Should I put my African sideneck turtle in a cichlid fish tank?

Sideneck turtles are omnivorous. You can offer earthworms, crickets, beef heart, feeder fish, collard greens, spinach, dandelion greens and mixed vegetables. Feed an adult as much as can be eaten in about a minute every other day. Juveniles should be fed more frequently. Decorate with rocks and logs to provide a means of getting into and out of the water for basking purposes. Gravel or sand can be used as substrate. A filter is necessary to maintain water quality. The tank should, ideally, be at least 55 gallons depending on Hanible's size.

I would try to keep the algae to a minimum. Algae growth is caused by combination of too many nutritions (food left-overs) in the water, not enough current in the water and more than enough light. So you need to re-visit your husbandry to make sure everything is 100% correct. If the water current and lighting are correct then chances are you are over-feeding him. If you can reduce the left-overs you'll probably effectively remove the source of the algae growth. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

What you have appears to be an aquatic/semi-aquatic species of turtle. Basic requirements include a tank of at least 10 gallons initially, a water heater, a water filter, a basking area out of the water, a heat lamp and a UVB light source.

I would not put a turtle into a tank with a male betta, The betta has flowing fins which may look very tasty to the turtle. Depending on the breed of turtle, it may eat the fins off your fish or even the fish.

This will depend on the size of your turtle and your tank. If you have a 40 gallon tank you can only have 1 map turtle for the first year of its life and no other turtles or fish. If you have a much larger tank you can put fish in to the tank, depending on your water temperature. Gold fish are ok, cichlids, guppies, mosquito fish...they all work and your turtle should not eat them.

Once a turtle is in captivity it should not be released back into the wild for the following reasons: 1.The turtle can spread disease picked up in captivity to other turtles in the wild. Pathogens, viruses, and bacteria are not always presented in the form of a symptom. Even if the turtle looks and acts like its feeling well it can still carry pathogens that will wipe out entire populations of wild turtles. Your turtle could be immune but be a carrier and therefore highly contagious to other turtles. 2.Wild turtles live in areas where the food will sustain their needs. If everyone who decided his or her turtle would be better off free, think again. If you release the turtle into an area that is already heavy with native turtles, you end up with a situation where they are all competing for a limited amount of food. 3.Turtles should also never be released into the wild because of climate and adaptation. For instance, a non-hibernating turtle such as a Mexican Wood turtle or an African sideneck released in a cold climate like Tennessee, Maine, or anywhere there is potential for freezing weather will surely die. In addition, if your turtle was a pet and has relied on you for food, he may not be the strongest hunter and will slowly and painfully starve to death when he cannot find food easily.

I wouldn't recommend keeping a smaller turtle with a larger turtle. Oscar would harass or try to eat the smaller turtle. Red eared sliders can be quite territorial and aggressive towards other sliders. If you have a huge tank, say over 100 gallons, it *may* work. If you are set on having another turtle, look for one that is similar in size. The problem with mixing species is that there may be care and environmental differences that you may not be able to overcome in order to provide adequate care to both species.