General Care Discussion :: Dwarf Gourami Or Other Fish?

[MrsWarren]

Hello I have a young red ear slider in my long 75 gallon tank, what fish can I keep with turtle even though he would eat them. I do not want goldfish, I heard they are too fatty for them to eat, what about dwarf gourami? Any other suggestions? I like to buy some fish to keep in the tank with the turtle for him to eat and live there.

[azazeal]

guppy fish are a common feeder fish, but they will eat just about any living thing you will put in there.

[SINI5T3R]

Cichlids are great fish for turtle tanks, they are quick and they usually are smart enough to stay away from the turtles. After a while the turtles will leave anything alone they know they cant catch. For algae you can go twords the Chinese Algae Eaters but they can be mean later as they get big but they are super fast and my turtles could never touch or get close to them.Iv had Gourami's with my Turtles in my Pond and they survived but there was so much room it could be different in a tank. Iv had luck with micky mouse plattys in ponds too but as far as tanks go they might get eaten aswell. iv also had luck with LARGE pleco's, nothing too small.

[SSMcLeod]

I prefer pleco's... as they grow at about the same rate as the turtles. So you do not run into the issue of it being safe at one point to only find it as turtle food when they get bigger

[happycamper]

My turtle shares his tank with sailfin mollies, neons, a plecostomus, platys, one killifish, swordtails, zebra danios and corys. He completely ignores all the fish that are in there now. He seems to enjoy watching them swim around. In the past ironically my guarami and fancy guppies are the only ones my turtle has eaten. I would stay away from slow, extra wiggly fish... and anything could eventually end up turtle food. So don't get anything too pricey.

[DrexelTanker0712]

yeah, anything that's too quick for the turtle to catch. my young turtles try to get the cories i have in my tank but have been unsuccessful so far.

[Karawr]

I've got bala sharks (buy 3 or more they like to be in groups, but beware they grow big) and 2 Chinese Algae Eaters. They're fast so my turtle can't catch them, otherwise he would eat them. He tried to chase them at first but after a week realized he's too slow and soon gave up. Stick to fast fish.

As others have said I heard plecos are good but make sure it is the same size/bigger than your turtle. I made the mistake of getting a 1inch pleco to my 5inch turtle and he got eaten in 3 days.

[SSMcLeod]

Plecos get pretty fast as well (however at less than an inch they are still slow - look for one at about two inches)

Another thing I have noticed. Fish seem to fall into two basic groups based on speed. Prolonged and Bursts.

Go for the ones that can keep up the speed - as the turtle will catch those that burst eventually. I had guppies that burst from side to side quickly, thinking thats much faster than my turtle so they are safe. Eventually the turtle cornered it when it was tired and it was dinner time. I went back to the pet store and sat and watched the tanks and eventually decided on Rosey Barbs (I already have Rainbow Sharks and Plecos, but they go unnoticed - don't know why, turtles just seem to not be able to seem them:P) I chose the Rosey's because while at the store they just swam in circles for a good 5 minutes at maintained speed - they were slower than the guppies but the flip logic came in - if they can keep the speed up the turtle will get tired first.

Three weeks in and my Rosey's now swim in circles around the turtles - mocking would be my guess...