What are all the fish who can live with red eared sliders?

AnswerI have owned and bred Red Eared Sliders and Diamond Backed Terrapins for a number of years, and there are a few factors to consider when deciding what types of fish to put in your turtle tank, or even if you want to in the first place.

Two key things are the size of your tank and your style of set up. If your turtle has an aquarium heater in the water, people will often include fish like Plattys, Mollies, SWordtails and schools of small tetra such as Rummynose or Glo-Lite Tetras. Assuming the tank is big enough - keep the schools big (7 fish or more) to cut down on the risk of them being eaten. Keep in mind that the turtles by themselves, tax most people's filters, and adding fish only makes the harmful chemical levels in the tank (ammonia, nitrates, nitrites) rise even faster.

If your tank does not have an aquarium heater in the water(most turtle tanks only have a basking light for heat), you are relegated to pretty much goldfish and one species of cold water tetra called White Cloud Tetras. It is my suggestion to veer away from Fan Tailed or Fancy Goldfish, and stick to the more common Comet, Sarrassa, or Shubunkin Goldfish, due to Fan Tails slow movement. In cold or warm water tanks, people will often make use of Plecostomus (algae eaters) as cleaning fish.

Warning!! Keep in mind that when placing fish in an aquarium with water turtles, you *always* run the risk of the fish being eaten. Water turtles can be aggressive fishers, attacking, dragging to shore and eating prey that is longer than they are, so never assume big fish are safe. Also, to this end, make sure you never place toxic fish species (like freshwater puffers) in the tank with your turtle.

In my tanks at home I place Comet(feeder) goldfish in with my turtles. Comets can be purchased very cheaply at pet stores (about 15 cents a fish) and still come in a variety of colors from orange and black to red and white. It adds some movement to the tank, and nutrition to the turtles diet (calcium) when they do choose to eat one. The only thing to watch for, is that your turtle is still eating it's regular pelleted food and not living on a diet of just goldfish as they are rather fatty.

It is not good turtle keeping to feed any freshwater aquatic turtle goldfish regularly. Once every month or two is acceptable but it is suggested to feed Rosy Red minnows, guppies, sWordtails, mollys, platys. Goldfish are high in fat which is rough on the turtle to digest and is proven to lower the life spans of captive turtles.