General Care Discussion :: Is my setup sufficient?

[rfjedi]

Well I will go with aquarium first then explain turtles.

Fluval 404 filter
2 floating rocks one 23x18 and one 15x9
large overhead light with a full lid on tank.
Heater keeping it @ 79 degrees
90 gallon tank
2 small rock decorations on bottom
ALSO our house is all soft water so its all soft water in the tank with the reptisafe stuff I put in once a week

the turtles are
1- 6" female
2- 4 1/2" males
2- 2" babies
2- 1 1/2" infants

I know I cant follow the 10 gallons per inch rule. Sorry its just not enough money atm but no worries I will do it asap. I feed them pellets, fish food and blood worms in group feedings. They all eat no fighting so thats good. One time my female attacked everyone when I turned the lights off at night so since I have left them on and no attacking. Not sure why?

So question is anything I can do to make it better outside of new larger aquarium for now. I am sorry for crudeness in video ending I intended for brother but it gives you a good show of my tank for advice on how to give my turtles the best environment possible. Since I made the video I got the 2nd bigger floating rock, its huge. I love these turtles so I am doing my best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQaZH9pUblo

[sull324]

You should have read the forums. Remove the gravel as soon as possible,they will eat it. It might take a week until its all out of there system make sure to check there poo until its 100% gone.
Ive checked the video,and i cant tell if you have UVB light. You might need one.

The rest look ok,you would be better with an above tank basking area like in most setup,you can browse the indoor sub forum for some idea.

I added an sleeping spot recently on mine,which worked really great,its an platform close to the line of water,where they can sleep but can breath easely just by getting there heads out a bit. My turtles like a lot and use it to rest.

Might sound expensive,but if your handy,and can get some raw material.you can go far and it wont cost you much.

[rfjedi]

Alright so the rocks Ill take care of on monday, and Ill make sure the light in there is uvb. Anything else?

[BullDog]

Ok, gravel out, as was mentioned.
Sounds like you don't have proper basking lights. You need a UVB light as well as a heat source for healthy turtles.

You should never put adult RES with babies. An adult can injure or kill a young turtle, and it sounds like that's already happened. Turtles prefer darkness for sleeping, so you shouldn't leave the light on 24 hours a day.

I would say at minimum you should move the 2" and 1.5" turtles to their own tank, otherwise they very well could be killed, whether accidentally or not.

[LittleResQNorth]

Also keeping boys and girls in the same tank can result in aggression in males. Check all turtles for injuries on a very regular basis, at the first sign off aggression or any even minor injuries as it will only get worse!!!
The large turtles can very easily eat or fatally injure those tiny babies so I would suggest getting them out of that tank.

[str1p]

as everyone else has stated get proper lighting and a bigger dock, your turtles are pyramiding pretty badly.

[vear]

I know you said you can't get your hands on a bigger set up, so separating them might be the best way to go. The little ones shouldn't really be in there - so you can try to find a large rubbermaid container, they're pretty cheap, and put the little ones in there. Since they're still small, the 4 little ones can be in there for a while. Depending on how much space you have you can have 3 set ups (w/ 2 rubbermaids plus your 90 gallon) and have enough room for everybody.

[rfjedi]

I have the 4 little ones in my 30 gallon tank. it has a heater basking and all. Getting some Anacharis plants for my 90g and going to change rocks tomorrow.

[mikee]

rf-di A couple of things come to mind: 1- the little ones are having or is going to have a hard time in with the much larger turtles. The larger ones can bite a foot or tail off with no problem. 2 - the Fluval is going to have a hard time keeping up with that much poo. You are just making the 5x rule but with that much, the 404 is going to be a problem keeping up. I have mixed feeling about the gravel. They eat it and some say it cloggs them up. -- Nice looking turtles!