Habitat - Indoor :: RES Cohabitants

[TrapaniNYC]

Are there any bottom feeder fish that can cohabitate with RES that wont get eaten?
I would like to get some minnows/guppies for the RES to chase after, but also a bottom feeder to clean up any mess.
I have medium-sized river rocks on the bottom of the tank that hides some leftover food from the RES.
Thoughts?

[steve]

Anything thing in the tank will likely be a meal at some point. Plecos are popular bottom feeders but you need to give them hiding spaces.

[OtisDriftwood]

I had two plecos turn into meals before I gave up. They just sit still for too long, and RES are good hunters!

I've had luck with a couple gold fish and a few minnows that have survived for quite some time, and they do a decent job of cleanup, but you should never consider a goldfish as turtle food, and if your RES is eating them, you should avoid replacing them.

If you want the bottom of your tank clean, ditch the river rocks and go bare. Assuming you have adequate filtration, it will improve your water quality dramatically.

[Pavle 94]

I am talking from my personal experience, only fast and big fish can survive (fast cichlids or carps), and even then fish have to be in perfect shape, otherwise they wont last long. plecos just arent good choice cos turtle wont give up until it eats them, which believe me, will happen sooner or later.

[ljapa]

Maybe I have a lazy or selective RES.

Got her very young, and my son insisted on fish in the tank. Against my better judgement, I added a few black neon tetras and a couple of mollies to the 20 gallon tank. (I know! I know! But I didn't know much back then). Unfortunately, the tank was still cycling. The mollies didn't make it, but the black neons did.

A few months later, we moved to a 55 gallon with a 55 gallon refugium, so 90-100 gallons of water. I added more black neons and some regular neon tetras. Both were fine for a few weeks, until the neon tetras started to drop their numbers overnight. I never saw Tobie chase them, but there'd be fewer each morning. No change in the black neon tetras numbers.

This Summer, years later, I finally got a 150 gallon, keeping the 55 gallon refugium. I added more black neons to replace the ones that had died over the years. I also added zebra danios, black mollies and once again neon tetras. I figured with the tank volume and rocks/decorations, we'd be good.

And I was mostly right. I've never seen Tobie chase any fish. The danios, mollies and black neons populations have remained unchanged. I've even had one danio egg somehow make it to fry stage. However, once again, the neon tetra population has dwindled.

It's actually neat having such a large tank with schools of fish. They don't school tightly, which tells me they aren't nervous. Tobie doesn't chase them, and they aren't even that concerned about her as she swims by.

I'm not sure if she goes after the neons in the night, when they aren't very active, or if perhaps it's just that they are less hardy and she picks off dead or dying ones. In any case, n more neon tetras.

[Pavle 94]

Yes, thats true. Neons cant last long with turtle around. I watched mine take two of them at the same time. As turtle is sucking the water rapidly in when eating pulling force is just too strong for neons to cope with. They just get swallowed. Same goes for all other fish of that size. Its unlikely to expect that sharing tank with turtle they will never let turtle come close to them, and once it comes close, it might take a chance. It really depends on turtle. And its interesting that my turtle is for e.g. particularly interested in blue, or silver fish. Never had any luck with them. Might have something to do with the way turtle see them.
Best tank mates for turtle are fish that can, if needed, fight back, but of course it takes a big fish to do that. South american cichlids might be the best option as they are fish that can really take care of themselves. They are strong, fast, bulky and if threatened they will fight back so turtle will not bother them again.