Add fish that'll get bigger (making sure they have lot of space and lots of plants for them to hide in).

Just my two bits!
I'm having fun and want more! XD
But i don't have much room to have 2 tubs, so I thought of giving him a tank m8.
 

ZenHerper

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People think of aquatic turtles as Social, when they are merely Communal. They don't have the choice of spreading out over the whole planet; they have to stay where the water is. And more specifically, where water that can support them is (chemically, nutritionally).

While they have evolved to tolerate each other better than terrestrial species, dramatically shrinking their territory can have consequences (especially when mixing species - which you see a lot of on craigslist, but those folks are rehoming their collections, so).

You need a lot of space for two to manage well and not fixate on each other as Competition for resources. Pairs of odoratus are adorable, but you have to be fully prepared ahead of time to separate them in the event they don't get on well together.

If you have a filter that can manage 2 turtles, then fish, shrimp, large colorful species of snails would be the way to go in a modestly-sized set up. Yep, some will go missing from time to time. =DD
 

Hungryturtle84

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After living together peacefully for a few months, my young loggerhead musk and red eared slider attacked and almost killed each other in the middle of the night. Luckily their previous owner heard the commotion and was able to seperate them and setup another tank for one. But he soon donated them to me, with strict instructions never to house them together again.
In my experience, unless they have a siblings that they're used to being around, it's always better to keep turtles seperate from each other.
It is really tempting to want more turtles, but unless you are willing to give them their own space if needed, you shouldn't get more.
After a few years, I managed to find room for my 500, 400, 300 litre and many more tanks. It all depends on how much responsibility YOU plan to take on.
 

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