fish to go with my mata mata

[snakeguy101]

I am working on new 135 gal tank for my mata mata turtle (chelus fimbriatus) and would like to get some larger fish to compliment the tank. I already have 2 peacock bass and a large pleco but would like to get some other fish as well. It has to be big enough not to be eaten by the turtle but not too big as to outgrow the tank quickly. I would like to do an amazon themed tank as well so the water specifications will be acidic and warm. any suggestions on what i might keep? thank you in advance.
~Chris~

 

[coura]

I am working on new 135 gal tank for my mata mata turtle (chelus fimbriatus) and would like to get some larger fish to compliment the tank. I already have 2 peacock bass and a large pleco but would like to get some other fish as well. It has to be big enough not to be eaten by the turtle but not too big as to outgrow the tank quickly. I would like to do an amazon themed tank as well so the water specifications will be acidic and warm. any suggestions on what i might keep? thank you in advance.
~Chris~

I dont recomend doing the setup you are about to, sorry, matamatas like very shallow waters, kind of hidding place places full tank with lots of plants and a slow peacefull lifestyle wich is incopatible with the large fish your putting in. Also plecos and other big fish by that mater are a danger to your turtle, as well as a unnecessary sorce of competicion and stress. Dont do it man

 

[snakeguy101]

Thank you for your concerns but I have had the mata mata turtle for some time now and he is quite large so the tank is shallow enough for him to reach the surface and it had plenty of hiding spaces for him. The fish that are in there now have never seemed to cause any stress either, if anything, they avoid him.

 

[coura]

Thank you for your concerns but I have had the mata mata turtle for some time now and he is quite large so the tank is shallow enough for him to reach the surface and it had plenty of hiding spaces for him. The fish that are in there now have never seemed to cause any stress either, if anything, they avoid him.

Well at the very least remove the pleco, he will chew on your turt skin and shell and will leave it raw. Remenbar matas are botom walkers, they dont like to swim. I dont know how you manage to avoid the peacok ciclid from eating all of the mata food but it will be increasingly hard specialy as the fish grows large.

 

[snakeguy101]

I keep the tank stocked with minnows at all times and the Pbass and the mata mata eat as they need to ( I have set up a very large sump and canister filter to go with it as well as to counteract the amount of waste produced). The pleco has been in the tank for over a year now and has grown with the turtle, they stay on opposite ends of the tank a majority of the time and i have never once seen the pleco eating on the matamata. perhaps it is a rare circumstance for these animals to all be cooperating but they are...

 

[dirtyblacksocks]

I'm really becoming disheartened with this forum - it seems that 90% of the replies to anyone asking for advice are just lectures about how everything people are doing is being done wrong, and I'm wondering how many of them are just regurgitating facts that they've read on the internet - and how many of them have actual real time experience with the animals in question.

Either way - being a 20+ year hobbyist, I get really irked when I see anal retentive people going entirely overboard on the care requirements of an animal. Mata-mata's do fine with both pleco's and deeper watered tanks, so long as you have somthing free floating for them to hang onto when they see fit, and provided that the tank has hiding places for the pleco - as well as ample space for them to not constantly be in the same area.

As far as tank mates go - I would be inclined to recommend a large shoal of tetra, but since you're going to have pbass it's probably a bad idea. Most predator's get confused by a large group of tetra's and end up not eating any, but I think pbass being apex predators would have no problems getting a mouthful.

Have you considered doing some redhook silver dollars? Maybe a shoal of discus? There really are not a lot of options in a 135 gallon for South American fish that won't outgrow it but still coincide with a matamata and peacock bass. Especially if you're trying to stick to a South American biotype.

If I misinterpreted what you wrote and you won't be keeping the peacock bass in the new tank then you've got tons of options to go with.

 

[snakeguy101]

Thank you I am thinking that the silver dollars are going to be quickly consumed by the mata mata. I would like to try the discus, I think that they would be fine to go with the other animals in the tank but I have heard that they have strict water chemistry requirements. I am pretty good with keeping it stable but i dont want to invest in an overly delicate fish to go with a turtle. How hardy are Discus? Also, after doing quite a bit of research and finding that there are very few choices, I think I am going to go ahead and break the amazon theme and expand my options to other fish like gar or even something really cool like a freshwater lionfish. Snakeheads would be perfect but i understand they are illegal so they are probably out. I do live in FL however and understand that there are populations in the south, what are the rules of catching and keeping one so long as it never crosses a state line and is not purchased or traded? Stingrays crossed my mind but i figured that might not end well with the turtle stepping on one. I dont know much about them either. Can their stingers be removed without harm to they ray? All of these are just thoughts that I am throwing out there, I have not been researching any particular one species so pardon my ignorance.

Thank you

 

[dirtyblacksocks]

All of the husbandry questions about the care of specific fish should be addressed in their own individual forums. If silver dollars would be a meal for a matta matta then a discus would most definitely be one - silver dollars grow much larger and are a lot faster.

Redline/cobra snakeheads would make a meal out of everything in your tank once they get some size.

I would stick to target/dither fish such as silver dollars, roseline sharks ect. things that are fast moving and non-aggressive.

 

[uting]

snake heads, bichirs ( worked with me with my old AST), large cichlids , SDs,

 

[coura]

I'm really becoming disheartened with this forum - it seems that 90% of the replies to anyone asking for advice are just lectures about how everything people are doing is being done wrong, and I'm wondering how many of them are just regurgitating facts that they've read on the internet - and how many of them have actual real time experience with the animals in question.

Either way - being a 20+ year hobbyist, I get really irked when I see anal retentive people going entirely overboard on the care requirements of an animal. Mata-mata's do fine with both pleco's and deeper watered tanks, so long as you have somthing free floating for them to hang onto when they see fit, and provided that the tank has hiding places for the pleco - as well as ample space for them to not constantly be in the same area

Ok so your saing we should put animals well being in second plan and do what ever setup we want to do regardless of them? Plecos dont need hiding places to get of the mata way, they are the agressor not the hurted, the mata is the hurted, sooner or later pleco will do what pleco does and that is chew on stuff including other living things. I dont have a pleco-mata combo for many years to back it up but my own circunstancial evidence and other peoples direct evidence say its a very risky combo for the turtle. Plecos do injure wide surfaced fish and both hard shelled and softshelled turtles, period. If you ask to a experienced discus breeder if you can keep a big pleco with them he will trow stones at you. Matas are a delicate hard to adapt turtle species, they need shallow ,filled with vegetacion pristine warm waters and a calm lifestyle to tip the balance on their favor, that is actualy were you find them in the wild, having them to cope with fast deep water and stress from big fish going from one side to another may prove too much. Yes matas can drown And I beleave hands on esperience with this and like 26 other turtle species over 19 years gives me enough credit, thank you very much The reason we say no to a particular plan or combo is because we want to save other peoples ANIMALS, TIME, HARD WORK and TEARS for something that obviously aint gonna work, many times errors that have been done contless times and that cost MANY animal lifes. LEARN from others peoples mistakes dont comit your own, or at least new ones, not the same ones. In this case I beleave it is possible to reach a compromise. The pleco is in my opinion the bigest treat, maybe the peacok can be with the mata in the long run. However in its mind must allways be present the though that some day it could no longer work. Actualy a buch of big discus could be a great idea They are really peacefull and their temp and water requirements are the same as for the mata. At the same time they are hard to swallow, at least wille the mata is small