My Turtle Tank

[jbacker7]

My first attempt at raising a turtle, I like it alot.

Suggestions? Cuz i need em'! Thanks!

[Jason_Rookey]

sweet tank

[brooklynfish]

Nice!

You may want to get a larger stand. The glass might crack over time due to the stress of all the gravel and water.

[Mercury]

Your turtle is gonna have a nice fishy feast soon.

[Adorkable]

What size is the tank?

[Orion]

I'm going to guess and say it's a 20L.

Need to get rid of the plastic plants. The turtle will eat them, and could very well have trouble passing the plastic though it's system. If some of it get stuck and will not pass, then it will die, or your looking at a very expensive surgery to remove the blockage if you can even find a vet in your area that will see reptiles.

Don't forget, turtles NEED to have a UVB light as well as a heat source for basking. The UVB light provides nutrients they need to grow a healthy shell, as well as a good diet and a basking area in the right temperature. Shell health is of the utmost importance with captive turtles.

That looks like a yellow eared slider. They can get quite large, a 20 gallon won't be suitable for the fella for long. And if I remember right Females grow quite a bit larger than males. For long term, you probably need to think about nothing less than something with the foot print of a 75 gallon (48 long by 18 wide), and maybe even larger than that. Or maybe even better an outside pond. Then all you have to worry about is the filter and the water and some food and let nature take it's course. But the pond would only work out depending on where you lived.

But for now, you really need to get something stable under that tank to support it under all sides. That will cause stress fractures in the glass and cause it to break.

Sliders can be a lot of work to take care of, but they can also be alot of fun and rewarding.

[tom91970]

The rocks look really cool. However, turtles are very messy so you will need to be diligent about cleaning.

I thought about doing a turtle tank after reading an article in TFH a few months back then decided against it after doing more research. Good luck!

[jbacker7]

Yea that flourescent tube (sp?) is suppose to give off UVB rays, that basking bulb gives off UVA. Yea he tried to eat the plants right when I put them in there but after a couple failed attempts he got the picture. I believe the tank is a 20 gallon but I'm not sure, I bought it from a friend, it's 30x12x12.

And he's a western painted turtle, I don't know if a yellow eared slider is a different name for them or not but maybe two different species? Different growth rates perhaps?

Also, I want to put a piece of driftwood in there for him to crawl around on. Do you guys recommend buying a piece or finding your own?

[jbacker7]

So great news....all but 2 of my fish died...I think it had something to do with improper conditioning and too much waste in the tank (which is quite obvious and I should've seen that being a problem) but everyone makes mistakes so I took it all down cleaned it and set it back up differently, now its just cycling. I'll post pics tom. and this one should be considerably more "fish friendly". But I have a question also, I have 1 mollie and one little algae eater, he looks like an oto to me but would it be ok to let the aquarium cycle with those 2 and the turtle in it? Seeing as there's not much waste put off but enough to help out the growing bacteria perhaps? I won't introduce new fish for a while because I don't want more waste than bacteria again. Also I feed the turtle in a different little tank (a long tupperware container) so there shouldn't be as much waste from him in the main tank than if I fed him in the main tank. Think it would be ok to let those 3 in there while its cycling?

[jbacker7]

Here's the new setup