I personally don`t understand why anyone would choose to keep US natives over tropical fish but I know there is a sub forum here with lots of members so you could always introduce yourself there.
I guess being able to go catch your own fish is a huge benefit to keeping Natives, I`m sure if I was good at fishing I would try a native tank too but for now there are too many tropical fish out there, I still have many I want to keep haha
Florida gars are great, mine is extremely peaceful, hes fine with fast moving fish and he just kinda keeps to himself. I recommend them for anyone without small fish in their tank. You could try a channel catfish, they get HUGE but with that tank size you should be great. you have to take pictures when you do set it up I would love to see fish and turtles Cohabbing, I hear its very difficult to do
If i could I'd get a gator gar. WAYYY too big for 300gal... i actually live in WA State. So i can't go out and catch fish that can live with my turtles. Need southern fish. And about turtles and fish living together... It's a hotly debated topic. But I've done it for years with minimal issues. If a smallish fish is sick. Its doomed. But with my adult oscars and adult plecos i just get a fin nip here and there. The oscars learned to look out for eachother and nip turtles first. They mainly minded their own business. It boils down to the personality of everyone. My map turtle is very peaceful. Not once has he bit or nipped at a fish. He even prefers the oscar over the other turtles. They hang out together, eat together peacefully, and sleep together. I've seperated my map and oscar from everyone else and they're both eating more, both getting fat, the oscars colors are looking amazing. I'm not sure how common this is(I'm guessing not very). But in my personal situation. My map and oscar are (for lack of a better word) friends. And my other 2 need to b put in their place then they pretty much keep to harassing eachother not fish.
