General Care Discussion :: is he just mean?

[myeeyore174]

my male RES is very rude to my female RES. they have been sharing the same tank for the past few months i have had them. he was very nice to her at first but, then these past few days has been rude! he claws her to swim by the filter, and chases her around the tank. this morning i woke up to him biting her foot =[. what should i do? i have them seperated right now and i am going to take him to my boyfriend's house to see how he interacts with his male RES. thanks for all your guys' help.

[megcornell]

How large is your tank and how large are the turtles? If the tank is too small, regardless of the sex combo the turtles will fight for space. It may be better to just keep the turtles in separate tanks rather than try to put him with your bf's turtle who I assume has been solitary up to this point...

[Hoooneylynn]

I agree with meg... they should be seperated before they reallly hurt each other!

[industrial_girl_2000]

Oh boy......does that sound familiar! I went thru something very similar many yrs ago when Sheba shared a tank with Nelson, a smaller male. He would chase her around the tank, bump against her when she was trying to sleep, constantly flutter his nails on her face, nipping at her, etc. I have to say that she was remarkably patient with all this attention from him & would tolerate it for hours (or even days) on end, but then when she lost her temper, watch out! At one point, he had a sprained arm & broken nail from her snapping back! They need to be separated, period. Don't put him in with another turtle. It sounds to me like he is big enough to have his own tank with his own space. It's the only way to keep all the turtles safe & "intact."

[marisa]

Two males are apt to fight, especially if the tank isn't large enough for them.