Re: Turtles in the tank

[John >]

CORRECTIONS IN GRAMMAR

I would like to introduce a small painted box turtle to our fresh water
aquarium. I know turtles are cold blooded and need to get near a heat
source to warm from time to time.

DO I need to build a sturdy shelf for them to climb on?
Or WILL a floating Styrofoam lily pad or fake log WORK?

How do I keep the heat source from over heating the water in the aquarium?

Will turtles eat the dead bait fish in my tank?

TIA
JOhn ><>

"John ><>" > wrote in message
...
> I would like to introduce a small painted box turtle to our fresh water
> aquarium. I know turtles are cold blooded and need to get near a heat
> source to warm from time to time.
>
> So I need to build a sturdy shelf for them to climb on?
> Or a floating styrofoam lily pad or fake log?
>
> How do I keep the heat source from over heating the water in the aquarium?
>
> Will turtles eat the dead bait fish in my tank?
>
> TIA
> JOhn ><>
>
>
>

[Billy]

"John ><>" > wrote in
message ...
|I would like to introduce a small painted box turtle to our fresh
water
| aquarium. I know turtles are cold blooded and need to get near a
heat
| source to warm from time to time.
|


This question comes up from time to time.....

Are there fish in the aquarium??? If so, don't try this. The
filtration and nitrogen cycle can't keep up with the amount of waste
created by an amphibian of that size, the fish will not survive the
ordeal for long. Goldies might manage for a while, but they, too,
will die of ammonia and nitrite poisoning eventually.

billy


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[RedForeman ©®]

|| I would like to introduce a small painted box turtle to our fresh
|| water aquarium. I know turtles are cold blooded and need to get
|| near a heat source to warm from time to time.
||
|| So I need to build a sturdy shelf for them to climb on?
|| Or a floating styrofoam lily pad or fake log?
||
|| How do I keep the heat source from over heating the water in the
|| aquarium?
||
|| Will turtles eat the dead bait fish in my tank?
||
|| TIA
|| JOhn ><>

Understand 2 things right off the bat... If you've ever had turtles
exclusively, then you should already know, but since you didn't introduce
this idea, I'm guessing you DON'T know...

1. Turtles produce waste, equal to that of 25 fish, that's 25 pl*cos....
Commons.... that equates to high filtration rates, high currents, high
capacity, or else you will have green water all the time.... So unless your
75 is treated like a 475, with enough filtration to breakdown nuclear
meltdown, you'll probably just want to skip that idea... Now I know you can
have a turtle only tank... but that would require almost daily cleanings...
My land turtles require daily poopscooping, and they are in a 55g
rubbermaid.

2. Turtles will eat anything in the tank... ANYTHING... even fish...

But yes, if you do this, one end, you sort of build a shelf out of the
water, about a 1/3 down from top, where they can bask in a UVB light with a
heat lamp about 1.5' away.... Most ppl setup the tank like this...


________________________________ Heat
| UBV | /Lamps here
| \ / | /
| ______|____|
| / |
| / |
|___________________/____________|


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[rtk]

http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/e/x/exk7/NewCritterWebStuff/NewTurtleTank.html


I keep a variety of tetras, a couple cichlids rescued from my vicious
cichlid tank, as well as an infinite supply of guppies, with three
turtles, the largest of which is now about 10 inches. I only clean the
tank every two weeks, changing 50% of the water. I use some of the
guppies to feed sal****er fish as well as the cichlids. The nice fish
in my community tank are too polite to eat them.

Ruth Kazez

[RedForeman ©®]

||
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/e/x/exk7/NewCritterWebStuff/NewTurtleTank.html
||
||
|| I keep a variety of tetras, a couple cichlids rescued from my vicious
|| cichlid tank, as well as an infinite supply of guppies, with three
|| turtles, the largest of which is now about 10 inches. I only clean
|| the tank every two weeks, changing 50% of the water. I use some of
|| the guppies to feed sal****er fish as well as the cichlids. The
|| nice fish in my community tank are too polite to eat them.
||
|| Ruth Kazez

I love your tanks... I've had them bookmarked eversince I first saw them...
actually, they are the inspiration to my wifes turtle habit... and her frog
habit... moreover her herp habit....

--
| RedForeman ©® fabricator and creator of the ratbike streetfighter!!!
| ==========================
| 2003 TRX450ES
| 1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
| '98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
| ==========================
| ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø
| ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸. ><((((º> ·´¯`·. , .·´¯`·.. ><((((º>
| for any questions you may have....
| Gmail - the ultimate in disappointment...

[rtk]

THANK YOU! Deep bow, sincerely!

But I do agree about turtle poops. They are nothing to sneeze at.
One good thing about keeping fish in the turtle tank is that they eat
the considerable amount of crumbs the turtles leave. I feed the turtles
large cichlid sticks by hand, but they are little slobs, much to the
fish's delight.

Ruth Kazez


RedForeman ©® wrote:

> ||
> http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/e/x/exk7/NewCritterWebStuff/NewTurtleTank.html
> ||
> ||
> || I keep a variety of tetras, a couple cichlids rescued from my vicious
> || cichlid tank, as well as an infinite supply of guppies, with three
> || turtles, the largest of which is now about 10 inches. I only clean
> || the tank every two weeks, changing 50% of the water. I use some of
> || the guppies to feed sal****er fish as well as the cichlids. The
> || nice fish in my community tank are too polite to eat them.
> ||
> || Ruth Kazez
>
> I love your tanks... I've had them bookmarked eversince I first saw them...
> actually, they are the inspiration to my wifes turtle habit... and her frog
> habit... moreover her herp habit....
>