Keeping turtles and Blue Gills together

I recently acquired/rescued a couple of Red Eared Slider turtles. One is about 3" across and the other about 2". A cursory check showed they require a similar environment as my fish, the main difference being a way to climb out of the water once in a while.

I asked the guy at the LFS about putting them in with my Bluegills. I was surprised that he said they would probably bite the tails of the fish. I figured it would be the other way around.

I built a frame to support a small cinder block at the water surface. When I put them on it the big one swims around and occasionally goes back to it. The small one jumps right off and swims to the bottom and stays there (100 gal. tank).He will walk around a bit but he spends a long time under water.

I don't know much about turtle keeping so I'm hoping the brain trust here can give me a few pointers.

You don't rescue RES's in CA, you aid and abet them! They're highly invasive outside of their normal range of the Mississippi drainage. They are very active, aggressive turtles, and will likely take chunks out of your Bluegills when they can. The main mistake people make in keeping turtles (besides too small of an enclosure, but you have an adequate sized one) is a lack of UV light. RES's spend large amounts of time sun bathing and need UV to help synthesize vitamin D to aid with calcium absorption. If the tank is inside you'll want a two stage lighting system for the health of the turtles. Fluorescent strips, preferably double T5HOs the length of the tank, along with a spotlight with an incandescent or some other good heat source aimed at the out of water basking spot. One disease which turtles commonly get is known as "Shell Rot", and giving the turtles a warm dry basking spot prevents it.

Or you can set up a pen in the yard where you can put them for an hour or two a day, if you dont want to invest in UV reptile lighting. Make sure it is escape proof of course - they can dig and climb rough surfaces better than you might think !!! I have seen some sliders (redears and yellowbellies) that lived peacefully with fish (including clumsy goldfish) in ponds and tanks, and others that were always nipping at fish, even when well-fed. Keep watch and be ready to pull them out if they start causing trouble.

Thanks for the answers. As my Blue Gills are large and somewhat surly I'm again surprised to hear this.

I'll investigate the lighting suggestions and in the meantime I'll give them some "yard time" with an enclosure outside. And I will keep a close eye on things there, as small as they are.

Thanks again!

Check Austin's Turtle Page www.austinsturtlepage.com for great care info.

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