Aquarium Help

[mrdeth0]

Lately I've been trying to get my big aquarium set up for my baby snapping turtle. It (the tank) is 3ft long, 1.5 feet high and 1ft wide and by looking I'd say a good 40 gallons or more (I dont know tank stuff ): ) What I want is something the looks good, is functional and wont cost me up the ass. I want plants in it (I tried growing some and they died) some rocks, and almost a quarter of it dry land. The only pump I have to keep water flowing (I'm not filling this to the top, maybe 3-4 inches) Is a small pump I pulled from a fountain whose tube was deteriorated. There are also small guppies I bought for the turtle to eat. (I think he is, but they just breed too fast)



Basically, I would like some help from people who have tried this before, got it to work, failed horribly, etc. Any tips and help will be appreciated. Will try to post pics of stuff. Thanks to any who help.

~Mike


EDIT: Here are some pictures of baby Gamera
Note penny to scale

 

[iizahsum]

Is Gamera from Godzilla? it sounds familliar. any way I have a Yellow belly slider, and she started out as small as yoursbut within 2 months I had seen a huge difference in size. Also the best thing to do is get fish tank rocks and have them go in a downward slop into the water, then to make sure they dont eat the rocks is cover them up with bigger rocks. This setup makes it so they can go on land or off land without a floating island ( cause those never work for me).

Small rocks


Bigger rocks


those rocks make it look nice while being safe, any type of leafy plant they will chew on, which isnt exactly the best thing for them. you can also get him/her a cave to go in but I'd say thats about it, anything with small holes he/she could get stuck in.

 

[Spartan857]

from the dimensions you gave I'd say its either a 29 gallon or close to that. I have some good knowledge of aquarium stuff lol.

What kind of filter is on the tank? turtles really need alot of filtration if I remember right.

Your plant issue might be the lighting. What type of light and whats the watts? For certain plants you need 1-2 watts per gallon. It sounds like alot but you really need it for the light to get thru the water to the plants.

I dont know much about turtles (freshwater fish Iam close to genius lol), but you can go to Aquariacentral.com its an aquarium forum. These guys and gals are awesome people, you can get alot of DIY aquarium bits from it and low cost solutions to big problems. If you mention you were refered by me these guys will help ya out big time (my handle on there is Sarge_857)

 

[iizahsum]

from the dimensions you gave I'd say its either a 29 gallon or close to that. I have some good knowledge of aquarium stuff lol.

What kind of filter is on the tank? turtles really need alot of filtration if I remember right.

Your plant issue might be the lighting. What type of light and whats the watts? For certain plants you need 1-2 watts per gallon. It sounds like alot but you really need it for the light to get thru the water to the plants.

I dont know much about turtles (freshwater fish Iam close to genius lol), but you can go to Aquariacentral.com its an aquarium forum. These guys and gals are awesome people, you can get alot of DIY aquarium bits from it and low cost solutions to big problems. If you mention you were refered by me these guys will help ya out big time (my handle on there is Sarge_857)

Yeah the best filter for turtles is one that goes deep into the tanks, close to the bottom, that way it sucks all of the turtles "presents" before they get down in the gravel and make your house smell 9 trust me this isnt fun to deal with) but a low to the ground filter is really nice to have. infact the bests etup is one in the back of the tank that hansg mid way in the water, and one on the deep side of the water that hangs low.

 

[mrdeth0]

Gamera is like Gozilla, but a giant snapping turtle. I have been using an old aquarium top with a light on it for lighting. It says "25 watts, tubular". I was using large (half inch) driveway rocks to line the bottom for a while. I already thought out the tiny spots to get stuff in thing. I did have a heat cave, but it wasnt waterproof as it very slowly deteriorated and deposited slate everywhere, making the tank black. I see now plants might be a bad idea then. I mean, I found this thing on my bike trail, but no plants. The "filtration" I have is a 1 inch fountain pump. Kinda looks like this.

Thanks, I'll try that site out sometime :3

 

[Yttrium]

For the tank, the larger the better. Snapping turtles get BIG. Your baby turtle is small and cute right now, but it won't stay that way for long. A 40 gallon tank for a baby turtle is fine, but keeping an adult snapping turtle in a 40 gallon tank would be just plain cruel...especially if you have a female turtle.

A few years ago, I kept a couple of frogs in a tank and in order to give them more room, I constructed a Plexiglas enclosure that connected to the top of the tank and extended a few feet to the left of the tank. That way, the frogs were able to swim in the full 65 gallons of the tank, plus they were able to get out and roam around on land.

 

[Spartan857]

Gamera is like Gozilla, but a giant snapping turtle.

The "filtration" I have is a 1 inch fountain pump. Kinda looks like this.

Thanks, I'll try that site out sometime :3

Gamera is a japanese monster movie monster, a massive snapping turtle that could shoot giant fire balls from his mouth and fly via pullsing his arms and legs into his shell and use the holes as jets to propel him around.


As far as your "filter", a water pump wont cut it. you need somthing like this In tank filter. if your tank is big, you may need a few of them. plus you may need to clean the turtle droppings out with a syphon hose or a net, and take out atleast 50% of the water once a week.

