FRT Activity Level? Others Who Own Them Please Chime In

[tanglovers]

Hi All,

I have ahd a 10" male FRT for about a year now. Up until recently he was in a 180 gallon tank while I got the new setup built for him. The new tank is a 520 gallon tank.

When in the 180 gallon he did not swim much mostly hung out at the bottom during the day, active in the evenings.

When I moved him into the 520 gallon a couple weeks ago, he swam around constantly all times of the day for 3-4 days (not scared / freaked out, just exploring). Now he is back to just relaxing on the bottom. During this increased activity level, the tank water was cloudy from the sand substrate.

I am keeping the tank at 82 degrees. He eats great and will come out to eat any time of day. Perfectly healthy in every aspect I can see.

Is this pretty typical behavior? When I have seen them at zoos they were active during the day.

Thanks!

 

[VLDesign]

I have one in a 300 gallon tank that is active all the time. When he was in the 1500 he wasn't as active. I think the plecos were picking on him so he sat in the corner most of the time.

After the 2700 is finished I will see how he likes that now that the plecos are gone.

I have another FRT in my 1500 at the moment who is very active.

 

[doviiman]

I have one about 8in in a 125 waiting on the 900gal to be complete and he is very active. In fact the only other time he is not active is when you can see that he is actually sleeping. Other than that he is always exploring. Not sure why yours has settled down so much. How often are you feeding him? I did notice when I first got mine an was feeding twice a day( to make sure he would acclimate to his new home), he would eat and relax for most of the day. But after doing more research/reading I cut back on the feeding to every other day. Now he eats well (varied foods like papaya, shrimp, worms, algae pellets w/ D3, and an ocasional minnow) swims/explores well and sleeps wells.

 

[tanglovers]

I have been feeding daily, most hikari algae wafers. I have tried various fruits without much luck. I have raised the temp up to 85 and he seems a little more active in that. Does not act lethargic by anymeans just wish he would be a little more active and swim out in the open more often.

How are your tanks decorated? I have had some nice large pieces of driftwood always with him and he loves to be in and amoung that.

 

[doviiman]

I don't have much for decorations at the moment as it is just a holding tank. Gravel and a large rock for the knife to hide behind, which the tutrle hides his head behind to sleep. When i set the new tank up there will be drift wood though. Lastly you need to vary that diet, try shrimp, worms and different fruit. Maybe starve him for a day or two he may take it then.

 

[Cheetah]

Do you have any tank mates? This tends to increase there swimming during the day because of the activity of the other fish. Mix up the type of food, try to add some floating food like leafy dark greens. If you only give them food that sinks, they tend to scavenge the bottom constantly.

I have a 6 incher that swims constantly at night and during the day only swims (from what I can tell), when someone enters the room.

I'm far from a expert, just my experience.

 

[doviiman]

Do you have any tank mates? This tends to increase there swimming during the day because of the activity of the other fish. Mix up the type of food, try to add some floating food like leafy dark greens. If you only give them food that sinks, they tend to scavenge the bottom constantly.

I have a 6 incher that swims constantly at night and during the day only swims (from what I can tell), when someone enters the room.

I'm far from a expert, just my experience.

Good point about the floating foods. I have to do that as well. My son's love puting his food in the tank, so they would get a kick out of it, if he'd come up to the tank to eat out of there hands...

 

[turtletamer]

I have six FRTS all in seperate tanks. Two of them seem to spend all day swimming back and forth. In fact one of them kept splashing water out of his glass tank onto the floor so I had to put him in a plexi tank with center openings instead. My other active one always goes crazy at night. As soon as I turn the lights out he starts splashing around at the top of the tank. The rest of them are pretty mellow. They just hang out on the bottom. Untill feeding time then they all go nuts.

I feed OSI Spirulina Wafers cost more but is supposed to be better for them then algae wafers. I agree with also feeding floating food to mix it up a bit. All of mine love apples.

Btw all of my flys love to destroy everything in their tanks, heaters, filter inlet outlets, anything that they can bite on and play with. Pain in the butt.

 

[M|L]

I've had a few FRTs and I've noticed differences in their individual activity level. Some are active all day long, some are only active during the evening/night time.

It's quite normal as far as I've experienced.