Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:44 pm Re: Turtles and African Cichlids?
I keep a community of bottom feeders with my RES, consisting of a couple of ancistrus, 3 golden algae eaters and 9 corys, so far successfully after 9 months. Since chichlids stay mostly in the middle and top half of the water column, however, they will be sharing water space with the turtles more than bottom feeders. I suggest you give them a safe area where they can retreat if a turtle goes after them. In my tank I have a couple of stainless wire shelves sitting on the bottom with about an inch and a half of space under them. On top of the shelves I have numerous heavy ornaments that provide cover over the safe area under the shelves in addition to providing their own hiding places. In your scenario you'd probably have to put a stainless grill vertically in the tank to create a safe space at one end or the other, or even both ends.
Also, the bigger the tank the better, since with more water the fish will have more opportunity to avoid the turtles when they have to. I think 55 gallons is a bit minimal, considering the size of your turtles and fish. As Steve indicated, you must assume that sooner or later the turtles will go after the fish, especially the smaller ones. As the turtles grow all the fish will look smaller to them, and hence more like food. The more water and safe hiding places the fish have the better their chances to survive.
There are a number of members of this forum who keep fish with their RES. So I think if you do a search you will find threads where their various experiences are related.