 

[mrdeth0]

I'm hoping it doesnt get too big too quickly. If it gets too big and I am unable to afford keeping it, I will have to release it, otherwise, I'll keep it until I lose a finger. Is there a way to tell that it is female?

 

[Spartan857]

To quote yahoo answers----

"To sex any turtle, you have to look at the tail. ALL male turtles and tortoises will have a thicker tail, where the penis is stored. It comes out during matingor when they are aggitated.

The thing is that hatchlings and young turtles cannot be sexed. You have to wait until they reach or approach sexual maturity. With snapping turtles around 5-6" SCL (Straight capace length), you can start sexing them. It's harder to sex snapping turtles, unless you are experienced, since their tail is so long. It's easier if you have the two to compare. If your snapper is bigger than 5-6" SCL, you can send me a picture and I can sex it for you."

As far as growth rates, go here Turtle Growth

 

[redragon74]

ok ive owned 4 turtles so far and had what sounds like about your size tank. it sounds like its a 55 gal

its a snapper so its going to get hUEGe and since its a turtle its going to be expensive...

i recomend a good filter. personally recomend the next size up filter from a 55 i think its 75 gal to 100 gal external canister. there easier to clean and they filter everything out quiter = less cleaning but you can use one of the ones that hang on the back of it and water fall into the tank. i would still go the next size up. turtles are DIRTY animals. you will need to replace the cartrages every 2 weeks clean the filter itself everymonth, and replace 25-50% of the water every 3-4 months. all you do is just get a gravel vac. and just suck it from the bottom
your going to need a heater. i think around mid- high 70s
plants and gravle are your choice. i recomend river rocks medium sized mixed wtih a lil bit of large. take some of there food when they get bigger and dig it into it so they have to work for it. itl help them develop healthyer claws and be smarter.
your going to need a UV A/B light bulb for it to get its vitamin and mineral intake *it suppliments the vitamins and minerals it gets from being in the wild when its in the sun* and your also going to need a heat Spot Bulb so it to bask in, with the bask bulb i would recomend a 60/75 watt bulb.
youll also need a high point out of the water for him to sit on under the bulb BUT keep the water line down a few inches. mine was about 5-6 inches lower than the top so it doesnt cook him under the light. i just clipped the spot light on one of the things you open up and just left it there *6-8 hours a day for spot light 12 hours a day for the UV a/b bulbs* the food is general. they sell pellets. i liked using feeder gold fish *youll want the small ones till he gets bigger* and ghost shrimp a 55 is PLENTY of room for him for a few years


turtles arent a pet...there a hobby lol

 

[Privateer]

I have a 12 yr old albino red ear slider that lives in a custom terrarium I made using a old 55g reptile tank. I used a ramp made from plexiglass that covered about 1/3rd of the tank with river rock over it. I drilled holes in it for the water to flow in and used a fountain pump routed through a filter canister, just make sure you make it close to the same width as your tank to reduce the chance of the little bugger getting stuck in a crack.

 

[mrdeth0]

Thanks for the help guys. It's all gonna come in handy :3.
And Privateer, thats kinda what I wanted, and I also can't read any post you make without hearing the voice of Sir Bedevere and laughing my ass off.

 

[redragon74]

http://www.turtlehomes.org/usa/snappingturtles.shtml

 

[mrdeth0]

http://www.turtlehomes.org/usa/snappingturtles.shtml

THAT REALLY HELPED.

 

[BFDesigns]

That thing is so damned cute!!

 

[Jesmikz908]

Isn't it spelled gammorah? Lols It's basically a giant snapping turtle from japan that loved kids and could shoot rockets out of its back legs. Yes, it was the stoner ages..

 

[redragon74]

np man, if you ever have questions about how to care for a certain animal or reptile just search online for a Caresheet youll find hundreds of pages about em, and try to find the one linked to a national website.

i love turtles so much




i get to go to the turtle museum for school by my house and meet a leeding world researcher in turtles in a few weeks im so excited

ill take pics if you want to see it. but watch out when he gets big. cause hell get mean when he wants hell be able to break fingers and wrists lol and there pretty damn quick to there cool as hell though

 

[mrdeth0]

I keep hearing he/she will grow up mean. But until the day it bites me (and maybe after) I'll keep it. I tried setting my tank up like they recommended (Minus the lamps, filters and logs) and the water came a little too deep, so I had to take like 10 gallons out.

 

[Spartan857]

Isn't it spelled gammorah? Lols It's basically a giant snapping turtle from japan that loved kids and could shoot rockets out of its back legs. Yes, it was the stoner ages..

Gamera. Iam a big fan of the original movies and some of the new ones.

Youtube doesnt have that many vids.........which is a PAIN! So once I find my dvd's.........ooo man...

 

[mrdeth0]

Holy crap that is awesome! I have something like that, but with him fighting godzilla. I really wish they would start making more Gamera movies. I have the trilogy box set (Guardian of the universe, Attack of the Legion and Revenge of Iris) and it shows Gamera is much more of an action star than Godzilla is. Plus the Lake Texarkana re dubs of Legion was hilarious in a way that a lot of movies should do re dubs like that.