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Soo i picked up another RES today . I was actually at the dollar store picking up some things for thanksgiving when i came across some hatchlings. I could not resist the temptation and i returned back home with a new baby Res.

My Main question is how large should i allow my new RES to get before i can put him into my 75 Gal with my other Res??

Btw some of you may know that i had 2 turtles when i first came to this site over a year ago. About 4 months ago one of those RES actually escaped the tank and was killed by my dog.

I would Def like to thank everyone on the site that has been so helpful in the past answering my questions and helping educate me about these amazing animals.

Peace & love -

FreshPrince

i would never put them together to be honest.
and by the time ur hatchling would be big enough ud need a bigger tank for the rtwo of them

My Main question was how Large does an RES have to be to live in a 75 gallon without drowning. How big should it be so that it can swim in a 75 gallon.

freshprince2146 wrote:My Main question was how Large does an RES have to be to live in a 75 gallon without drowning. How big should it be so that it can swim in a 75 gallon.

RES are aquatic turtles and very good swimmers. A baby RES would be able to swim easily in a 75 gallon tank a few days after it has been hatched as long as you offer it plenty of resting spaces on the water surface.

Can i introduce it right away? Or should i start raising the water level little by little? He/she is in a 10 gallon now with about 3 inches of water.

How old and what's the size of the new turtle? How about the older one?

From previous experience I wouldn't recommend placing a hatchling with an adult turtle in the same tank. RES are picky about who they live with, and adults who live alone for a while and then have another baby turtle introduced in their tank will almost always react aggressively. It's different if you introduce an adult turtle because they might be able to defend themselves in case of aggression, but a baby doesn't stand a chance.

If you really want to place them together, I think you should wait until the hatchling grows a little.

The new hatchling is @ 1 inch and the older one is at 3 inches.

It's always a risk placing two RES together so here's what I recommend. Fill up the 10 gallon tank to make sure the little one is comfortable with swimming (you can raise the water gradually if you'd like). If you're in a rush and want to house them together as soon as possible, I would say wait a 2-3 weeks until you try to introduce the turtles to one another. Most RES that have lived alone for a while tend to be territorial and will act aggressively towards another turtle that is introduced in their tank, so I recommend putting the bigger turtle in the smaller one's tank, or in a separate enclosure (different tank, rubbermaid container, bath tub, etc) that will be neutral territory. When you do put them together in the same enclosure, keep an eye on them: see how they greet each other, if one of them is obsessed with chasing the other one around. Ideally you want them to be indifferent and not pay much attention to what the other one is doing. Leave them in the same tank for about 20-30 minutes or for as long as you can watch them closely, and then you can return them to their own tanks. The next day you can repeat the same thing, and continue this until you believe that there is no aggressiveness between the turtles and then you can start housing them together.

From my past experiences of dealing with territorial problems, this method that I described above seemed to work the best in helping the turtles get accustomed to one another and avoid any catastrophes.

Since he's still a hatchling, I would wait until they were an inch apart.

Okay guys so i went ahead and introduced them in the 75 gallon together.

They have been doing great for 2 days so far, No Aggression. I feed the lil guy in a seperate container because i have many fish in the tank aswell.

I was very surprised to see just how good he/she was able to swim,

Aggression usually doesn't show up in hatchlings, but when they get around 3 1/2, 4"... watch out.