General Care Discussion :: Behavior question

[Rockyturtle]

For some background, I took in an RES from someone I used to work with because they are moving out of state. I am not sure how old Rocky is, but he is about 6-8 inches long. They had him for several years and he was only in a 20 gallon tank, with no basking light. He got pellets and 5 gold fish a week. Shortly after I got him, there was a tank sale at the pet store so I was able to move him to a 40 gallon. While I realize that he should have a bigger tank, it is what I can do for now. In summer he is going to have pool time in my grandsons old plastic pool. Anyway, he does some basking, he does some swimming and hunting around the floor of his tank (I think he is hunting for fish). However, he will also go down to one corner and basically hang out for days and then, like today and yesterday he swims back and forth in the front of his tank like he is trying to escape. It is pretty frantic looking sometimes. For the last two days however he has been so bad that he has basically destroyed his tank set up. Is this normal? We have only had him for a month or so, and I have been trying to improve his diet and his environment but I am worried by this behavior. He has duckweed to eat, I made jello shots from this website, and while they are still gold fish, I have set up a breeding tank with guppies using his old tank. No one around here sells red minnows or will sell anything but goldfish for feeders. I would post video of the behavior but don't know how. Any help is welcome, including how to post video. I wondered if this behavior might be because he is close to the tv and the noise may be bothering him, so I am planning to shift him to a different wall away from the tv. Thanks

[steve]

Sounds like a big adjustment for him. Depending on how his former keepers handled him, he might not be accustomed to being around people. What are your water temperatures? Basking temps? What's the basking area made of? We don't host video, but we can show youtube videos in our pages or link to other types of video. YOu can email it to me and I'll try to help.

[Rockyturtle]

We have found that covering the front of the tank does settle him eventually. His water is 78 -80 and his basking area is around 90. He has one of those foam floating(suction cup to the side) docks and I used a cement paver with PVC legs which has about an 1 1/2" of water on top with one end dry slate rock. He does bask when we cover him up or when we are not around so it may just be the activity he is not used to. I fed him his fish and half covered his tank and now he is basking on the floating dock. I have to adjust the new paver dock a little lower so I can get his favorite rock back up to bask on. I am still trying to get him used to jello shots, but he does eat them eventually. So maybe the fact that his diet routine has changed is also part of it. He used to get pellets every night and 5 goldfish ( all at once) one time a week. Now I alternate a day of jello shot with pellets with a fish.

[Rockyturtle]

Should I also have an infrared heater for at night? I cover his tank at night and he seems to sleep on his dock where the water is, so I thought I would ask about the heater.

[steve]

How cold does the water get at night? Do you have a regular submersible heater? Generally, it should be OK for older RES to be in the low 70's.

[Rockyturtle]

I do have a submersible heater to maintain his water temp so i have not noticed a significant temp change at night and I throw a towel over top of the tank to help maintain the air temp at night.

[steve]

What's his diet like?

[Rockyturtle]

I alternate jello shots with a small fish and a small amount of pellets. I also put fresh duck weed from my feeder tank as needed so there is always some in there. I am still feeding goldfish as I have only started my guppy feeder tank. I tried feeding him guppy fry feeders, but he could not catch them( how I started my feeder tank). He is being much calmer, unless I mess with his tank, does not seem to like change even if I move him out first. He still goes for the pellets on top of the jello shot first, but eventually realizes that's dinner and will eat it. He used to get pellets every day and 5 goldfish once a week.

[Love of Animals]

From what I've read duckweed is high in protein, compared to other plants. He's on a pretty high protein diet. How big is he? If he's 4 inches or more you should incorporate other water plants like anacharis and more leafy greens in place of feeders and some pellets (depending on how many pellets you feed him).

[Rockyturtle]

He does not get a lot of duckweed and his "jello shots" are only red and dark green lettuce with cuttle bone bone shavings topped with a few pellets. I have cut back on his fish to every three days. Where do you find anacharis? I ordered the duck weed online.

[Love of Animals]

You can order anachris online as well. You can also float the red leaf and green leaf lettuce in his tank. Dandelion leaves are good too. Many people use a veggie clip to keep the veggies in one spot. Good luck to you. He's lucky you took him. That high protein diet could have caused him a lot of problems down the road.

[Rockyturtle]

Apparently anacharis cannot be legally shipped to Maine. Haven't looked into why yet, but any other plants you can recommend that are lower in protein than duckweed?

[Rockyturtle]

These are the other water plants that are illegal in Maine (where it is also illegal to put goldfish in ponds):

Cabomba caroliniana (Fanwort, Carolina Fanwort)
Egeria densa (Brazilian Elodea)
Anacharis
Anacharis densa
Anacharis canadensis gigantea
Elodea
Elodea densa
Elodea canadensis gigantea
Brazilian Waterweed
Common Waterweed
Leavy Elodea
Hydrilla verticillata (Hydrilla, Water Thyme)
Hydrocharis morsus-ranae (Frogbit, European Frogbit)
Myriophyllum aquaticum (Parrot Feather)
Myriophyllum aquatica
Myriophyllum proserpinacoides
Brazilian Watermilfoil
Myriophyllum heterophyllum (Variable-leaf Watermilfoil)
Myriophyllum spp.
Myriophyllum pinnatum
Two-leaf Watermilfoil
Myrophyllum spicatum (Eurasian Watermilfoil)
Myriophyllum spp.
Spiked Watermilfoil
Najas minor (European Naiad, Brittle Water-nymph)
Nymphoides peltata (Yellow Floating Heart)
Potamogeton crispus (Curly-leaf Pondweed)
Trapa natans (Water Chestnut)