My Bully

Question
I have two female RESs and one male.  The male harasses and bites the females. (He also mates with one of them.)  I removed him from the tank.  I don't feel that the problem is the size of the tank.  The water portion is 6ft long x 3ft wide and the water is filled to about 18 inches in depth.  There is also a ramp leading to a deck that goes all the way around the tank. Is there anything I can do to solve this problem, I'd hate to have to give him up???
Thank you, Stacy

Answer
The most common causes of aggression are:
- Inadequate personal space
- Inadequate resouces (basking sites, hiding sites, etc.)
- Food shortages
- Bullying

The water space sounds good. Ramp to a deck may be something to look at- turtles feel safer when they can bask over the water. Does most of the biting happen near the ramps or basking sites?

Food shortages are not common in captivity, so we are probably looking at a bully.

There may be reasons some turtles go bully, but we don't know what they are yet. One theory is scents in the water in recycled water systems, another is based on social groups sizing, and so forth.

Sadly, Red-ears go bully a bit more often than some other species, and so far as I know, the only other solution besides tank size or design, is separation.

Before going that far, I think I might watch them to see if there is anything that seems to trigger the aggression- does it happen more often in this spot, or at this time of day, or when feeding, etc. Perhaps there is a clue there you can use- feed them separately, plant some stuff she can hide in, try to block him from some parts of the tank, etc.

I wish I had something more concrete for you! You might want to try the folks in the forums at http://www.turtleforum.com and see if they have any ideas that I am not thinking of.

Good luck!