22ND June 2013
I decided that enough was enough. I had been keeping my two red-eared sliders in various tanks that had not been suitable for their size throughout the 8 years that they were with me. Furthermore, I had limited knowledge of these animals yet never bothered to find out how to care for them well. As a result, I had been keeping them in insanitary conditions, without a filter and without good sunlight for them to bask. Water level was always kept at a maximum of 5 inches due to a misconception I had that turtles didn't swim much. I kept them both in a 2ft by 1ft fish tank. My two sliders are currently at approximately 8 inches long (female) and 5 inches long (male).
This very same day, I went out and bought a 2ft and 1.5ft squarish looking tank for SGD$75 (Singapore Dollars). I also got an Atman canister filter for SGD$108.
Tank was half filled with some common platys and 2 crayfishes. I had intended them to be tank mates to my turtles.
29TH June 2013
Many common platys died throughout the week and the corpses got eaten up by my crayfishes. Learnt about the nitrogen cycle the hard way. Here's a pic of my crayfish feeding on a dead platy. Got some mossballs too.
My hamster making new friends.
1ST August 2013
Finally ready for my terrapins to go into their new home. Watched many turtle videos in the meantime and got new ideas about the basking platform. Bought a large piece of corkbark 2ft by 1ft. Sawed it down to fit my new tank and soaked it clean. But my large female RES was too heavy and started sinking the corkbark that I wedged against the glass. Must have been the corkbark being too thin. I had to get some pvc pipes to support the bottom.
Never expected that this set-up would have its own problems again...The corkbark started giving out lots of little debris that would float about the water, which was really unsightly. Furthermore, the area directly below the corkbark basking area was really dark and I couldn't see what was going on inside. Even though I had an air pump going on inside that area, I believe the debris that settled inside was not picked up by the filter and continued to stay there. I actually found a decomposed platy hidden in the darkness. Notice that the tank could only be filled halfway to prevent my large RES from climbing out.
5TH August 2013
I decided that an ATBA was the only solution to my problems. Yet, I found out that the length of my tank would not allow a suitable ATBA to be built directly on top of it, since the slope of the ramp would not be able to let my large female RES climb up easily. I finally decided to build an ATBA to the side of my tank.
Sawed off the front panel of an old tank I used to keep one of my hamsters in.
That's some clear 2mm acrylic sheets that I purchased for SGD$4.50 each at Art Friend, a hobbyist shop. I got lucky that the shop was really near my school.
I cut the acrylic sheets down to size, put them in my toaster (My mom was like "ARE YOU INSANE?!"), and bent them to form a ramp. Super glued it to the base of my ATBA. I then laid down a Zoomed Eco carpet on both the ramp and ATBA, tying those together with cable ties. I had hoped the carpet on the ramp would give my RESes some grip to climb out of the water. Nope, that didn't work because the carpet was not rough enough. I had to further cable tie a piece of non-slip kitchen mat onto the ramp.
I then got some marble ties and put them into the tank for an aesthetically pleasing look. They also hold down my java fern well. Note that by this date, all my platys had died, and I've given away both of my crayfishes due to my male RES trying to eat them. Forgot to mention that my tank is right next to a window that receives about 6 hours of sunlight directly on the basking area.
Here's a video of the final product.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRTXKD1DU3U[/youtube]
Final note
I would like to thank this forum for helping me learn so much about proper care for my sliders. The improvement in quality of life for my sliders seem to have made them much happier and more willing to interact with me. I do not plan to stop at this tank and I will definitely upgrade to a 150+gallon when circumstances permit me to. Firstly, money because I'm still a student. Secondly, space due to living in an apartment. I would also most likely be getting an additional Rena canister filter when I can afford it. This may be the end of the thread but it will never be the end of my learning about these intelligent and wonderful creatures.
Thanks for reading, and have a victorious day.
