General Care Discussion :: Territorial Behavior ?

[nchiu86]

Hey everyone, I'm new here and I had a question regarding the recent behavior of my turtles ?

I have a red eared slider and a yellow bellied slider, both of which are female and less than 4 inches long in a 20 gallon tank. I've had them in the same tank for about 7 months now and recently I've noticed that the red eared slider swims up to the yellow bellied slider and starts wailing his arms VERY QUICKLY in front of my YBS's face. The YBS seems to ignore it and swim away. Is this the RES's territorial behavior ? Should I separate them ? Please help ! Thanks !

[flutterby]

Its possible its territorial behavior since they are in a tank thats two small for one of your turtles let alone two. You need 10 gallons of tank space per inch of turtle so bare minimum, you need 80 gallons for both of them to be in the same tank.

Another thing, are you absolutely positive that they are both females?

[Sprawl]

I'd recommend 20 gallon per adult turtle. however, is the turtle stretching it's arms straight in front of it and shaking them?

this sounds more like a male mating ritual? however i believe that very young turtles do this anyways.

if they are female. Adult female RES's i find to be very teritorial. even in a 60 gallon tank, my two RES's (8") try to kill eachother and bite at eachothers necks and throats. I've had to seperate them into two different tanks.

[megcornell]

Sprawl, 20 gallons is much too small for an adult res. They grow 8-12 inches depending on sex, and a 20 gal tank would hardly be enough room to turn around in let alone live in for the rest of one's life. Not everyone can afford to house turtles in a tank that meets the 10gallon per inch of shell recommendation but it's humane to get as large a tank as one can afford... if turtles are kept in too small a setting you see a lot of aggression as you described in your welcome post and as it looks like is happening with nchiu86's turtles.

[Sprawl]

ok. glad to know. however the solution i have is that i just baught a 2nd tank for the other. they both live in their own 60 gallon tanks now. I'd like to believe that it's enough

[SpotsMama]

Your turtles sound like a pretty lucky couple!