thats only a half shot of the tank. id guesstimate it at around 500 or so, its about 3 foot tall, but a bit odd shapedericifish;2503197; said:
turtles + koi = ???
- Thread starter nitrofish1
- Start date
A few turtles will be OK. As long as they have a bask site and are well feed the koi should be fine.
ericifish;2503197; said:
My FRT's ruin mine in my 100"x30"x30" i can never do enough water changes!
I think that in a big enough pod they would be ok with koi but in a tank the size of yours koi would outgrow it very very soon and it would put too much load on your tank.
as far as mixing koi and turtles go, if the koi are at least as big as the turtle then you should be fine otherwise they'd become dinner for the turtle. I currently have a red eared slider and 3 koi living together for almost one year, all of them are under 6 inches, and besides the turtle sometimes nipping at their tails they all get along just fine(the tail nips grow back) My koi are standard and I guess the fancy long finned koi would be in more danger of losing their fins. As far as filtration goes, connect an external filter to an undergravel filter tray and cover it with coarse gravel or river stones. In this setup the undergravel filter tray that originally uses the gravel as a filtration media will serve as a perfect collector for the sinking waste that both the turtle and the koi produce. in this setup the coarse gravel or river stones do not act as the filtration media as much as just an aesthetic cover for the undergravel tray. waste goes through the cracks and gets taken care of by the external cannister filter.
Okay well. Lets look at requirements for both species:
Turtles: At LEAST 10 gallons per inch of shell, otherwise you are in for HEAVY maintenance. I have kept turtles since I was 5 years old (yes, kept them, not just found them and put them in a box) and they are real poop machines. Not only do they poop a ton, but they will eat a ton. You need to get them a good stick/pellet and fresh foods such as shrimp, tilapia, watermelon [a good, sparsely given, treat], other fish and seafoods, no mammalian proteins. A good vitamin on their food once a week will help with shell development and overall health. NEVER give feeder fish because, not only do they bring disease, but they make a GIANT mess of scales ALL OVER the pond when they are eaten. Plus, my turtles don't like the heads so those make a big mess and rot if you don't get them out right away. Water needs to be 72-75*F. Too cool and they have major metabolism problems, too warm and they will never bask (which is a BAD thing). They MUST [repeat MUST] have an area where they can easily get out of the water [easily!] and bask under a heat light. The basking site should be around 95*F. Also, they must have a UV light or they will DIE. Tube UV is okay but is ugly and very uneffective, also it must be within 12 inches of the shell to work. I would suggest combining UV and heat with a Self Ballasted (externally ballasted ones do not get hot) Mega-Ray bulb. http://www.reptileuv.com/
Koi: These fish have nearly no defense against predators... At all. These fish are big poopers and require a ton of space (I think I heard 400g each somewhere) to keep waste at easily manageable levels. They are voracious eaters (which could be a problem to the more shyly eating turtles) and can be overfed (which is a problem seeing that they will probably never let the turtles eat).
I think that you are asking for problems combining the 2 but, as long as the turtle's requirements are met (honestly, I am not much of a koi person) then I would be fine with it.
The main issues I predict will be turtles tearing up the koi (they might not be able to eat them, but they can chew the sh** out of them), the turtles never getting to eat because the koi will eat their food before they can, etc.
Turtles: At LEAST 10 gallons per inch of shell, otherwise you are in for HEAVY maintenance. I have kept turtles since I was 5 years old (yes, kept them, not just found them and put them in a box) and they are real poop machines. Not only do they poop a ton, but they will eat a ton. You need to get them a good stick/pellet and fresh foods such as shrimp, tilapia, watermelon [a good, sparsely given, treat], other fish and seafoods, no mammalian proteins. A good vitamin on their food once a week will help with shell development and overall health. NEVER give feeder fish because, not only do they bring disease, but they make a GIANT mess of scales ALL OVER the pond when they are eaten. Plus, my turtles don't like the heads so those make a big mess and rot if you don't get them out right away. Water needs to be 72-75*F. Too cool and they have major metabolism problems, too warm and they will never bask (which is a BAD thing). They MUST [repeat MUST] have an area where they can easily get out of the water [easily!] and bask under a heat light. The basking site should be around 95*F. Also, they must have a UV light or they will DIE. Tube UV is okay but is ugly and very uneffective, also it must be within 12 inches of the shell to work. I would suggest combining UV and heat with a Self Ballasted (externally ballasted ones do not get hot) Mega-Ray bulb. http://www.reptileuv.com/
Koi: These fish have nearly no defense against predators... At all. These fish are big poopers and require a ton of space (I think I heard 400g each somewhere) to keep waste at easily manageable levels. They are voracious eaters (which could be a problem to the more shyly eating turtles) and can be overfed (which is a problem seeing that they will probably never let the turtles eat).
