YBS turtle and Cichlids/catfish or shark

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Mahtahild

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 18, 2012
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Kansas
I have a baby yellow bellied turtle and right now he's in a fifty gal with a betta and a handful of danios and barbs. Right now he's small enough he ignored the fish, but I know eventually he wont be. I plan on upgrading his tank once he's bigger, but I was hoping to get some fish while he's growing that he can live with once their all grown. So far I'm thinking:
Redtail Shark; they get about five inches, they're territorial and wont tolerate other sharks, so I think they would be able to hold their own.
Striped Raphael Catfish; they get about eight inches, I've read they ca be kept with aggressive fish like cichlids, and they have sharp spines along their bodies they can raise in defense and croak when aggravated.
Cichlids; firemouths, macaws, blue acaras, false green terrors, serums and discus' I've read are all relatively unaggressive.
I'm leaning towards cichlids, but I like all these options and I've also read people saying that their cichlids (especially other more aggressive breeds) would attack and harrass their turtles. So does anybody know about turtles and at least some of these fish, or have experience keeping turtles and fish that would could share with me? Thank you!
 
I've got a 5.5" RES with a red tail shark and 8 other african cichlid now. My turtle is not interested in them and doesnt chase or hunt for them. But when you first introduce the fish it might. Just Be sure to provide lots of hiding places that the turtle can't get to, i have 7 bricks in my tank, stacked in a way that there are holes between the brick wall that my fish can swim through or hide inside.
 
Whatever you do, NEVER combine a turtle with a raphael or any other spiny fish. If the turtle does decide to take a chunk, it will have a very big problem and could die..

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Would it really be that dangerous for the turtle is he actually decided to go for the raphael? Also in the cichlid forum one of the people said that redtails will probably aggravate the turtle into ending it's little life...
 
I've seen turtles with catfish spines stuck through their mouths because they tried to catch a meal - as above, don't do it.

I kept a red tail shark with my RES for a while, as long as you have plenty of hiding spaces for it the turtle should have a hard time catching it. They are notorious for jumping though, and turtle tanks should be open-topped, so you might want to use a wire mesh or something over the tank to prevent accidents.

Best,
Paul
 
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