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I have 2 yellow bellied sliders which i keep in a 40"x18"x20" with 10" of water, my turtles are only 3 inches long.
There basking area i have made a matural one by building up rocks to form a small flat platform for them to bask on under the 100w heat lamp.

The whole tank is empty so they have plenty of room to swim in but all they do is hide under my drift woood next to the rock! they will either stay under there completely and hardly ever move except feeding time or they will just sit resting on something with there heads popping out of the water. Ive had them for 6months in which i moved them from a 10gallon small tank to there tank now. but they use to swim around all the time in there tank but now i hardly ever see them swimming. either hiding or the occasional time i do see them there scrabbling around swimming into the side!

Any suggestions on why they are doing this?

If it helps to no i have a cannister filter which circulates 4times the amount of water an hour plus an submersible filter that sitss on the bottom. and i have a heater in which the water stays mid 70's

Help please

Welcome to the forum!
I couldn't quite decipher if they just moved to their new tank after six months, or if they have been in their new tank that long. It makes a little difference.
If they just moved, they may just be just chilling in their new hiding spot.
Sounds like they are eating fine and resting on something and popping their head up for water is no problem.
If they don't have any signs of illness (puffy eyes, swimming lopsided, bubble coming out their nose, loss of appetite, lethargic and the like), then is may just be a phase.

I agree with penelope. How long have they been in the new place? Any chance they can get a little more privacy to get used to things?

they moved into a new one abou a month ago roughly into a tank which ive decorated exactly the same. the only difference is they have an extra 15 inches swimming room!

But yeah il try adding in some more things for them to hide in, there just really shy maybe? allways swim away or hide when i come over aswell.

and no there isnt any sign of loss of appetite, other than its hard to get them to eat pellets for a few days after feeding them live food!
Thanks

Have you ever seen them on the basking area? Maybe you can leave some food up there to see if they wander up there.

erm, a few times. or i see wet patches on the rock when i come into the rooom. il try the food trick, but im trying to get them to eat there pellets at the moment!

You can leave pellets up there and then check later to see if it's still there.

il tryy it. it may be just as i change the water i often shuffle things around. im gonna try leaving things wer they all are.
Thanks for you help buddy

My Yellow Bellied Slider, Martha is a lot more shy than my Red Eared Sliders and Martha does not like when I change either pond around. When I moved her from her outside pond to her inside pond it took her a few weeks to adjust and start basking. When she wasn't basking, she was usually hiding. It took her a lot longer to start swimming freely. A couple months ago I increased the amount of water in her indoor pond and raised her basking rock. It took her about 5 days before she was fully basking (vs. quick stops on her basking rock).

Martha also doesn't like when tall things are too close to her pond. As an example, we had 3 amaryllis plants lining the pond. One of them started to bloom. She was okay after the 1st and 2nd flower bloomed, but when the third one opened, she stopped basking. Not 10 minutes after moving the flowering amaryllis, she was basking.

I would give them a little more time. Just make sure there is nothing in view that may be stressing them out. I even had to adjust Martha's lights around to make her happy.

-Michael

ah cheers mate. there basking now! taken them about 2 weeks to settle in but there eating and basking properly!
cheers for the help!

Glad they settled in!
Absent some pressing reason, I'd just leave things as they are.
If you ever need to change things, now you know there will be an adjustment period.
As for trying to get them to eat pellets after feeding them live fish
Well...
They obviously love live fish and will go on a 'starvation diet' hoping you'll break down and give them more live fish.
What they don't know, is that we know they can go days without food.
As you've witnessed, they do break down.
So give them their live prey when you want, and just accept that they will try to break you down by making you think they are "starving"
Now you know their weakness

Glad all is well!!

Cheers!