I think that you are asking for problems combining the 2 but, as long as the turtle's requirements are met (honestly, I am not much of a koi person) then I would be fine with it.
The main issues I predict will be turtles tearing up the koi (they might not be able to eat them, but they can chew the sh** out of them), the turtles never getting to eat because the koi will eat their food before they can, etc.
Okay, good points, I have noticed the same things with the turtle/koi setup. I used to feed the turtle small feeder fish, but then I noticed that the turtle was eating too many of them and I heard they can get too fat from eating feeder fish. No more. I also devised a shallow area made from a sheet of plexi that is 2 inches from the surface of the water, next to the turtle's basking area. The koi do not swim in that shallow area and that is where I feed the turtle. furthermore I enjoy hand feeding both the koi and the turtle their own separate foods. I also feed them lettuce(non iceberg) and spinach, but I just throw that in the tank for all because it seems that both are spoiled and take their time eating their veggies.
as far as protection for the koi from the nipping turtles, I have set up a few tall decorative pillars on the tank's floor for the koi. The turtle cannot swim through them because its too wide. I also noticed that a moonlight helps the koi see the turtle at night if the turtle ever gets the midnight munchies
oh, the setup is only 55 gallons, the cannister is rated for 100 gallons, I make sure that there is no still water underneath the undergravel tray. I will post pictures of the setup soon.
as far as protection for the koi from the nipping turtles, I have set up a few tall decorative pillars on the tank's floor for the koi. The turtle cannot swim through them because its too wide. I also noticed that a moonlight helps the koi see the turtle at night if the turtle ever gets the midnight munchies
oh, the setup is only 55 gallons, the cannister is rated for 100 gallons, I make sure that there is no still water underneath the undergravel tray. I will post pictures of the setup soon.
Feeder fish are an OKAY treat, just make sure they have been quarantined for a few weeks to a month to prevent infectious diseases spreading.
Do not feed turtles spinach more than a few times monthly. Spinach is bad for the kidneys of a majority of reptiles and many small mammals. Also, even non-iceberg lettuce is pretty useless for the turtle and, from what I know, the koi ( NOTE: as long as the koi is getting enough fiber ) as it only provides fiber and is very low in nutrients compared to other foods. But you are right, it is fun to hand feed
Not to derail this thread much, but 55 gallons for a turtle might be okay (depending on species and ESPECIALLY gender) but turtle and koi? Goodness gracious that is A LOT of poop! Not to insult your intelligence, but koi get huge. Like 3 feet. Just saying... A warning on the undergravel filter: Even with backwards flow they trap quite a TON of crap and it just ends up adding to bad water quality
Do not feed turtles spinach more than a few times monthly. Spinach is bad for the kidneys of a majority of reptiles and many small mammals. Also, even non-iceberg lettuce is pretty useless for the turtle and, from what I know, the koi ( NOTE: as long as the koi is getting enough fiber ) as it only provides fiber and is very low in nutrients compared to other foods. But you are right, it is fun to hand feed
Not to derail this thread much, but 55 gallons for a turtle might be okay (depending on species and ESPECIALLY gender) but turtle and koi? Goodness gracious that is A LOT of poop!
Not to insult your intelligence, but koi get huge. Like 3 feet. Just saying... A warning on the undergravel filter: Even with backwards flow they trap quite a TON of crap and it just ends up adding to bad water quality