Lake Tanganyikan Turtles

[Kieranuk]

I was buying some cichlid's today for my malawi tank upstairs and saw this turtle in with the type of fish I have. Apparnently they only eat bloodworm and not other fish. I really liked it and was going to buy it (it was £100 ($190)) but then I realised I would rather have monsters for my 7ft tank. I am going to check how much money I have in one of my accounts and if I have spare I will probably get this turtle. It was so cool it dug holes then burried with its head sticking out. It also swam around the aquarium. It grows to under 1ft but cant go in with too agressive fish as it is softshelled. I will let you know if I am getting one. Also does anyone else have one and if so are they good pets?

Thanks,

Kieran

[Vitaliy]

Do you know whats the name of the turtle?

[Kieranuk]

No it just had on the cardboard thing 'Lake Tanganyikan Turtle' Imported from Africa.

[Kieranuk]

I think a african soft-shelled turtle. It was definatly different to the chinease soft-shelled as the shell of this one was square with the back of it pointing up.

[Caveman]

I remember seeing a video that National Geographic did on Lake Tanganyikan and they showed a Emperor Cichlid fighting a turtle. Not sure if it is the same kind of turtle you are talking about though since I saw the video like 5 years ago and just have vivid images of it in my head.

[rayman45]

go
get
pics

african side neck

[Kieranuk]

It probably is the same as these turtles live in Lake Tanganyikan. I think they might be quite rare as it is the first I have ever seen of them. They were in with the smaller cichlid's that I have not the frontosa's etc as I think they would be killed as they don't have a hard shell.

[Kieranuk]

It dosent look like the african side neck. It also feeds on bloodworm if this could narrow down which turtle it was? If I do get it, I will get it next saturday and will post some pic's. I will probably know by tommorow if I am getting it so I will reserve it tommorow. I am starting to move towards getting it now as I will always be wishing I had bought it if I don't.

[Jason]

Some of the african soft shells get HUGE i'll check my book that i have at work on turtles tomorrow and see what species have ranges in that area. Would be a truely neat find, i was drooling over a nile softshell on the net weighed in at 100lbs now thats a turtle :). I'd still be careful about mixing it with fish, most any turtle will eat anything if deems food even if it takes awhile to make up its mind.

jason

[Kieranuk]

Well this one shouldnt get over 6" which would be okey. At the shop they said it dosent eat fish just bloodworm. It's neck streatched from about 1/2" to 3" which looks pretty cool.

[HilJack41]

i had one before. theyneed a uv light for thier shell taht promtes super agel growths, adn theyneed special vitamins for thier sell. mine ended up dieing..... ask how ong they have had the turdle. make sure hes not "soggy" and his shell is thick an leathery. also food wise, they need to be target fed to make sure they get enough vities and minerals. diet is super important, as well as heat and uv for thier shell, calciumificaton.. sp? word?, adn digestion.do repti reseach before the purchase

[HilJack41]

it may not ne a tangi turtle look up and compare pics with florida soft shell,ect.

[iheartfishies]

Wow...

I need pics...

go the the LFS and take pics....

I gotta see it. :hearts:

[Kieranuk]

I think this one is in a water with high PH so it dosent need the extra things. It was caught in Lake Tanganyikan so I don't think it's the same as a florida one. Iheartfishies this turtle looked abit like that $2,700 thing in japan. I will try and get some pics but it might be next week when I go and probably get it. :-)

[PredatoryFishMagazine]

Even with the higher ph the turtle is still going to need the "extra things". Without proper UV lighting and vitamins the turtle wont be healthy at all. It's shell will start flaking off, and eventually it will develop metabolic bone disease.

Also, I can't imagine this turtle not eating fish. I highly doubt there is a turtle that can get 100% of its nutritional needs on a diet of nothing but bloodworms. Please get some pics if you can.

