my 40 gallon turtle tank

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R

reptileguy2727

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 12, 2005
850
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Northern Virginia
here is my 40 breeder turtle tank. it has a common snapper, western painted, peninsula cooter, and 4 goldfish, everybody is 4". now before you tell me how horrible and stupid i am for having a snapper with anything, everyone only gets pellets, so they arent very used to going for live food. and he has been with very small turtles since he was a baby so he shouldnt see them as food. i have never seen any agression from him that wasnt directed at pellets. even when there is food in the water and another turtle puts their foot right in his face, he simply pulls away. i know i am running a risk here, but i still wanted to share my setup. and for the record i do not suggest mixing snappers with anything, this is something i am trying and so far have not had any problems. the filter is a whisper 5. they dont make it anymore, it takes 2 XL bio-bags and i think was rated for up to 100 gallons. i love whispers and suggest and use them for everything from fish, turtles, newts, frogs (ones where it is actually useful to have a filter). the lighting is a 160 watt powersun mercury vapor. it provides heat and UV. i feed about 7 types of pellets for variety and a truly complete diet. i dont use any live food because it can easily introduce parasites and disease.
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not food. decoration, but they have also been very good for algae control. they were feeder fish but i got them in hopes they would make it and they have.
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Nice set up ! Those fish will not be decorations for too much longer. Eventually one of the turtles will take em out.



Oh yeah.........you really shouldnt mix the snapper with the others. One of these days one of the other turtles is gonna bee missing a leg. But im sure you already know that. ;)
 
Not all snappers are bad...I guess its like Tigers once they have ataste for HUMANs they become ManKillers...since this snapper likes pellets...things will probably be ok unless he gets hungry!!!
 
Thousands of years of evolution are hard to change. That turtles instincts are gonna tell it to bite whatever moves on bye and one of these days its gonna be either the fish or one of the other turtles.

Keeping it well fed is of course a very good idea. :grinyes:
 
these goldfish have learned pretty well to avoid those "moving rock things", although every once in a while they have pieces of tails missing. and the snapper is very well behaved and is actually decent for recognizing simple patterns. he mainly eats in the morning as soon as i get up. my bed is right next to the tank and when i wake up he is always right there watching and swimming at me waiting to be fed. i agree that evolution and instincts are hard to change, but he has learned that pellets are good and that is what he goes for. this morning he was looking for floating pellets but i gave him nature zone aquatic turtle bites, and they sink, so hes looking up at the top and the other turtles are pushing him out of the way and kicking him on the face to get to the food, and he doesnt even get defensive with them, he really is stuck on his pellets. if his instincts are telling him to go for whatever moves he is ignoring them, i have never seen him do that, not for the turtles or the goldfish.
 
me too, thats one of my favorite aspects of it. and since the whisper takes up one whole end i keep it at the one end that goes against the wall, so it doesnt obstruct viewing at all. thanks.
 
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