turtle tank decorating

[lordpet]

Hello

I have a 40 gallon breeder tank for a yellow bellied slider. Right now it's bare except for a stick on the bottom and his floating basking area. I'm bored with the way the tank looks so I feel like sprucing it up a little. I'm sure the turtle doesn't care what the tank looks like, but he doesn't pay the bills. Anyway, after reading about the horrors of gravel, I'm thinking about getting pieces of slate and gluing fake plants to them with aquarium sealant. Maybe I'd throw some sand in to fill in the gaps. Would that work? I'd like the tank to look cooler than a big box of glass with a turtle in it.

Any ideas welcome.

thanks
Pete

 

[bshenanagins]

Hello

I have a 40 gallon breeder tank for a yellow bellied slider. Right now it's bare except for a stick on the bottom and his floating basking area. I'm bored with the way the tank looks so I feel like sprucing it up a little. I'm sure the turtle doesn't care what the tank looks like, but he doesn't pay the bills. Anyway, after reading about the horrors of gravel, I'm thinking about getting pieces of slate and gluing fake plants to them with aquarium sealant. Maybe I'd throw some sand in to fill in the gaps. Would that work? I'd like the tank to look cooler than a big box of glass with a turtle in it.

Any ideas welcome.

thanks
Pete

Driftwood always makes a tank look better, I'd avoid the slate. Get some large river rocks and a sandy bottom is excellent for turtles. Fake plants work well but they need to be secured. Make sure you keep your turtle fed because otherwise it will tear up your fake plants looking for food. I have a 7yo RES and I just got a 210 for her. Also, you could tackle an above tank basking area so the tank can be full? For background, maybe put up a black background or spray it with plastidip (peels right off when dry) and secure a manzanita branch to the wall to give the appearance of tree roots? Just some thoughts, I love my turtle

 

[lordpet]

Thanks for the response. So you think slate is no good? I was going to secure the plastic plants there, but I guess I can just bury them in sand. Where do I get large river rocks? Do they come in a bag like gravel, or do I go to a river and find some rocks? I live in Brooklyn, so rivers are scarce, and I'm not putting anything from the Gowanus Canal in my turtle tank.

What do you mean by "above tank basking area so the tank can be full?" I have the floating thing that he goes and basks on and keep the tank pretty full of water.

BTW, I feed him those reptomin pellets. Anything that I should throw in there for variation?

thanks

 

[bshenanagins]

Thanks for the response. So you think slate is no good? I was going to secure the plastic plants there, but I guess I can just bury them in sand. Where do I get large river rocks? Do they come in a bag like gravel, or do I go to a river and find some rocks? I live in Brooklyn, so rivers are scarce, and I'm not putting anything from the Gowanus Canal in my turtle tank.

What do you mean by "above tank basking area so the tank can be full?" I have the floating thing that he goes and basks on and keep the tank pretty full of water.

BTW, I feed him those reptomin pellets. Anything that I should throw in there for variation?

thanks

I would just be careful with its edges, turtles like to bump things around and investigate so you don't want it to cut itself or damage the shell. But if its buried under the substrate then it's nbd. You can sometimes find them in pet stores but I usually head down to my local stone yard for landscaping. Some places have "scrap" rock they may sell you really cheap or just give you them for free. Careful with this though, avoid stuff like limestone as it will affect your ph. A simple test is to spread vinegar on the rock and if it bubbles its no good. By above tank basking area I mean a custom built platform for your turtle to climb out onto that typically rests on top of the the tank rim. There is a commercial one available by PennPlax called the turtle topper. It just allows you to fill the tank to the brim to provide optimal swimming room for your turtle. The pellets are good, once in a while I get some crickets for my turtle and freeze dried red shrimp. Most stores have an assortment of treats for turtles. I used to put in feeder fish but learned its not the healthiest treat for them.

 

[TrueEnvy]

I've use slate for my turtles and there fine there jest can be any sharp parts are prices jutting out

 

[LittleLucy]

Some nice plants you can get to beautify your tank,
Good water plants for turtles are:
Amazon swords
Anacharis
Duckweed
Frogbit
Hornwort
Nasturtium
Pondweed
Water fern
Water hycancinth
Water lettuce
Waterlilly
Water milfoil
Water star wort
These are a nice variety of non harmful plants!

