Keeping turtles with other fish

[Lanky]

Hey, i'm wondering if anyone else here is keeping turtles as well as fish. I dont have any turtles yet, but they were my key intention when i first bought a fishtank, and i didnt want a tank with nothing but a pair of turtles.

I intend to get a pair of murray river short-necks, from as young an age as i safely can. I dont have them yet, because ive been told that if you place the young in a tank that already have fish and keep them well fed, they wont think of the other fish as food. Can anyone confirm that either way?

The other animals currently in the tank are neon tetras, an emperor tetra and an inka 50, and i intend on also getting a clown sailfin pleco aka sailfin gibbicep. From most of my research the pleco and turtles should co-exist fine, and i know people that have neons living in tanks with turtles that dont get eaten and besides, theyre neons. However, the inka 50 was brought in by my flatmate solely because its pretty and i dont know much about it. Apparently they can be very territorial, particularly the females which this one is, is it likely to annoy the turtles until they decide to eat it or anything like that?

I have quite a lot of experience concerning reptiles, so the turtles should be no problem, but i have very little with fish, and of course less with maintaining a peaceful co-existence.

Oh, i'd best describe the tank too. It's 1m x 0.5m x 0.5m, but only full to about 35cm for the turtles. Theres a turtle dock and turtle log, so they have plenty of land. I will also have a basking lamp aiming directly at the dock, so the turtles can bask while hopefully minimising the effect on the other fish. Temp is steady at 24 degrees celsius. The tank's been circulating for a fortnight with sera nitrivec, a bio-kickstart product. I condition the water with sera aquatan, and at the moment change roughly 6 litres a week as the current bioload is very small, though plan to double that once the turtles are in. There are no plants but i intend to change that for the inka, ph is steady at 6.2 and ammonia levels are safe. The filter is an Aquaclear 3000 with charcoal medium. There are plenty of hiding and exploring spaces due to a good number of ornaments and driftwood. Unfortunately i cannot photograph the tank as i dont have a digital camera.

I'm sorry if theres an area for caring for turtles, but i cant find it. if there is one, can someone redirect me to it?

[brianclaw]

Most turtles are more carnivorous when young and will go for your fish. They're opportunistic eaters by nature and will eat themselves sick. I've personally seen a 3-inch red-eared slider tear apart a 6-inch Pleco... I wouldn't assume that they'll co-exist.

[bryan]

Other than eating fish, they also poop alot so the water fouls up rather quick. My friend once entertained his daughter by putting her terrapin in his 5FT for a 'swim'. The turtle headed straight down and kicked up the substrate. By the next morning everyone was bellyup