Turtles In Fish Tank?

[Gruffle]

Hi

The bulb on my turtle tank has blown and as our local pet stores are shut until tuesday, i was considering plonking the turtles into my tropical fish tank upstairs until i can get a new bulb sorted out, but not sure if its a good idea lol

the turtles are small red eared sliders, one of them is about 4" and the other 2 1/2" and the fish tank has serpae tetra, a BN plec, a RTBS and assorted small cichlids (keyholes and cribs)

anyone know if this is a good idea, i'm pretty sure the turtles will be hungry but dunno if they will be able to catch the smaller fish (although the plec and RTBS, which is old, fat and lazy, may be a different story), and am not sure how delicate turtles are regarding changes to water conditions...

any help appreciated

 

[Alexk19]

Definitely not a good idea, your turtles will surprise you with how quick they are, they also tend to hunt at night when the fish have slowed down, be prepared for casualties if you add the turtles

 

[loraxchick]

The turtles should be absolutely fine until tuesday in their own tank. Might be in the dark, but better than risking your fish. And they will certainly try to eat the fish and even if they dont eat them outright, one bite and the fish are goners.
all the best
cheers

 

[fishnovice]

The turtles should be absolutely fine until tuesday in their own tank. Might be in the dark, but better than risking your fish. And they will certainly try to eat the fish and even if they dont eat them outright, one bite and the fish are goners.
all the best
cheers

Agreed fish will probably end up as expensive turtle dinner. Even if fish manage to escape being eaten, turtles are VERY messy (10 times worse than large plecs!) and the pollution from turtles will probably make your ammonia&nitrite levels go through the roof and kill all the fish.

Turtles should be OK in their own tank without the bulb.Was the blown bulb for heating or UV basking? If basking, fishtank lights are useless as they are not UV. If it was a heating lamp to keep tank warm you can replace it with an ordinary spotlight bulb or even a bulb from a lamp perhaps. There are other ways of keeping turtle tanks warm too. When I adoped my first 3 turtles unexpectedly to stop them being dumped in river, I used to add hot water to their tank every night and cover tank with a duvet to keep turtles warm all night. It worked and they survived for a few weeks till I could get them a proper tank heater.