The diet is very important for the turtle;
cabbage, iceberg lettuce, and spinach are NOt to be fed to turtles!
a variety of protein and vitamin A and K is very important! Reptomin and other pellets may be good food for turtles, but every once and a while, a small amount of apple slivers or carrot slivers will offer the turtles a delicious snack. Romaine lettuce should be given every week, to offer a yummy and healthy food into their diet. Some breeds of shrimp, too! Or packaged dried shrimp, also delicious! The list of water plants listed are all edible, so if the turtles like the way they taste, they will munch on the leaves.

As for decorations, I agree with bshenanigans, the log is a wonderful idea!
There is also a filter that is shaped like a rock, if you want to eat rid of the boring normal filter, a decorative rock filter is also pretty!

I use a mixture of small and large pebble in my tank, my turtle nips at the small white pebbles, but never swallows or chews. (Time for a cuttlebone for calcium!)
Half of the tank is more of a river pebble, bigger and more spherical. She likes to dig in the small pebble, so if you'd like, sand would be nice (a little harder to clean) but offer the turtle some fun digging material. You can also get colorful fake pebble or rock designs at a fish store, I'm sure your turtle doesn't mind colors, (mine like yellow and blue) but colored pebble can give you eye candy when you look at the tank.
My tank is natural colored, and for design, I have geodes! Smooth rounded crystal-like rocks. Also some sandstone from Utah.

Truly, it is up to you for color and design, but every comment here has a wonderful idea, I do personally think the turtle and you would like a log! ^o^ happy designing!

 

[bribo12]

Some nice plants you can get to beautify your tank,
Good water plants for turtles are:
Amazon swords
Anacharis
Duckweed
Frogbit
Hornwort
Nasturtium
Pondweed
Water fern
Water hycancinth
Water lettuce
Waterlilly
Water milfoil
Water star wort
These are a nice variety of non harmful plants!

The diet is very important for the turtle;
cabbage, iceberg lettuce, and spinach are NOt to be fed to turtles!
a variety of protein and vitamin A and K is very important! Reptomin and other pellets may be good food for turtles, but every once and a while, a small amount of apple slivers or carrot slivers will offer the turtles a delicious snack. Romaine lettuce should be given every week, to offer a yummy and healthy food into their diet. Some breeds of shrimp, too! Or packaged dried shrimp, also delicious! The list of water plants listed are all edible, so if the turtles like the way they taste, they will munch on the leaves.

As for decorations, I agree with bshenanigans, the log is a wonderful idea!
There is also a filter that is shaped like a rock, if you want to eat rid of the boring normal filter, a decorative rock filter is also pretty!

I use a mixture of small and large pebble in my tank, my turtle nips at the small white pebbles, but never swallows or chews. (Time for a cuttlebone for calcium!)
Half of the tank is more of a river pebble, bigger and more spherical. She likes to dig in the small pebble, so if you'd like, sand would be nice (a little harder to clean) but offer the turtle some fun digging material. You can also get colorful fake pebble or rock designs at a fish store, I'm sure your turtle doesn't mind colors, (mine like yellow and blue) but colored pebble can give you eye candy when you look at the tank.
My tank is natural colored, and for design, I have geodes! Smooth rounded crystal-like rocks. Also some sandstone from Utah.

Truly, it is up to you for color and design, but every comment here has a wonderful idea, I do personally think the turtle and you would like a log! ^o^ happy designing!

Turtles will destroy most of those plants and eat some as well.

 

[LittleLucy]

Turtles will destroy most of those plants and eat some as well.

I know! ^o^ Of course! What is the point of having a plant in there the turtle cannot eat?
Some turtles prefer other plants, for the time being, a decorative plant is edible rather than having a turtle chew on fake plastic leaves~

 

[bribo12]

I know! ^o^ Of course! What is the point of having a plant in there the turtle cannot eat?
Some turtles prefer other plants, for the time being, a decorative plant is edible rather than having a turtle chew on fake plastic leaves~

I was just saying the plants will not stay rooted for long lol. It's hard to plant a turtle tank haha

 

[LittleLucy]

I was just saying the plants will not stay rooted for long lol. It's hard to plant a turtle tank haha

Very true, and I agree. ^o^

 

[bshenanagins]

You can keep a planted turtle tank with the right plants and if you keep the turtle WELL fed. They will not show interest in the plants if they are not hungry

 

[jonathan85365]

above tank basking area works on tanks up to 12 inches wide wider use PVC pipe and trial and error worth the buy my turtle loves it the underwater sleep dock may not fit because it barely fit in my 12 wide I'd say 10 inches it's 30 to 50 on amazon

 

[jonathan85365]

Plenty of room for large turtles and mine went up immediately and uses it a couple hours at a time all day and sometimes even at night