What Kind of Fish Can Live With Painted Turtles?

Turtles are popular pets and can be found in aquariums all over, but they can present their own unique challenges as well. Different types have different needs, and keeping even two turtles in the same aquarium can be challenging if their needs are highly divergent. Keeping completely different species, such as turtles and fish, in the same aquarium can be impossible, depending on what animals you're trying to mix.

  1. What are Painted Turtles?

    • Painted turtles are common in North America, and are called "painted" because their shells are brightly colored with shades of red, yellow and green. They live in freshwater environments and can be found in many ponds, lakes, creeks and marshes. Painted turtles are omnivorous in the wild, which means they eat meat as well as vegetation. In addition to commercial turtle foods, they must be fed live feeder fish. This can present a problem for people who want to keep fish and painted turtles together.

    Fish and Painted Turtles

    • Painted turtles eat fish, and they may well harass fish if even the fish are fast, hardy or large. Even if your painted turtle cannot kill the fish, it may still harm it and this stress can prove to be too much for the fish. While painted turtles generally don't like salt water fish or game fish, these can be impractical and impossible to keep in the same environment. Minnows are a popular feeder fish for painted turtles and anything of a similar size is likely to get eaten. Fish that are quick or large have the best chance of surviving in a tank with a painted turtle.

    Sucker Fish and Painted Turtles

    • Sucker fish, although they are good to keep tanks clean, are at particular risk from painted turtles. They are slow and must spend a lot of their time stationary in order to eat algae. They provide an easy target for painted turtles and are often killed before they can even do the tank any good.

    Tips for Keeping Both

    • If you do decide to try and keep both fish and painted turtles, there will be losses. Whether a particular kind of fish can survive a tank with painted turtles is often down to the individual fish, and it's best not to keep any fish you would hate to lose in a turtle's tank. Do not put expensive fish in an aquarium with painted turtles, even if the fish are quick and you think they'll do well. If your painted turtle can eat them, it will, and then you're out a lot more than you would have been if you'd gone with a less expensive fish. There's also the possibility that highly aggressive fish will hurt themselves or your turtle.