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Hello guys! I've been out of the scene for a bit, but I still have my two RES and have a few questions regarding their new habitat, when I moved, I decided to make a few changes and since they grew a bit upgrade their dock. Here's a picture! (Because I know Steve loves them)



Sorry if images are a bit big.

So back to my questions. One of the turtles (the biggest) likes to lay on the actual dry/basking area, but the smaller one likes to lay on the lower (with water) and just the very top of his shell outside of the water. I will rarely find him on the full dry part. Is this a problem?

The UVB light is the one on the right. There is nothing on the top blocking any light, I am going to be adding some eggcrate to soon (the metal mesh ended up causing too much problems with rust from the water they splashed on it).

I will also be adding some pictures of their shells later today when I get home.

Thank you all for your time and input-
Sincerely, Jay

Very nice looking. You will want the UVB over the basking area too. You will want the smaller one to fully dry off too, so you might need to make sure there is enough space and it's warm enough to entice him up there.

I totally didn't think about the UVB after I bought the hanger, but I knew you'd say that - Now I'll have to unglue it and place it ontop of the docking area. The dock area is about 93-95 degrees (according to the point temp checker) but I'm going to buy a new one because the one I have is not 100% accurate. Water temp is about 79-80.

Will be back with the shell pictures in a few hours!

Now that I see these, I'm a little ashamed I felt I was doing the right things - Proper feeding, lighting, water temp, etc.. but I'm here for help because I'm on expert. Anything you tell me I will do my best to make it happen!~
Beifong(Toph)





Katara:





I tried to find pictures to compare with from the first time I got them (1 year ago). Had no luck.

You'll also want the uvb pointed straight down. You'd need to replace the adhesive strip in those hangers, right? The shells are a bit rough, are their sizes accurate in your signature?

No those are not the right sizes, the light has no been relocated to the left side of the tank right above their basking area. What other suggestions do you have Steve? I was going to get measurements yesterday but could not find the measuring tape and totally forgot. The large one is about 4-5in and the smaller one is about 3.5in rough rough estimates.

Thank you for your time!

There is a bit of pyramiding, so you will need to strictly review their diet and likely cut down on the amount of pellets they get.

Yes I totally agree and I'm fixing that ASAP, what about the other possible issues, shell fungus or rotting? The white stuff around them is that something I should worry about? - Also their natural green should return once I fix their diet correct?

There is some irregular shedding, but I don't see any fungus.

RES actually get darker as they get older, so they won't be the vibrant green they used to be.

Awesome, they also both seem to be female. No longer aggressive towards themselves and right now I don't have the budget to buy a new tank to separate them. However my filter and wave maker seem to keep the water clean, as well as I always make sure to keep the water levels up.

I'm switching them to veggies now - bought 3 things off your listed recommended and thankfully they ate it up without a problem. So I will continue to feed them a high green diet with some protein mixed in.

I still have the one problem of getting the smaller one all the way up, twice this morning I caught her basking halfway into the water. - Could it be because she easily spooks ? - I'm going to build a light defuse barrier around their tank and once that is done I'll make it come out of the water more hopefully then she'll go higher.

Thank you very much for your time Steve. I'll update you guys in 3 months.

Also check the basking temps... maybe it could be a little warmer and then you can lower it again.