Can you keep a Red Eared Slider Turtle with a Tiger Oscar?

1Find out all you can about red eared turtles before you decide to host one in your home. Borrow a suitable book from your local library and read about their habits, lifestyle and longevity (websites run by experienced red eared turtle owners are also a good place to find information). While a turtle may seem like a straightforward pet, you will have to care for this animal by feeding it, regularly cleaning its housing and ensuring that it remains healthy.

For more help, you might do well to join a local turtle or reptile society and seek the advice of experienced reptile keepers. Red eared slider turtles are considered to be good turtles for those not experienced with keeping a turtle. They are fairly hardy and can cope with diverse habitat styles.

However, it will take both time and money to keep a read eared turtle in good health, so you must be prepared to spend both on caring for the turtle. Red eared turtles need a lot of space in which to live and move. Both males and females can grow quite large, so need large aquariums or outdoor ponds.

1 If you're planning on keeping turtles outdoors, this may only be appropriate for Central and Southern United States zones (and comparable climates in other countries), as they may not tolerate over-wintering in more northern states. On the whole, most captive red eared turtles tolerate humans well, even though they tend to shy away in the wild. Many will allow picking up and handling, but this isn't a given.

Red eared turtles are content to eat food made commercially for turtles and food you've foraged for them (see below). Male red eared turtles tend to harass female red eared turtles. Hence, it's recommended that they be kept separately.

Longevity: Healthy red eared turtles can live as long as 50-70 years. 2 Are you ready for that? Red eared slider turtles need a home that replicates their wild one.

Namely, it needs to be warm, offering some deep water and some shallow, along with a warm area to bask. 1Purchase a tank of a decent size. The tank must be big enough to hold a growing turtle.

A good rule of thumb is to have 10 gallons per inch of your turtle, plus 15 percent extra space for basking areas. For a baby turtle, you can get by with a 50 gallon tank for the first year. After that, you will need a 120+ gallon tank.

Depth: Turtles love to swim in deep water. They need enough room to dive, chase down fish and play. Space: Red eared turtles are territorial; they need to have enough space to call their own.

Waste: Turtles create a lot of waste, and they need to have enough water to dilute the waste as it is being filtered. Without lots of water, the toxins will build up and can have harmful effects on your turtle's health. 2Find a cheaper alternative.

If a glass tank is too expensive for you to purchase, try a stock tank.