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I'm new to the turtle world! (Just got it yesterday!) I haven't gotten the oppor. to measure but he's very small. An inch or two, I would guess? Well I set him up with a 5.5 gallon tank, a basking area, heat lamp and things. And I thought I might like to add a fish to the tank. But I wasn't sure if it was okay? If there were certain fish that would be fine with the turtle or not. Any information would help.
Thanks.
-Julie and Crush

Just ask for feeder guppies.

Also, if the turtle is already an inch long, he would require a minimum of a TEN gallon tank. The rule-of-thumb is 10 gallons per length of shell. So, for example, if his shell is 2 inches long, then he should already be in a 20 gallon tank, etc.

Baby turtles that are one inch long grow really fast. I would highly recommend that you get a larger tank to start off with. 50-gallon tanks are pretty standard, easy to find, and will allow him plenty of space without you having to upgrade the tank for a few yrs.

Also read the main website www.redearslider.com (scroll down to see the topics) to see about the other environment things you will need for your turtle. It can be expensive to SET UP the initial tank for a turtle, but once it is set up properly, then the maintenance cost is very low.

A five and half gallon tank is too small for a turtle. So adding fish is out of the question. If you were to get a bigger tank, you could get some then. Not gold fish though. And don't buy anything that you are going to get really attached to because the turtle will probably eat it.