This is the first time we have left a message on this site. We have been reading through the site and the forum for sometime now.
We should tell you about We setup and my turtles. We have 3 RES hatchlings, 1 pleco, 1 crayfish and 2 left over feeder guppies as of now. Our turtles’ names are: Columbus, Turbo and, Einstein. The pleco’s name is Plato and Shifty is the crayfish.
Columbus is our first turtle. We had bought Columbus and another turtle (we did not have names for the turtles yet) from the dreaded flea market. We know that was not the best thing to do but it was an impulse buy. Once we got them home we started looking up the type of turtle we bought and whatever information we could find regarding: habitat, growth and behavior, and feeding. Columbus’s tank mate died we think “it” (we still do not know the genders of our little turtles) got stressed when we went on vacation to see my parents. We then decided that Columbus needed some companionship, and purchased two additional turtles (Einstein and Turbo) from a local fish store. They where not living in the best of conditions. But better than some places we visited locally. All of our turtles are happy and healthy, they have not been to a vet yet, but they have been to a Herpetologist. He is a local store owner and breeder he will do a consultation to try to save you a little money.
Our turtles have not tried to harm the pleco. We made sure the pleco was large enough for them not to swallow or chomp in half. We made sure the pleco was placed in the tank before we reintroduced the turtles after cleaning the tank and feeding them. We did the same procedure with Shifty. We do give them feeder guppies every once in a while, but not too often due to the thiamine. They also receive treats and veggies.
We have at this point a 20 gallon tank (We have a 75 gallon one waiting for them) a filter, heater, basking lamp, UVB light, and a log tunnel, Mondo Grass and, river rocks that are to large for them to eat.
Glad you came out of the shadows.