Turtles in BareTanks

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
J

JEAE21

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 19, 2007
1,360
0
0
CA
Hi I keep my mud turtle in a barebottom tank.
Some people say it's good because it will harbor more beneficial bateria, while others say the turtles can eat the substrate. I decided to go the safe way and did not add any substrate.

Now I'm gonna get a little big off-topic for a sentences but..
You know how if your parrot's perches are those normal smooth perches, your parrot's feet can develope arthritis?
I was thinking, can turtles develope health problems in their feet if they're tank bottom is a bare slippery glass? I mean in the wild, they would be walking on rocks, dirt, and other non-flat or smooth areas.

And recently I saw this video of a turtle biting his leg..The owner first did not know what to do but then he found out that it was caused by gout or arthritis from a dirty tank..
But I thought you get arthitis from not exercising and moving...
turtles can get it from dirty water?


Well back to my subject..is a barebottom tank, suitable for a turtle..longterm?
 
Arthritis isn't the only degenerative bone/joint disease around. Quite a number of them can be caused by poor nutrition and septic conditions.

BTW, you can't have beneficial bacteria without a substrate to harbor them. If you're worried about the turtle ingesting gravel, simply incorporate large river stones in the setup. That way the turtle has something to grasp/give it purchase, and there won't be any risk of ingesting the stones.
 
what about baretanks?

and when you say poor diet..does it mean not healthy or not fed enough.

hey oddball, did you get my PM about the weight of turtles crushing tanks?
also, beneficial bacteria can't just float around? I have an artificial rock but will it do? if not; are you saying my tank will never turn crystal clear?

And one more reason I didn't want to get subtrate is because when my turtle strikes at live food, I am thinking he can pop the rocks up and that could scratch my glass tank.
 
Slate bottoms, hides such as flower pots, etc will help with BBs if you don't want to use gravels or riverstones.
 
clay pots..my artificial rock kinda resembles them..but they won't work?

and what's a slate bottom?

can somebody answer my question about wether barebottoms are safe or not?
 
BBs grow on surface areas. The more surface areas you give, the more BB there is.

Slate bottoms = slate tiles fit to go into an aquarium. Some people use them to get rid of the dullness of the glass bottom while still using bare bottom concept. It will give at least 2x the surface area of a normal glass bottom for BB, but probably not enough.

I am not sure duckweed are safe for turtles or that they help with the chemical balance.
 
I have mine on bare bottoms ( as opposed to bottoms with gravel or sand ( and my small matamatas have sand ). But having said this I have seceral large rocks and pieces of bogwood all over the tanks.
 
Bare tanks are about as un-enriching as you can get. If they eat a small grained substrate such as sand, THEY CAN PASS IT! When peoples herps get impacted, its because they were previously unhealthy. Healthy herps in the wild pass stuff you don't wanna know about. A snapper could probably eat a doorknob and pass it normally. If your turtle is healthy, impaction is the least of your worries. But I don't know if yours is. Cheers
 
Why are bare-tanks not good? For their feet?

Hey what kind of substrate do you recommend for softshell turtles? I like how they burry in sand but is that safe for their shell?
Actually, how soft is the softshell? Can you give me an example?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom