Can I Keep a Musk Turtle with my 2 Blackmoors

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emmasugar

AC Members
Aug 16, 2009
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Hi,

I have got a 100 Litre tank with filter air pump ect. I have got 2 little black moors called Google and Bubba. My local aquatic centre are selling little stinkpot turtles and i really want one... the aquatic centre said that the turtles will not hunt down the fish but ocassionaly they will nip at the Moors tails... they also said that if this happens and can return the turtle and replace it for a less aggressive one. What would your opinions be about this?? please comment :)

Thankyou
 
:welcome: to AC!

I am very sorry but your tank is already too small to support two black moors, let alone a stinkpot turtle. I would not advise mixing stinkpot turtles with goldfish. Both are extremely messy to begin with. I would advise you avoid the stinkpot turtles altogether unless you can provide it a much larger tank.

Please note that your black moors are classified as fancy goldfish and several fancy variants such as black moors grow to 8-10 inches. If at all possible, aim for at least 15g per fish. This may seem too much but your goldfish really need plenty of space. A 40g would be the minimum I would recommend for two black moors. If finances are an issue (and not space), look for tank deals in Craiglist assuming you are in USA. California is a haven for several tank deals. If not, please feel free to post a classified ads thread in our Classified Ads forum.

If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to ask. By the way, I moved your thread in Coldwater section so you will get plenty of accurate responses from the coldwater enthusiasts.:thumbsup:
 
Are you serious?? This tank is enormous and cost me £120... My local aquatic centre is very reputable and all my friends and family have fish and turtles from there that have lived for years... They advised me that my tank would be fine for housing these fish ?? :(
 
100 liters is 25 gallons. Believe it or not but goldfish need much more space than that. If you have seen black moors at eight inches, you would think twice about housing them in the 25g. What are the dimensions of your tank? The amount of wastes by turtles and goldfish combined alone is enough to reek a lot of ammonia and becomes a rather futile effort to keep clean. I would also not advise keeping the goldfish solitary. They are sociable creatures and definitely will not be very happy if kept individually.
 
emma, welcome to AC! :welcome:
unfortunately what you are experiencing happens with many goldfishkeepers. don't necessarily hold it against your local shop - most LFS employees simply don't understand the real-world requirements for adult goldfish. a few may outright lie to you to make a sale, even if they are nice people. as a general rule, LFS employees are not to be trusted.

remember that they are not experts in fishkeeping, they only sell the equipment. much like you would not expect sporting goods store employees to be able to give you the best information on how to train for a marathon. most LFS workers do not have much experience at all in keeping fish. unless you know your LFS employees have past experience working with public aquariums, research facilities or a long history with private aquarists, they won't be able to give you accurate information.

black moors can grow to much larger sizes than you might realize. your fish will easily reach 8-10 inches long if you provide them enough room and quality food. but goldfish kept in tanks that are too small will become stunted, which causes illness, organ failure and premature death. also, since moors have telescope eyes, they have relatively poor vision and cannot evade omnivorous predators like turtles as well as singletailed, normal-eyed goldfish.

100 litres, or approximately 26 gallons, is a very small tank even for just two goldfish. a 40 gallon tank, or 150 litres, would be a much more appropriate home for your moors. as it stands now, you should certainly not add a turtle to the setup. You can read a little more about musk turtles here:

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-stinkpot.htm

This care page, which is very thorough, recommends a 29 gallon tank as a bare minimum setup. Since your goldfish can grow very large, you would be at more than double, nearly three times the recommended capacity for your tank if you added the turtle.

Best of luck to you and your goldies. If you have any additional questions, we're happy to help.
 
One musk turtle will need more room than what that tank provides. 40 gallons is about as small as I would go for a single stinkpot. Curently I keep a pair in a 100 gallon stock tank. I've never tried keeping goldfish with this species but they are not active hunters and mainly live along the bottom searching for food. Still, you should choose fast moving species for the most part. A slow, odd shaped goldfish might be easy prey for a hungry Musk Turtle. I've found as long as they are well fed and have plenty of room they usually don't bother fish.
 
Seth, if those stinkpot turtles are not active as you say, I doubt they can outcompete the goldfish for food at all since a lot of goldfish especially black moors will eat everything in a flash. My apple snails had to be handfed a few times or I find a way to distract my goldfish so the snails can get their share. Glad you chimed in. I was beginning to think you should be chiming in on this since turtles are your specialties.:)
 
If you want a musk turtle I would get a 40g for the goldfish and a 55g for the turtle. And then you can use the 25g for more fish (not goldfish though).
 
no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! turtles eat goldfish and they dont make very good pets,eventually you will have to build a pond,they dirty up thier tank within hours after cleaning.they dont like to be handled much and have pwerfull jaws! trust me ive had this experience and turtles do not make good pets!!!!!!!!!!
 
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