Loaches in a Turtle Tank

[speters33w]

OK,

Short version:

I want to get some loaches that are very fast and like to hide in caves or under rocks. Suggestions?

Long version:

I wanted to add some loaches to my son's Turtle Tank, he is off in the wide world and I get to take care of (and enjoy) his tank.

There are two decent sized sliders, a musk turtle and a sideneck.

Yes, this is a large breeder tank with plenty of room.

The substrate is 3/8" pea gravel.

The musk turtle likes celery and doesn't bother fish. The sideneck likes to eat scraps the messy sliders leave behind and does not bother live fish. The sliders, however, are a different story, but they are LAZY. If they have to work for their food, they forget about it.

I built a structure with rocks in the tank with lots of caves and hidey-holes of various sizes.

I went to the aquarium store to buy some coolie loaches, I remembered they like to hide in and under stuff. They didn't have coolie loaches so I got two weather loaches instead, along with 50 "feeder" mollies to keep the turtles occupied with easier prey when I introduced the loaches.

But... the weather loaches just hung around the bottom instead of hiding. The turtles didn't actively try to pursue the loaches, they were too quick, but I saw one of the sliders chase a molly to the bottom where he cornered a loach accidentally and snapped it up. It is morning and I can't find the other one, I assume something similar happened.

I read on your forum these guys like to bury in sand. That won't work in this tank because the sideneck will just dig in it, stir it up and clog the filters.

The turtles won't bother fast fish that hide well as long as I keep them stocked with mollies (there were no fish in the tank yesterday when I introduced the 50 mollies and the weather loaches.)

I would really like to introduce some loaches to the tank.

Suggestions on a flavor of loach that is quick and likes to hide in caves or under rocks?

[mickthefish]

knowing the reputation of those terrapins the answer would be a definite no,no
i had the red ears years ago, and any unwanted fish i had were fed to them, they were gone pretty quick as well, once in those jaws it was finished.

sorry mate.
mick

[Andythaler]

I asked my fish dealer about that as well - if I could get turtles for my fish tank - as my son really liked them, but the reply was that the fish would not like it very much to be in a tank with such a predator and be constantly stressed (even if they do not get eaten outright).

Best regards,
Andy

[Doc]

For the above reasons and also for water quality.. even with the best filtration and maintenance routine the water would not be "clean" enough for the Loaches.. They could easily survive and pick up scrap morsels of food the Reptiles leave or miss but the water quality could easily crash with no apparent effect to any of the Herps but a tank full of dead fish.

[Diana]

Ditto, Ditto, Ditto...

Do not put fish in turtle tanks.

[speters33w]

Dagnabbit!

Now that my boy's gone, one of my favorite things to do is go up to what was his room in the attic and watch his turtles goof around in their unique ways, they really do have personalities, and look at the mollies that were wily enough to survive. Actually I think color may be what really does it, the silver ones seem to survive the longest. It helps that one of the sliders is near-sighted. I am sure of this because I watch him hunt.

In the past I have been able to keep other creatures in the tank for months, crayfish are one example. The turtles will leave them alone for months and one day (for whatever reason) they will hunt and eat them all in less than 24 hours- which is OK because the crayfish are neat to watch for the four months they stay alive. Goldfish as well, if I buy a batch they will eat all but two or three but the two or three grow large enough to put them in my backyard pond. They don't seem to bother plecos (I can't spell the long way, plecostomus?) either.

I might just start another tank for loaches, I really like them.

One more shot at this, though... What about Vietnamese Banded Sumo Loaches? http://www.loaches.com/species-index/sc ... arbonaria/ These look like they are mean, spiny like a pleco, and would hide well as long as I kept easier-to-catch prey in the tank. Does anyone on this forum have any experience with them?

[palaeodave]

They'll go the same way as your weather loaches. Sorry.

Setting up a loach tank is an excellent idea.

[ALX]

It doesn't seem real practical to get a fish that has to hide every second or else gets eaten. You would never get to see it. But since you are enjoying the "fish" part of having a tank then you should totally set yourself up a tank.
I am sure the good folks here would help you get one started.

You could start a tank and breed your own feeder fish. It would save you from buying feeders so often and you could add some compatable loaches and what not to that tank for your enjoyment.

Oh and I am curious, why do you feed them mollies? Arent they expensive for feeders?

[fhm_usa]

I've seen tanks with turtle and fishes but I won't do that you never know if they get hungry a fish is a fish a turtle is a turtle!!!

[speters33w]

I think I'll set up a Loach tank.

I'll probably set up a hillstream tank, I really like those. The loaches Emma Turner posted pictures of yesterday are LOVELY! http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=17606

Every filter I have is used in the turtle tank, two Fluval 305s just to keep it habitable and a smaller Marineland filter I use for aeration, I have some spare tanks, but I'll need to spend some money to set it up right.

Oh and I am curious, why do you feed them mollies? Arent they expensive for feeders?

The local aquarium store calls them "Live Bearers." They are mollies, Genus Poecilia, just not show quality. They don't have fancy tails or anything. See http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebook ... xt/224.htm They are only $6.50 USD per 50 count.

[ALX]

good luck with the new tank!