Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Would it be ok to keep a Diamondback terrapin in the same aquarium setup with a Musk turtle? If so, could I get by with this using a 70 or 75 gallon tank? Are there any species of musks in particular that might coexist better with diamondbacks?
Thanks,
Mark

also, from what I've read about musks turtles, they are very good at cleaning up the mess at the bottom of a tank. Is this true? They sound kinda like the reptile version of a pleco.

Musk are bottom walker and curious little turtles if you got one it pwould find some food your DBT may not but I wouldn't sday it will keep you tank "clean" ofcourse thats not why your getting it so its ok. As far as them two go I not sure adults DBT are best kept in brackish water as they would in the wild so if your trying to do it the proper way then I'd say only DBT with DBT. But others seem to keep them in fresh water with no ill effect, I'll let other help you with that.
Xavier
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1.3.0 Leopard Geckos
2 Blizzard females, pair of albino trempors male is tangerine
Turtles
1.0.0 Common snapping turtle
0.1.0 Belize slider
0.1.0 Egyptian tortoise
2 hatchlings on the way a blacknobbed sawback and a commonmusk

I've heard the debate about DBT in either freshwater or brackish water goes 50-50. Captive bred diamondbacks I've read can do well in freshwater, but only a captive bred. I've also read that Eastern mud turtles commonly thrive in brackish water conditions. Im more concerned with the territoriality of the muds, if they would tolerate other species of turtles.

>>I've heard the debate about DBT in either freshwater or brackish water goes 50-50. Captive bred diamondbacks I've read can do well in freshwater, but only a captive bred. I've also read that Eastern mud turtles commonly thrive in brackish water conditions. Im more concerned with the territoriality of the muds, if they would tolerate other species of turtles.

Ok, my two cents......
I have done some changes and some moves with all of my tanks and turtles and I now have an eastern mud and a common musk in with a couple of Diamondbacks. They are all doing great.
When I first got my Diamondbacks I opted for a brackish tank. Then after talking to several experienced breeders and a little experimentation I decided to go with a less then brackish environment. The 75 gallon tank they are in now had two cups of aquarium salt added. This is not enough to bother the other turtles and seems to be fine with the diamondbacks. I think something much more important to them is just keeping the water clean. They do better in clean water.
As far as aggresion towards each other....there is non by any of the turtles. They basically ignore each other.
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Remember, my posts are MY opinion only.
Jimmy (draybar)

Hi that actually sounds like something I want to do. But just one diamondback with a musk or a mud. Now someone in a different forum told me that diamondbacks require huge tanks, a 120 gal minimum for just one! (and thats a male) However Austins turtle page said that I could do a 65 gal for a male and 75 for a female. The guy from the other forum also said that he would definitely not recommend a Diamondback as a beginning turtle, as they require pristine water and tank conditions. Have you found this to be true? Does it really take a lot of knowledge and experience with aquariums to have one of these? And do you have any pictures of your tank I'd like to see it. Thanks
~Mark

If this is your first turtle, I would not get a DBT. They do require more care than say a mud/musk. I would first get the mud/musk of your choice then if you think you could handle another, get a DBT. I have heard mixed things on keeping DBT's with other species of turtles. Some people do it with no problems, others put in antoher turtle and it gets it's head bit off. I think it just depends on the personality of the turtle. Some turtles are more aggressive than others. Now with keeping muds/musks with other turtles... I have also heard mixed feelings. Some people say they are great community turtles, others have had them attack anything that goes into thier tank. Muds/Musks seem to be very territorial, even with thier own species. So all and all I would not chance it and just get one of the two. Or if you really want them both, get 2 tanks. A single DBT needs at least a 75gal tank (90gal being great). A single Mud/Musk needs about a 30gal long. Now if you wanted to house both in the same tank, you will need about a 100gal.
Hope this helps...
Chris D.

P.S. If you are not a member at the ATP forums, join! They give great advice.
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Hey mine name is Chris and I currently have 1.0 Midland Painted, 1.0 YBS, 1.1 Leopard geckos, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

I could put two Musks together in a 60 gal right? I was wanting to do this first, but like you said I heard that musks are really terratorial and don't get along with other Musks. I would really like to have another small species of aquatic turtle that I could keep in there with the musk. Something different than a musk, but is still mostly aquatic and likes to bask. I loved the tank that they had set up at the pet store, with a musk and a bunch of baby softshell turtles. I thought the softshells were really cool, I'm not sure what species of softshell they were though. They had a dark green shell with some little spots on it. I knew that softshells eventually get pretty big for a tank that size (55 gal) so I questioned the guy at the pet store about this. He said that it was ok to have baby softshells in a tank that small because I could always get rid of them to an animal rescue when they got bigger. Either that or I was thinking of putting a baby red earred slider in there with the musk until it got too big and then I could send it to an animal rescue. Would this be ok?
~Mark