Conflicted!

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ElegantlyUnsophisticated

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 28, 2011
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San Diego
Hey everyone! Normally I lurk the fish forums around here, but I have a reptile question. So I keep a lot of fish, African Cichlids to be exact, Lake Malawi fish to be exacter. I've been doing hours of research, on this site and other corners of the Internet, about keeping turtles and fish together and I really want to keep a common musk turtle in my 55 with my fish. I truly believe this will work as I seem to have really gentle Mbuna, and I'm willing to make accommodations for the turtle should this not work. I'm working on designing and eventually building a little driftwood ladder of sorts for the musk to reach the surface easily. Anyway, while I was doing this research, I got distracted by the beautiful reptiles on this forum, and I have the sudden urge to expand my reptile collection with a lizard. Now the thing is, I have all these fish, and I also have a baby (teenage?) corn snake living in my room as well. I try and take the best care of him as possible and he's just as much of a pet to me as my dog, as he actually likes being handled.
My parents don't like the snake too much, but he's up in my room so he's not in the way. They have a policy with pets however, give one away, get a new one. The deal is that I find some bettas good new homes, and I'm allowed a musk turtle. Since I have an empty 15 gallon laying around (from when I had teeny tropical fish and then Mbuna fry growing out), I'm wondering if I can give a leopard gecko a good home for life in there. I could try and convince my parents to let me get a leo instead of a musk, but that may not go over too well since I just recently got a 55g tank.
I guess my question is, which one is worth pursuing with my parents more, the musk with the fish, or the leo in the old 15?
sorry about this long winded post :screwy: it's my first one and I'm having a hard time with a decision!
 
Good question! Between these two choices, I would go with the leo. When considering adding a musk to your cichlid tank, the concern isn't how will the fish treat the musk, but how the tank itself will treat the musk. They ARE a water turtle, but not the BEST of swimmers. It is reccomended that the water in an enclosure for a musk not get much deeper than a few inches. a 15 gallon tank is sufficient for the life of a Leo, they are suggested to have 10 gallons per gecko. So 15 should be sufficient. I would go with the Leo.
 
Good answer! Thanks! I'll need to see how the suggestion of a leo goes over with the parents, they liked the musk idea cause it was all in one tank. I'm worried I would have to give up Charles (the corn) which I really do not want to do. I'll offer to pay for everything and we even have an extra heat pad laying around, is that all a leo would need heat wise? The other problem is the issue of space, I'm limited to my room (we don't have a basement or anything) so I'll have to see if the 15 fits on the bottom shelf if I shuffle some old textbooks around. Wish me luck! I'll definitely need it.
If the leo thing doesn't work out, can I make accommodations for the musk in the 55 by making a shallow step area? Even adding a higher basking place above it. The fish could go under that and the turtle would have access to shallow water and the surface. Would that work?
 
so the idea of re-purposing the 15 went over quite well! It's amazing what parents will agree to when they're half asleep :headbang2I'll keep you updated on how this herpventure ends if you wish.
 
You should always design a turtle tank for the turtle, rather than trying to incorporate a turtle into a fish tank. I wouldn't advise keeping any kind of turtle with fish other than small fast species, cichlids can be quite aggressive even if you don't expect them to be.

Best,
Paul
 
I'm glad it went over well! I think your idea of adding a shallow area in your tank COULD work, but like Paul said, it is always better to set your tank up for a turtle rather than trying to incorporate him into a fish tank. It's better to do a turtle tank and find fish that would work with it. But, if the leo doesn't work out, it's worth trying to put him in your fish tank! Just be prepared to revert back if it doesn't work out.

As for the heat for the leo, a heat pad would be good, I would also ad a heat lamp as the light source. If you have screen lid over the tank, you can attach a heat lamp to the tank to shine through the screen. They are pretty cheap and easy to use. Just be careful not to start a fire cuz they got hot! Also, you will want to find a way to keep the tank humid. The heat lamp would help with that if you have a decent size body of water in the tank, it will evaporate the water and keep the humidity up. If space for a tank weren't an issue, I would suggest getting a large jar, filling it with water, and putting an aquarium heater in the jar of water. This keeps things warm AND humid. Win-win! Good luck! Do keep us posted!
 
Thanks everyone! Still working on convincing, dad's really into the turtle idea so I think we may go that route. But there still is a possibility of putting this 15 to use. I went to a different Petco today (ours never has reptiles for some reason) and WOW, I have been reptile deprived with these local petstores! I was wondering if I could keep a gargoyle gecko with the same 15g but without a screen hood and increased humidity? I read several care sheets and only one said the enclosure size, which was 10-20 gallons, can anyone confirm or deny this? Also, how are gargoyles with being handled? The sheets I read said they were docile.
 
Thanks everyone! Still working on convincing, dad's really into the turtle idea so I think we may go that route. But there still is a possibility of putting this 15 to use. I went to a different Petco today (ours never has reptiles for some reason) and WOW, I have been reptile deprived with these local petstores! I was wondering if I could keep a gargoyle gecko with the same 15g but without a screen hood and increased humidity? I read several care sheets and only one said the enclosure size, which was 10-20 gallons, can anyone confirm or deny this? Also, how are gargoyles with being handled? The sheets I read said they were docile.
 
I'd stay away from Petco, they're all trash when it comes to reptiles, not to mention their prices are outrageous. Try to locate a small local pet store instead of a big chain one. Prices will be better, animals will be healthier.

I'm not much of a gecko person, so I'll leave your questions on Gargoyle cage size alone, other than saying I have heard the same, and it seems logical to me. Again, I'd get someone else's opinion on that.
 
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