fully aquatic turtles

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Opiate said:
wadda bout terrpins? arnt they full aquatic turtles?
Diamond back terrapins, nope, they require the same care as RES but they like a little salt in there water. Some people call them a brackish turtle.

As for fully aquatic turtles- fly river turtle, mata mata, and thealligator snapping turtle (allthough these have been seen basking)

The following are almost fully aquatic turtles- common snapping turtle (although I see them basking all the time), and soft shelled turtles (these also like to bask).

All turtles will use land occasionally. Even FRT lay eggs on land. I always like to give all my turtles a hual out area, just incase. I have heard stories of turtles drowning and thats never gonna happen to me.
 
Peanut_Power said:
I keep Herbie with all of my pikes, all he is interested in are the algae wafers really. Tis a really low maintence turtle....i got lucky and did a trade of some of my fish for him. All yaz have to do is keep up on waterchanges, give lots of veggies, and 'scrub' their shell once every other week or so to keep algae off. I use a sponge...;). But yeah, FRT are AWESOME! Gotta love em! I know i love Herbie! :D
pix. thats one I would want to see in person one day! so, what did you trade?
 
I am really interested in buying an FRT but on a different forum a lot of people have told me that they aren't supoosed to be kept with other fish. They also say that they fin nip a lot. On the internet it says that they can be kept in a community tank and they are only aggressive towards other FRT's. What do you all think?
 
I am really interested in a FRT but on a different forum I have been told that they cannot go with other fish because they are really bad fin nippers. On the internet I have been told that they are safe to home in a community but can get agressive with their own kind. If I got one I would be keeping it in a fish community. What do you all think?
 
I keep my fly river with fish, she's way too slow and lazy to catch the fish! Softshells on the other hand are very, very predacious. Florida SS is Apalone ferox (ferox = ferocious in latin)
 
I keep a trio of FRTs. All of them began nipping at fish and each other once they reached about 1.5 years old. I used to have a 4th FRT but there was a fight between the 2 females resulting in the lower jaw being ripped away from one female. So, I have to put her down. Another FRT killed my 1st AUL. Now, the 3 FRTs each have their own tank. Once they're sexually mature, they'll be reintroduced across egg crate until breeding behavior is observed.
Read around this board and others and you'll find dozens of cases of FRTs killing tankmates. Unless you don't really care about the fish, it's just not woth the risk to keep FRTs with any fish. My FRTs (now 4&5 years old) actively hunt down and eat fast-swimming shiners and bait minnows I keep as dither fish in their tanks.
 
I saw in AFM they sell FRT's in China for like $15!
 
I have 9 FRTs in separate tanks and have been keeping them for about 5 years. The only tank mates that have made it have been stingrays. They do fight sometimes but because no one wins they do not fight often. The worst of the fighting coursed scratch on the stingray which healed in two weeks.
 
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