Compatible animals/plants for Red Eared Slider turtles?

[leilei]

Hello, I'm not sure this is the right forum, but I have an aquarium-related question.

I have two baby red eared sliders (1.5 inches) in a 29 gallon tank. What sorts of animals or plants can I put in there with them? I don't want the animals to become live prey, but can deal with plants getting nibbled on since I want to introduced them to eating more veggies. I've heard of people successfully keeping plecos, but my impression is that they get HUGE and will outgrow my tank rapidly. Are there plecos that can fit in a 29 g which won't get eaten by my turtles?

 

[Cleggat]

I keep a german blue ram with my young yellow bellied slider, he likes the company but I'll be taking my ram out in a few months so he doesn't get hurt, as he's big enough for my slider not to have a go at him now but wont be once my slider gets bigger. There are a few plecos, but if you're upgrading because of your sliders you might aswell get a bigger pleco to go in the upgrade.

 

[Galligak]

Hello, I'm not sure this is the right forum, but I have an aquarium-related question.

I have two baby red eared sliders (1.5 inches) in a 29 gallon tank. What sorts of animals or plants can I put in there with them? I don't want the animals to become live prey, but can deal with plants getting nibbled on since I want to introduced them to eating more veggies. I've heard of people successfully keeping plecos, but my impression is that they get HUGE and will outgrow my tank rapidly. Are there plecos that can fit in a 29 g which won't get eaten by my turtles?

If you go with plants you're going to want to either get strong plants or quick growing plants. I can tell you that what ever you put in your tank you're going to have to replenish. My yellow bellied slider LOVES plants so every time I put something in there.

Just another note, you said you want to get them eating veggies and they will, once they get older. Young sliders eat mostly protein based diets because they are developing and need the protein to do so. You can try to feed them plants, but when my Juliette (my turtle) was that size she refused to eat any plants besides a bit of strawberries. However, when she got older (around the 5-6" mark) she constantly eats strawberries, bananas, lettuce and occasionally apple slices. But she also gets her shrimp and pellets.

For the fish, honestly I wouldn't put anything in a 29g with 2 RES. They are extremely messy and the extra waste will do you no good. In my 75g with Juliette, there were 2 goldfish that the tank's previous owners had given me. They lasted 2 years before they became fish food, and let me tell you the tank became really easy to clean all of a sudden. You may want to put some fish in there, but unless you want to come back from vacation one time and find out that your tank is all... icky... and you have fish heads bobbling around- DON'T DO IT!

But these are all based on my experiences so take them as you want. Also, you're going to need to get a MUCH larger tank in the future, just and FYI.

 

[Cleggat]

I agree with AquaKai, my slider's only 2 inches and he has a right good wrestle with the elodea densa, now and then he'll manage to peel a leaf off, it keeps him busy. I can manage my gbr in there just now because my turtles small and isn't that strong just yet. I wouldn't chance it when he's bigger however.