General Care Discussion :: Basic information needed.

[bjaii]

Hi all!
I have owned my turtles for about half a year!
But I'm still pretty new to all this.

I have some question, first of all some health questions...
- Here is a picture of my turtle's shell, it has white spots on him, unusual?

- Is it okay for my turtle to eat fish food? because I have fishes and turtles.. and fishes sometime eats the turtles food and etc...

Habit tat question :
- I want to buy a canister filter... which brand is the best? I own a 45 gallons aquarium. I want one that is the most SILENT possible. and max price 150$.
- How does canister filter works? what kind of filtering media does it need? same as the fluval style filters? does it has to be cleaned as often as fluval filters or less? is it easier to clean a canister filter?
- I bought a second hand aquarium, it came with a heat lamp, its pretty big, sorta like the one ppl uses to keep the food hot in cafeteria, is it safe for turtles? (i think its the ones for reptile, more desert like)

at finally, I bought an aquarium, 45 gallons, with two use fluval filters, one grid lid, a few plants n rocks, a fluorescent bulb (the sticks) with a thing to contain it, a floating dock and a heat lamp. all for 60$ is it worth it?

Oh, and also, how do you guys deal with salad eating turtles? cuz everytime i feed them salad, they just poop it almost like it hasnt digested and it ends up clogging my filter!

I know its a lot of questions!!! thank you all very much!!

[steve]

Hi, the white areas look like fungus
It's ok for him to occasionally eat fish food, as long as it's not in any significant amount.
Canister filters... the XP3 is a favorite on these boards. It'll come with most of the media you need, though you can choose what you want to put into it.
Don't use a bulb unless you are sure of what it does. Simple household candescent bulbs work well with turtles.

The used stand... does all that stuff work? Did it include a stand?

What kind of veggies are you giving your turtles. how much and how often?

[blulite]

with regards to your fish food question, when i had fis in my tank i never put fish food into the tank. i just fed the turtles and the fish cleaned up the crumbs. ther really is no need to feed the fish seperate to the turtle as they willl eat the same food.

pond sticks for koi carp are ok to feed both your turtles and your fish. plus they are a hell of a lot cheaper than paying for the same product labeled as turtle food. these are the base of my turtles diet, then i give them, florette salads, fresh fish, prawns vegetables and fruits on occasion and for a treat i give them meal worms or crickets every now and then. also when it rains, i sometimes nip outside and check under the window ledges for spiders and on the path for earthe worms they seem to like slugs too but ive only ever tried them once as slugs just look fatty.

i want to try them with grasshoppers.

Any comments on the grasshoppers guys???

[steve]

Some do use them, though most stick to small crickets (fewer sharp appendages).