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Hi< i adopted "Shelly" a RES, a few years ago from someone that could not take care of her. I bought a 50 gallon tank for her. She is now 5 yrs old and I was wondering if it would be possible to add 1 or 2 young RES to keep her company.

I don't want to buy other turtles and risk putting them in harms way and then have to rehome them.

Hi and welcome to the site! It's never really a good idea to add more turtles. Males seem to always become aggressive and sometimes the females as well. The only thing to do is to physically separate which requires a very large tank, multiple tanks or re-homing.

I'd also like to add that turtles don't really feel the need for company. They'd much rather have one friend (you), and that's usually just because they associate you with food!

Plus, if your RES is a female, you'll need a tank upgrade in the future--possibly a filter upgrade, too. Save up for those things, rather than more turtles.

Thanks for the replies, I held off for years because I was worried they would not get on.
Are you also saying that my 4x2x1 (50 UK gallon/59 US gallon) is not big enough? It already has a fluval 406 canister filter.

I'd say a 75-90 gallon would be minimum for a female, 55 gallon for a male. I keep my male in a 90 gallon and he uses every inch of his tank.

Thanks, better get saving.

It's also better for you. More water and better filtration require less cleaning.

I got her from my 16 yr old niece just over 4 years ago who could not take care of her in a 2x1x1 tank (pet shops should not sell animals to people that young IMO). I bought a 4x2x1 tank that same week, and to be honest she seems really happy, she basks most of the time.
I will treat her to a larger tank in time for christmas and use the other tank to keep fish.