General Care Discussion :: adding new turtles

[speak376]

hi i have a red ear slider turtle in a 20 gal long tank.it is about 3'' long
aproxamatly 2 yrs old and i would like to add another one.can you please tell me how big of a turtle i can put in with it. or should i wait a bit more until the one that i have gets bigger.

sincerley yours,
speak376@yahoo.com

[kinetic]

well, ill get the ball rolling with this one...

if you get another turtle youll need a bigger tank (you will actually need a bigger one anyway, but thats besides the point)
I got one turtle, and then shortly after got another from the same shop and same pond (they were being kept in an indoor pond) they got along fine for a little less than a month and now ive had them separated for the last couple of months cause they grew to be very aggressive towards each other

also, just something to consider... if you have a male and female in the tank, at some point the male is going to want to mate which means another chance for aggression some people have seen the aggression lessen if the turtles have a lot of space and hiding spots in the same tank

im sure others will have more to add, this is just what i know from my experience

[Starchick]

Definitely, you never want to get a turtle counting on it being able to get along with another. Many times they just don't. If you do decide to get another turtle, make sure you've got money saved up because may need to invest in an entire extra tank setup.

Aside from aggression issues, the 20 gallon tank is already small for a 3 inch turtle. The rule is 10 gallons per inch of shell. You're probably okay for now, but no way would two turtles have enough space in there.

If in the future you did decide to get a large tank to attempt to house two turtles together, you'll want to make sure your second turtle is of comparable size, not a hatchling or a beast! A big turtle can do a lot of damage to a little turtle (although two same sized turtles who hate each other can do the same!)

[industrial_girl_2000]

How big is your turtle (length of shell)? If your turtle is more than 2 inches long, you need to upgrade your tank.

FYI: turtles don't need "friends" and get aggressive with each other if the tank is too small. The rule is 10 gallons per inch of shell, so a 20 gallon tank would be big enough for a turtle UP TO 2 inches long. If you had two 2-inch turtles, that would be 4 inches of shell length which would mean a minimum of a 40 gallon tank, but since turtles grow, you would want a much bigger tank than that.

Turtles are not like goldfish. Turtles continue to grow regardless of how big their container is. Those tiny turtles can grow to be up to 12 inches long so you have to plan accordingly.

[speak376]

thank you for the info