Chinese Soft Shell

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sajica

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 21, 2006
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I'm new to turtles and picked up one of these last week around 5cm. Is it okay to handle these guys often?
I have it housed with fish being a giant gourami , tire track eel and senagalus bichir and as its only small its not very competitive for food so I've been putting him in a container with water and feeding the turtle in that. So when I do this of course my kids want to hold it...
 
sajica;2456988; said:
I'm new to turtles and picked up one of these last week around 5cm. Is it okay to handle these guys often?
I have it housed with fish being a giant gourami , tire track eel and senagalus bichir and as its only small its not very competitive for food so I've been putting him in a container with water and feeding the turtle in that. So when I do this of course my kids want to hold it...
Click to expand...

It will BITE when they get big, and it BITE very HARD...

and

It will MAUL your fish (taking chunks)

:eek: Beware! :eek:

Never House Turtle with Fish!

;)
 
it sounds legit im no turt master but ur ggod for now but soon u can say bye to those fish... pics?
 
Thanks, all fish and turt are small with the giant gourami the largest at around 15cm together in a 6x18 100g tank. I plan to keep them like this for another 3 months until the fish are moved to a larger permanent tank and the turtle will get the 100g.

cheers
 
very good! they sound like there in good hands
 
Yep. As long as you separate them at a later stage.
And watch out for water quality. Turtles are messy.
 
I dont recomend both handling or keeping it with the fish you have. All turtles stress out alot when taken out of its normal habitat and this guys can really freak out. Also as soon it gets a bit bigger it will start bitting and this guys bite hard. Also dont forget its only a baby turtle and as you already said it will not get most food, but also transfering it to another conteinar will also afect it. Also some of thouse fish can represent a reall danger for it like the bichir. So what to do? I say you set him up in a small like 20gallon in its own, get a litle growth out of it and then transfer it to the 100gallon. Baby turts can get intimidated when putted all of the sudden in a big tank, let alone with thouse fish. Also put some cheap aquatic plants and a sandy bothom as well as filter and heater. This guys are a real joy to own:D I have a young adult male and he is one of the most personable and inquisitive turts I have. But he likes to bite also;) By the way what have you been feeding it?
 
I've decided I will divide close to 2 feet of the tank for now until the fish move as both the fish I have and the turtle are expensive here in Australia. The area I'm dividing off has a turtle doc and a small reflector with a UVB tube over it.
With feeding its so far been eating krill and bloodworm. Going to get to the shops hopefully tomorrow to find some other foods. Doesn't show any interest in any pellets so far though they were only the fish ones.
I'll also post a pic up tomorrow too so you guys can tell me if its definately a chinese softshell.

cheers for the help.
 
Oh and do you think that I could house 2 in the 100g by themselves? At $150 a pop I don't want to see one kill the other.
 
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