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I have an outdoor pond (approx. 150gal) with four RES baby turtles (1.5 inches in length). They currently share the space with eight fan-tail guppies. They seem to get along great and the guppies actually swim right in front of the RES quite calmly.

I would like to know if I can safely add any other tropical fish types, maybe gold fish, young koi or even hillaries? Do you think the baby RES will be safe with these other fish, especially the Koi who are physically bigger?

FYI - I live in Trinidad (Caribbean) where the climate is very tropical.

Keep this in mind..whatever you put in with your turtles, has the potential to become food. Sooner or later.

Goldfish i would stay away from, they are too fatty and are more likely to carry parasites (in case your turtles decide to eat it) Yes, you can keep fish in with your turtles. But dont get mad or sad when they decide to eat that expensive fish that you JUST bought.

I wouldnt keep koi in with baby RES. In my opinion the koi are too big..wait till they get older.

Also, golfish prefer cooler water and tend to get sick in turtle-appropriate temperatures.

Well, first off I was wondering if you are planning on getting a bigger pond? You gotta think of the whole 10 gallons per inch rule with the turts plus at least 1 gal per inch of fish.

When calculating livestock for your pond try to calculate by their adult size, one tiny koi can someday be a 24inch fish & a baby RES will become 8- 12 inches... Unless of course you are planning on moving them to a new set-up someday.

Gold fish create a lot of ammonia and waste and if you have too many it may be hard to control the ammonia levels in your pond.

Personally, I think your guppies were a great idea. I also think If you had enough space or are planning on getting more ponds/set-up's it would be fine to add baby koi or goldfish. But, as it stands now adding more fish would make it very difficult to keep the ammonia levels down to keep you RES's healthy, in the long run. I'm just thinking about when they all grow up it will be a lot of animals in a small area.

I have one full grown 8 inch RES in my 150 gal pond. He has 3 large goldfish, 3 koi (3 inches each), and 8 rosie red minnows. I know that someday my koi will outgrow my pond and I'll build another one then. Mr.T loves his fishy friends and surprisingly has never been aggressive towards them. They share food and everything. My koi and goldfish are doing great in the environment that was intended for a RES. They are all very healthy & growing very fast.

I have turtles and goldfish together,some goldfish 6 inches.
Just be careful at feeding,if they all head for the food at the same time the turtles will snap at the fish,but so far the fish have quicker reflexes.

Yea, fish are definitely faster than turtles.

Welcome to the forum!

My turtle ate gold fishes =( well the baby gold fishes i had in the pond