Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A friend of my has a read ear slider in a 55 gal tank. She would to add 1 or 2 other animals in the tank also, preferable an amphibian. She had asked me knowing that I was snake lover, but I really have no experience with turles, so I pass the question off to see if any one has some suggestion or flat out not to do it.
Thank you

In a 55 gallon---> not without compromising the animal's health. The RES will likely eat any amphibian it could catch...

The RES itself will outgrow that 55 sooner or later.

Turtles in general are not great for communal enclosures. If this is to be done well, you're talking about an enclosure measured in metres, not gallons.

Ian

Well, if your friend wants their new pet to become turtle food, then yes put it in. Turtles are naturally glutons, and eat anything moving *or not*. I havn't really heard of anything that can be kept with a turtle

before you ever put ANYTHING into a turtle tank you should have it tested for internal parasites!! i bought cheap feeder fish from petland discounts and ended up with strongyloidiasis and flukes. it only costs about 10-20 bucks to have a fecal analsyis. but the vet bills of sick turtles are outrageous!!!!for a while i had an oscar with my turtles. he was full grown when i got him and unlike feeder fish, the turtles didnt bother him. oscars come from 2 lakes in africa and i hear you cant mix fish from different lakes. the oscar proved unsucessful for me because i wasnt keeping track of the alkalinity in the tank, and i didnt have a sufficient filter for the tank so i was doing complete water changes every 3 days, which is hard on the fish. theyre very sensitive fish. but the carnivorous oscars come in many different bright colors and theyre tough enough to chase off a turtle.when matinenced properly ive seen ocsars really brighten up a turtle tank.

Believe it or not, I've successfully kept American bullfrogs with res's, some res's ten inches or so. Trick is allowing for a place the frog can hide, since bf's usually go in water at night while the res's sleep.

I've experimented, believe me, and had raised bf's with turtles at least three times.

Yet it depens on one factor, whether you have fish or frogs: You must allow the prey a way of escape, but of course, not out of the tank.

Right now I have three 5" res's and two 4" yb's in a 125gal pond with four sunsfish, eight large goldfish; I have an 8" oscar and on occasion, bf's I turned loose in the yard.

Gist of the matter,like someone else said, is the size of your tank. I'll tell you one thing though. If you get a large enough of a bf, the frogs won't touch it! They hate the smell.