200 Gallon Fish with terrapin stocking?

[Justepic]

I have a 55 gallon with Rosy Barb's and diant danio so medium sized fish however when I asked the fish store peeps if I could have a sengal bichir in their they said they would get eaten in 6 months. So yeah.

My ideology is that the terrapins spend most of their day basking and they only go down to the middle of the tank and the bichirs are on the bottom. Just have to see.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

In my opinion a 200 gallon is too small for 2 fully grown sliders. They are more than capable of inflicting injury to fish and are more likely to do so in an enclosed environment.
I get the impression your just going to do what your going to do so good luck to you and your poor stock.

 

[jjohnwm]

Most turtles get accustomed to the fish and don't bother chasing them actively, although just about any turtle will eat a dead fish that it finds. There's always the exception to the rule...that one turtle who spends all day every day scheming and plotting to catch a fish...but that's not common. I have an adult-sized Musk Turtle which has lived since it was a hatchling with fish...Guppies, Medakas, Rosy Reds, Porthole Livebearers, Corydoras, though not all at the same time...and I have never seen it strike at a live fish. Many years ago I had an indoor pond/tank with several large Red-ears, Diamondbacks, Cooters, etc. together with goldfish and never lost a fish to them...but that was a continuous flow-through system and it still wasn't ideal in terms of water conditions.

Having said that, the fish were added just to add a bit of spark and movement to the tank; I would never introduce something special that I really, really wanted...like your Ornate Bichir.

Reading through this thread, I see both 100 and 200 gallon tanks mentioned. If it's 100 gallons, you are already overstocked with two large Red-ears. If 200, and if you have efficient filtration, and if you are committed to massive and frequent water changes, you could probably get away with a school of smallish, hardy, preferably fast-moving fish like Danios or similar. Guppies would probably work. But if you don't want to make this a fish torture chamber, you'd better be ready to change water a lot. To be clear, I'm not referring to 20% weekly changes; think more along the lines of 100% at least once a week.

And, since it sounds like this will happen no matter how many people suggest that it shouldn't...get into the routine of feeding the turtles in a separate container. Use a Rubbermaid-type bin, fill it with a few inches of water of the proper temperature, and place the turtles into it for feeding. One at a time would be better. Leave each turtle in the bin long enough for it to finish eating and also to produce the massive post-meal poop that usually follows, before returning it to its tank. If your Red-ears are adults they would be fine with twice-weekly feedings, and doing it this way goes a long way towards keeping the tank clean...or at least less polluted.

Just be aware that keeping fish with turtles will never be ideal for the fish, no matter how much money you spend or how much effort you put into water changes.

 

[Justepic]

I hear all u guys. I don't want to take the risk of harming any of the fish so this is what I might do...

In a 200 gallon, ornate bichirs with some cichlids e.g. Jack dempsey and oscar. I will have a sump for filtration. I can add the terrapins and monitor heavily to see if there's any aggressive behavior. I have seen many people have terrapins with fish lifelong. However, each terrapin is their own. If I find anything wrong, I will remove the terrapins to a temporary tank and go in from there (different tank for terrapins)
Alright or not?

 

[FIU Panther]

You've received good advice from multiple people that mixing the turtles with fish in a 200g is not a good idea.

At the end of the day it's your choice, just know the members on here have a lot of experience and what they are advising you is for you and your fish/turtles good. These forums tend to be a better source of information than what you see on Youtube, especially when the advice comes from seasoned members.

Good luck.

 

[jjohnwm]

Aggressive behaviour probably won't be the problem.

Fish living in what is essentially diluted urine is the issue here. You will be a slave to constant water changes. If you are on city water, as opposed to your own well, you will need to pre-treat it all for chlorine/chloramine. You will also need to pay attention to temperature-matching; this is much more important when doing a major water change as opposed to a minor 25% change.

During the water change you will likely need to remove the turtles; otherwise you will have two large aquatic turtles surrounded by fish which are flopping around in front of their noses in just a few inches of water; a completely different situation than living together in a full tank of water. Just too tempting to risk.

Without fish, pre-treating won't be necessary (although still desirable, in the case of chloramine), and temperature matching is not as critical...close is close enough.

So, I dunno..."is this alright?"

 

[Justepic]

Alright I won't risk it.

 

[PGJE]

From my experience turtles will be very aggressive with fish unless you ‘break’ them, or basically surround them with feeder/cheap fish until they stop biting them in general. Every turtle will be different, it worked for me