[Kieranuk]

Hopefully no-one will buy it by next weekend so I can get pictures. The shop is really good and for example when my fish died without evidence they replaced them for free even though I was about to buy replacements so hopefully they are telling me the right things. It is called Aqua Blue Zaire and it's partner shop in Belgium is one of the best in europe.

[lophius]

where was it kieren? (i'm in the UK too).

Personally I wouldn't keep turtles with fish (I have kept many turtles) . I did keep a large florida sofshell with fish for 5 years (from hatching to 12" carapace length) .. it was a bit nippy but then suddenly turned into a fish killer overnight.

I currently have a FRT that I house with some cats and peacock bass .. this is the only truly aquatic freshwater turtle and 'meant' to be mainly vegetarian --- it still likes to chew on fish and has killed a couple in the past, including 2 pangasisus sanitswongi and a female parachromis dovii.

In addition I suspect that you will have to provide suitable areas within the tank for the turtle to be able to haul out and get dry.

just a word of warning

Carl

[nick]

id bet money its a softy , mine loves to bury in my julidochromis tank , he pokes his head out and if u turn on loud music he dives back into his hole

[Kieranuk]

Lophius It is in Aqua Blue Zaire. Where abouts in the UK are you I am Durham way. Are you sure that that is the only truly aquatic one as this one seemed to be a new one to the trade and it was in with fish. It is quite rare I think. Also do you know any good places for monster fish? I have tried 'Wharf Aquatics' but wasnt as intrested in monsters then so I am not sure how good the fish they had in stock were. Nick yeah its a softy but a differnet type of softy. It is from africa in the lakes. I think I will try and reserve it tommorow.

[guesswho2005]

I was buying some cichlid's today for my malawi tank upstairs and saw this turtle in with the type of fish I have. Apparnently they only eat bloodworm and not other fish. I really liked it and was going to buy it (it was £100 ($190)) but then I realised I would rather have monsters for my 7ft tank. I am going to check how much money I have in one of my accounts and if I have spare I will probably get this turtle. It was so cool it dug holes then burried with its head sticking out. It also swam around the aquarium. It grows to under 1ft but cant go in with too agressive fish as it is softshelled. I will let you know if I am getting one. Also does anyone else have one and if so are they good pets?

Thanks,

Kieran
I will grab my world turtle book and see. I'm not familar with african turtles but I will look it up, however, most turtles when mature will eat anything that swims by. Also from what I see now they do get bigger then 1". :thumbsup:

[PredatoryFishMagazine]

I think they either didn't know what they were talking about, or were knowingly giving you wrong information trying to make a sale.

If you can get some pics, please do, so we can find out what species of turtle this is.

[lophius]

kieren, I'm in east yorkshire -

I have a good collection of monsters and have had a few from wharf in the past - Richard normally sorts me out with some good stuff - the thing with wharf is that the really good beasties go very quickly .. I've not been for more than 6 months but hear that at the moment the selection is not brilliant - I think they've been concentrating on the reptiles and marines.

I get fish from all over, pier at wigan is good, BAS at bolton, closer to me there's Birleys at sandtoft which occasionally has some good stuff (I got a B. filamentosum there), in hull there's Frisbys. I believe that there are quite a number of stores close to you that are pretty good - I have a mate that lives in sudnerland - i'll get a list of shops from him.

ALso, yes as far as I know the only truly aquatic freshwater turtle is the FRT from australia and PNG ...

carl

[NjOyRiD]

I remember seeing a video that National Geographic did on Lake Tanganyikan and they showed a Emperor Cichlid fighting a turtle. Not sure if it is the same kind of turtle you are talking about though since I saw the video like 5 years ago and just have vivid images of it in my head.


hahas i saw the video last night!
a lot of monster fish in there :)
Nice Puffer too!

[stylEmon]

most turtles actually eat MORE veggies as they get older. THey need all the protien when young to fight off all the disease they are suspetible too. But once they mature they eat almost ALL veggies