Turtles. (Yes. Turtles)

[ferret]

Okay. So I've got a 90 gallon planted tank. Half of its population has been slaughtered by the evil ice storm (Search for my other thread).

It remains stocked with a handful of cories (At least 7), 6 serpai tetras, 2 glo-lite tetras, 2 otos, and an angel fish. These guys could easily fit in a smaller tank and I have some lying around.

I am half pondering draining the tank to about 2/3rds, working up some "land" space, and getting some tuuurtles.

What kinds of turtles are available? I would like something that stays somewhat small and can always be housed in this 90 gallon. I wouldn't mind being able to have multiple of them.

[unknown_7]

I personally wouldn't advise you to put turtles with fish, specially tetras, I don't know if it can be done, but, personally I don't think that particular setup that you have going on now is a good choice.

[QTOFFER]

Unless I misread, I think Ferret plans to move all the fish out of this tank and devote it to turtles.

Ferret, sorry to hear about your ice storm disaster. I guess this idea you have is one way to turn lemons into lemonade. A nice paladrium setup would look awesome in a 90 gal. I've always liked red eared sliders - a friend of mine had one in a 20 gal long tank for several years. Other options include frogs, salamanders, and newts.

[Toirtis]

RESes get too big for a 90....your best bet would be a common musk turtle, Sternotherus odoratus....and then only 2 at most.

[fishfirst]

really? they get too big for a 90 gallon? I thought they were similar to painted turtles... but maybe not. I've heard of pet stores selling painted turtles too... they would work. don't get much bigger than 8 inches wide

[Toirtis]

Male RESes can reach 10", females can reach 14". I disagree with even painteds in that size...just not a reasonable amount of room for them.

[QTOFFER]

Most 10 inch fish do fine in a 90 gal tank, why not a 10 inch turtle? Does it have something to do with the extra wastes turtles produce? Can that possibly be overcome with more filtration? Also, I had no idea RESes got that big! My friend lost his RES to an malignant tumor after five years - if I remember, it was about 5 inches at the time it died.

[Devilishturtles]

I agree with Toirtis. You could go for 2 stinkpot turtles (or musk turtles). I attached a link here for you:

http://www.turtletopia.com/care/musk/muskdesc.shtml

They stay smaller, and are easy to care for. I have two RES's now in a 55 gallon tank, and they will soon outgrow it, but are only about 1.5 yrs old right now, and at about 3-4 inches in carcapace diameter.

[thanew]

hrm.. hate to jack this thread but, are all turtles not fish safe? I mean I have some large fish right now, my pictus are both up to about 5-6 inches each and I have some large plecos.. do you think they'd be safe with a smaller turtle seeing how'd they all four probably out grow him ?

i mean, I've witnessed turtles at the LFS kill off feeders and danios so I know not to put small fish in with one, but would a larger fish be fine ?

[Toirtis]

QTOFFER: Turtles do produce a very large amount of waste proportionately (so aside from water volume, they do need a lot of water changes and some heavy duty filtration). As well, a typical semi-aquatic turtle tank will be 70% water to 30% land, and that water area is typically only perhaps 10" deep on an aquarium that is 20" tall....so that water volume is really only about 32 gallons or so. Besides, think of the actual area that water portion takes up, then imagine to 10" turtles (which will be 8" wide as well) attempting to swim about simultaneously without consatntly banging into each other.

thanew: Very few turtles are even marginally 'fish-safe'....even with larger fish, many turtles will nip chunks out of fins and tails. About the most 'fish-safe' turtles out there are fly-river turtles, which are as fully-aquatic as freshwater turtles get, but even they are safe only with larger fish. This is not to say that there are not some individual turtles out there that despite the typical behaviours of their species, are for some odd reason, completely uninterested in their fish companions....there are always exceptions to any rule. However, as I pointed out to QTOFFER, turtles produce lots of nasty waste, and since fish 'breathe' water, they are far more sensitive to water conditions than the turtles are, so keeping a turtle-tank's water clean enough for most fish is a fair challenge.

[ferret]

So there's not a whole lot of small turtles on the market that will be happy in 90 gallon permanently, er?

[frog girl]

I think mud turtles which are omnivorous only get about 6 inches long so they might be an option. But as advertised they like mud so probably not a great one unless you like silty water. May not be available on the market either - I just don't know.

I must second the opinion on sliders. I have 2 adults in my 1500 gallon pond & still worry a bit that they might need more space. Too often people get them as cute babies & release them into the wild when they get too big where they carry diseases from the pet trade into the local population or even worse they are released in areas where they don't really belong.

[ChileRelleno]

Water
The water must be at least 1.5 to 2 times your turtle's total length (called carapace length) in depth, with several extra inches of air space between the surface of the water to the top edge of the tank to prevent escapes. The tank length needs to be at least 4-5 times the CL, and the front-to-back width should be at least 2-3 times the CL. So, for a turtle who is 4" CL, your enclosure water area must be at minimum 6-8 inches deep, 16-20 inches in length, and 8-12 inches in width. If you are going to have a land area at one end, this means you need something larger than a 10 gallon tank. See Reptile Housing: Size, Dimension, and Lifestyle for the dimensions of standard aquaria and other enclosures.

Keep in mind that if your turtle is not yet full grown (and, if he is not yet as large as a dinner plate, he is not full grown), you not only need to provide room in the tank (water and land) for him as he is now, but to allow for future growth.

And these are the recommended minimums... IMO turtles need a very large custom setup for in-doors and better yet a out-door pond.

A friend of ours keeps a 12"+ CL (carapace length) Red Eared Slider in a 55gal with just the bare essentials and its woefully inadequate. I've subtly tried suggesting a larger tank to no avail