General Care Discussion :: New Roommates and strange behavior

[nemo lover]

Okay, so Nemo got 2 roommates today. A friend of mine knew someone who was moving and they were going to release their RES in a nearby pond and asked them if I could have them instead. So, I got a six inch female and her 2-3 inch baby. I already had Nemo, a five inch male. Anyhow, bought a brand new 55 gallon set up to accomidate my growing family. Brought the new ones in and Nemo is flipping his claws in front of the baby's face. Not hurting him, but just standing right in front of him and moving his claws super fast in the baby's face. I've never seen Nemo do this in my life. Is this some sort of male dominance? Should I seperate Nemo from the baby and mama? Will they get used to each other? When I put them in a feeder tank, Nemo let the baby ride on his back. So I think they are getting along, but I've never owned multiple turtles before now. Any hints or suggestions? All 3 have been checked out by a vet and Nemo is completely healed from his shell infection, just shedding old shell but the vet said this is normal after shell infections. The vet said it was safe for them to be in one large tank. (he recommended the 55 gallon tank)

[missibsu]

I would say that it is dominance. Check out this other current thread and see if the info there doesn't help some.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=

Also, if you have a five inch male, and a 6 inch female, you are looking at 110 gallons needed right there, and that doesn't include the baby.

[nemo lover]

Alrighty, need to seperate them then?

[GPRenegade]

I currently have the same problem... Apparently larger turtles are capable of killing and injuring smaller turtles and are very territorial. Your tank is FAR too small for the three of them. While 55 gallons may be suitable for one five inch turtle you would need at least a 100 gallon tank for the three of them. The vet obviously never tried squeezing three turtles into a small tank. If the agression dosnt stop quickly you may need to seperate them or consider giving them away... Personally I'm not ready to get rid of my new turtle. So you might consider a bigger tank and slow introduction. I'll try everything I can to avoid abandoning a turtle.

[SpotsMama]

There aren't any other turtles around for my male turtle to dominate, so he does the fluttery thing to stones on the bottom of his tank.

[CountryGirl68]

My turtle does that fluttering dance to his reflection in the glass. That has made it clear that he does NOT want any other turtles in his home.

[GPRenegade]

HAHAHA... You should get a video of that spotsmama... = ]

[tinkerbell_pg]

mine have not done that yet i have 2 one inch RES and i got them frome the same tank with 30 other RES at the mall there where 3 10 gal tanks all spred out so that is how i got mine but im going to keep look at my tank to make shure there is no fluttering there are not doing it yet