making 125g into a turtle tank.

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vlcek81

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 9, 2009
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For anyone who has read one of my posts before i caught a baby eastern painted turtle in my friends pond on his ranch, and have him in a 10 gallon with his basking spot and heat UV lamp. Dont have a filter on it, but doing 100% water change every 2 days to ensure his water will stay clean. I have my 125g unstocked with a fluval fx5 for it and wanted to know if i could may be put another turtle or 2 in there with him?

Will be buying from a respectable online site to get them all around the same size. Didn't find any compatability sheets on the internet, just read that they normally bask in groups together with other painteds.

I was thinking 1 eastern painted 1 map or some other turtle that will do well with it.
Did think this species looked rather cool http://turtleshack.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_6&products_id=9

*no red ear sliders though just because u can find them at any local pet shop*
 
The short answer is, sure ya can!

It looks like you have an understanding of their basic care including supplying a basking area and UVB lighting. Just be prepared to do a lot of water changes.

Turtles are rough on planted tanks, but you may want to consider sectioning off an area and filling it with Java Moss or something similar. The plants will help breakdown/remove waste byproducts.
 
Should be cool, besure to post pics.
 
I have been considering doing something similar (DBT & Dempseys in 125 gal). My approach would be to fill the aquarium to it's natural fill line and making an 18" x 18" dock spaning the middle of the tank as a basking area. A tall Canopy would be custom built with a viewing window/door to access the basking area as well as solid doors to access each end.
 
You could include another turtle or two as long as they enjoy similar temps and are close to the same size. I have a peninsula cooter and I really like him. I got him when he was about the size of a quarter and just realized the other day that I've had him for about 10 years now (made me feel old haha). I didn't take the greatest care of him when I was younger, so he and my 9 year old yellow bellied slider are a little small for their ages, but one thing to keep in mind with peninsula cooters is that they get BIG. A female can top out at about 16" and a male around 10-12". In with my baskers, I also have a little stinkpot. He gets along fine in the deep water as long as he has an easy way to climb to the surface in case he gets tired of swimming (stinkpots aren't great swimmers and can possibly drown in deep water)
 
The general rule for aquatic turtles is to give 10G per inch of turtle, so a 125 would be recommended for a 12-13" turtle, or two 6-7" turtles. If you want more turtles, I would suggest just getting one for the 125G with your current painted. Turtles aren't social animals, and keeping more than one in a tank can lead to several problems, but a lot of people manage to do it without anything going wrong.

Potential problems:
1. Introducing disease - make sure you buy the new turtle from a reputable source and consider quarantining it for a couple of months to make sure it shows no sign of illness.
2. Aggression - try to get hold of a female turtle, incase your current one turns out to be male, as there can be territorial issues with aquatic turtles. Closely monitor feeding time so that you can step in if feeding aggression gets out of hand.
3. Double the waste - you may have to invest in a more powerful filter, or do more frequent water changes as there will be double the waste.
4. Double the vet cost - with two animals in the same tank, if one gets ill, the other will likely get ill also.

Aslong as you are aware of such issues, and can provide a separate tank for the new one if for some reason they do not get along, then you should be okay to get another :)

Best,
Paul
 
maps and cooters go great with painteds. however, my painteds in the past have had attitude problems so watch for that lol.

also, dont buy from turtleshack EVER.
theturtlesource.com is marcus cantos and his turtles are perfect in every way and taken care of properly. shipping is a lil steep but worth it in the long run.
you can also try kingsnake ads.

my personal recomendation is to get a common map turtle. i have 4 of them and they are great characters!!
 
vlcek81 said:
Yea i wanted something that will stay small and whats wrong with turtleshack? Seemed like an okay place
Click to expand...

they have a reputation of selling sick animals.

I have also seen aggression issues with painted turtles, almost like their compensating for their small size.
 
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