Can Betta Fish Live With Turtles?

-- By Carol

You’re probably brainstorming what other creatures, plants, and decorations to add to your betta fish aquarium.

If you have turtles in mind, you’ll need to find out whether they’re a good match.

Among the factors you’ll need to take into account include the behavior of turtles, their eating habits, and how they get along with other fish in the tank.

In this article, you’ll find out whether betta fish can live with Turtles or not.

Table of Contents

Can Betta Fish Live With Turtles?

In short, you can keep betta fish with turtles but to make the combination work, you’ll need to meet a ton of conditions and be lucky enough.

Before anything else, you’ll need to choose the right turtle species.

The size and attitude of a turtle are the critical factors in deciding whether you want to keep them with a betta or any other fish, depending on the species you select.

In addition, you’ll need to get the right-sized aquarium.

Turtles typically need large aquariums. Since they emit loads of waste, you’ll also probably need an efficient filtration system to keep the tank clean.

Besides, turtles have a tendency to chase fish and eat them. Some are quite skilled in this endeavor, so you’ll need to arrange places your betta can hide to protect itself.

Let’s now consider each of these factors in detail:

Choosing the Right Turtle Species

Before going into how turtles get along with bettas or other fish, it’s important to know how turtles behave with each other.

To be honest, it can be a big challenge to get two turtles to behave in the same tank. This is particularly true if the two of them are of different species.

If you keep turtles of varying species in the same aquarium, they’ll most likely fight, maim, injure, and even kill each other.

Even if you keep more than 2 turtles of the same species and one of them is female, the males will fight the hell out of each other.

Moreover, if there are one species of turtle you’ll never want to consider keeping in your tank, then it is snapping turtles.

Their mouth is shaped like fierce, bony beak that’s strong enough to bite through the handle of a broom.

While they feed on dead fish, animals, insects, birds, etc., they’ll eat any living creature that comes within the range of their jaws.

This might sound horrifying but snapping turtles kill other turtles by biting off their heads. Hence, don’t even consider keeping these species with your betta.

Even in the case of species other than snapping turtles, larger turtles will often bully, injure, and maim the smaller turtles of the same species.

Hence, you need to think twice before keeping two turtles in the same tank, let alone a betta with a turtle.

Apart from this, some species of turtles are much more adept at chasing down and eating fish than other species.

Examples of such species include painted turtles, cooters, and red-eared sliders. Introducing a juvenile red-eared slider, in particular, into your betta tank is certainly a recipe for disaster.

However, this doesn’t mean that a cooter, painted, or slider can’t be considered at all. If you already have one of these species, wait until they’re matured or get older.

As painted and slider turtles turn older, they prefer to eat greens and veggies rather than too much protein.

As long as you take care of their feeding, chances are they won’t likely see your betta as a source of food.

Anyhow, the idea of keeping your betta and turtle together is not totally absurd. As long as the following conditions are met, the plan seems conceivable.

Using a Large Tank

As stated earlier, if you’re really looking forward to keeping a turtle, you’ll need a big tank.

When adding turtles with other creatures and items in the tank, the next biggest concern after the behavior is space.

That’s because some turtle species get pretty large. An ordinary red-eared slider, for instance, can get 10 to 12 inches long when they grow up.

Proceeding with your betta-turtle plan with a tank that’s too small is ruthless for your fish. Your bettas will have to face repeated aggressive confrontations from the turtle. A stressed-out fish can’t usually survive for very long.

So, how large should your tank be to safely accommodate a turtle, your betta fish, plants, and accessories?

As a rule of thumb, you need to allow for at least 10 gallons of water for every inch of turtle shell per turtle.

When you add bettas, things can get pretty congested.

To avoid this, it’s advised to go for tanks no smaller than 80 gallons. An 80-gallon tank should have enough room to contain a few bettas and a fully grown female red-eared slider.

Installing an Efficient Filtration System

Unlike fish and many other creatures, turtles can make your betta tank considerably messy.

They not only emanate a lot of waste but also tear food and nibble off other items constantly.

Ensuring a clean environment is critical for the well-being of your betta fish.

While turtles are used to living in dirty atmospheres and are sturdy enough to adapt to a polluted habitat, fish can’t manage that.

They need clean, hygienic living environments with the right amount of water temperature and pH levels.

Hence, if you want to keep betta fish with turtles, you’ll need a filtration solution powerful enough to deal with all the waste generated in the tank.

We recommend a canister filtration system for your turtle tank.

Most of these come with multi-level filtration systems that combine biological, mechanical, and even chemical filters to effectively clean aquariums.

These are ideal for a betta tank that also houses one or more turtles.

Apart from installing a strong filtration system, it’s also advised that you regularly check, control, and maintain your aquarium’s pH levels.

They should not deviate from the 6-9 pH range. Plus, strive to keep ammonia and chlorine levels 0 or very close to it.

Besides, don’t forget to aerate the water in the tank.

This provides several benefits, especially with respect to the well-being of your beta.

One of the advantages of aerating the tank water is that it helps pump oxygen into the water, setting up a perfect environment for beneficial bacteria to thrive.

Arranging Hiding Places for Betta Fish

As discussed earlier, turtles can’t help fighting and trying to eat other creatures in the tank. If your turtle constantly views fish as a source of food, it will make life difficult for bettas in the tank.

A betta that’s constantly scrambling around the aquarium, frantically trying to swim away from a hungry turtle, can experience stress.

When a fish is stressed, it will rub itself against the rocks or gravel, lock its fins at its side, or even crash at the bottom of the tank.

When the immune system becomes weak due to repeated ‘flight or fright’ reactions, the fish can develop parasites, fungi, and bacterial infections.

The condition can lead to severe and perhaps fatal diseases such as Fin Rot and Dropsy. It can undermine their immune systems and even cause death.

One effective way to keep your betta fish stress-free while having a turtle around is to provide it with safe hiding places in the tank.

This shouldn’t be too complicated. PVC pipes, large rocks, turned-over flowering pots, pieces of driftwood, and commercial fish hideouts can all serve as hiding places for fish.

Keep in mind that large turtles will eat anything that fits in their mouths. Therefore, don’t use a hideout that your turtle can eat up.

Another critical consideration when including a hideout in your betta tank is how secure it is for the fish.

This means that the turtle shouldn’t be able to get inside the hiding place and eat up any hiding fish.

That’s the reason we don’t recommend water plants as a hideout for fish. A turtle can easily find your betta fish hiding there.

One great idea is to add rocks and properly secure them in place to create a small cave for your fish.

While your betta should be able to enter the small structure, the fissures of the cave shouldn’t be large enough to allow the turtle to even peek inside.

The same can be achieved through strategically shaped driftwood. The caves and crevices it may contain are ideal to provide shelter to fish.

Closing Thoughts

To sum up, betta fish and turtles can live together in the same tank. However, you have to consider many factors.

Your chosen turtle species shouldn’t be too aggressive toward fish.

Besides, the size of your aquarium, the filtration system you install, and whether or not the tank has any hiding places for your betta are important things to think about.

Also, don’t ignore the well-being of your turtle in the drive to keep your betta fish safe. For sound development of your turtle, you’ll need ultraviolet light and heat light, basking area supplies, such as plastic floating shelves or stones, and more.

All in all, if you are planning to keep a betta with a turtle, you need to make sure you maintain an optimal environment for both animals.

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