General Care Discussion :: BIG KOI FISH AND RES IN the SAME TANK???

[TXGUY]

HELLO EVERYBODY
well, bad times comes to everybody, I'm jobless, just lost my job today, the business is closing down, and i have my two turtles here in my work place, and can't take them home (NO ROOM ) I alreday have 3 aquariums in home (medium size apt) a friend of mine offer me to keep them in his fish pond, he has a lot of KOI fishes and other gold fishes, all of them are BIG BIg 10-12 or more inch long,
do you think will be ok for everybody to put them togheter ?
Donatello is 6 inch 2 yrs old, and baby turtle is 4-5 month old, they been living with 2 gold fishes for months, they are 1 1/2 inch long , they suppost to be food but the turtles just don't care for the fishes and they been wroging in the tank all togheter
hope to hear from you soon, I suppost to get them out the shop friday pm

I"M gonna MISS my turtles

[frogger6]

Sliders and Kois together are pretty common. I think many if not most turtle ponds feature that combination.

I've researched it a bit and some people say it's not a good combination, but their only REAL reason is that the turtles MAY bite at the fish's tails. If your firned is okay with that (fish tails grow back), then....

I don't think the fish will even pay attention to the turtles. And the only thing the turtles will do is nip at the fish if that. I've heard that they (the turtles) will pretty much ignore fish that are too big for them to eat.
I have 2 sliders and a large shovelnose catfish. not a normal combination, i know. the sliders competely ignore the big fish and visa versa.

You'd have to be sure though that this pond had some type of a wall around it (even a temporary plastic guard), because the sliders will get out and walk around looking for food and mates.

Lastly, I'm pretty sure you'll get some posts here about how it's not a good idea to mix turtles and large fish. But the very same people will preach establishing a natural setting for the turtles. I'm pretty sure that in the wild, turtles live side by side large fish. Like i said, your biggest worry would be them escaping.

[SpotsMama]

I disagree with frogger6's assessment of the risk of putting koi in with turtles. It is true that a lot of ponds have both with no problem. However, in other cases the turtles have irrepairably damaged or eaten the koi. I mean more than just nipping at the tail - I mean taking chunks out of the fish or eating it altogether.

It depends on your willingness to risk it - but be aware that the risk is NOT just that a turtle may nip at the fishes tail - it is that the turtle MAY kill the koi. Some people have expensive koi or koi that they've had a long time and are attached to and are not willing to take the risk. Others feel differently.

Just want to be sure that's clear. If you want case studies I'll look around here for some examples of turtles doing more than just nipping at a koi's tail. Then it's up to you.

By the way, TXGUY, I'm really sorry to hear about your situation. What a bummer. If your turtles have been living with fish and aren't interested then it's probably less likely that they'd go after koi, assuming they continue to get regular meals of pellets. But not a sure thing at all. Also, are you absolutely sure the climate is safe for turtles outside where you are?

[megcornell]

Sorry to hear about your job, that's never an easy thing do go through.

Although I don't agree with most of frogger's points, he does make a good point about finding out how your friend will feel about your turtles eating his Koi.
Whether they've eaten the goldfish or not, chances are they'll take some good bites out of the koi (especially the larger turtle) and may kill some. Koi may be larger but they can't defend themselves against the RES.
It will do you no good to have your friend get rid of your turtles after they kill a Koi or two.
The other issue is safety. Is there a fence or wall keeping the res contained with in the pond? Also is the pond adequate? Do they have a basking area?
Finally, what is the temperature like all year? Can the RES stay outside all year round? If not, this really isn't a good solution and I'd take the tank home with me until I could find someone to adopt them.

[frogger6]

No offense, But i kinda figured Spotsmama would be one of the ones advising against putting them together.
Like i said though, I have two sliders and a large fish in my tank and they ignore the large fish altogther.
They always have had smaller fish to keep them busy though, so that might be a good idea.

[Tenodera]

lol well all turtles are different and maybe your fish don't have killer instincts like most other turtles do.

[frogger6]

maybe. ..but i've had turtles before. generally they tend to stay away from larger fish and bite at smaller ones which they think are small enough for them to eat.
My feeder goldfish take a beating from my current turtles, but my larger fish are untouched