Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: pleco fish in tank w/turtles

[tralfaz]

Does anyone have one of those plectosomus algae eating fish in their tanks?? If so, how is it working out??
Amy

[lydia_lady_fla]

I have heard it can be done if it is bigger than the turt. and u have to remember everything in his home become potentially his food if he desires it to be ? I think the do o.k. if they r big have plenty of room and hiding spaces?

[tralfaz]

we learned the hard way...we actually bought one of thiese fish, and it lived for almost 3 weeks....then we went out for dinner, and when we came home that night, he was DEAD.....they ate his fins, and his eyes too.....he was about the same size as the turts.......I feel like I gave that fish a cruel death wish......no more living creatures....at least for now.....how about large snails?? We are looking to cut down the algae.

[cam722]

best of luck on the snails. I got 2 rather large golden mystery snails yesterday. I'm not sure if they survived or have been eaten. They may be in shock and locked themselves in their shell. Either way they are no longer in the tank... LOL

[lydia_lady_fla]

my apple snail is dead the trap door is closed so not sure the turt did the deed or not but..............

[tini]

I haven't gotten algae yet. I haven't had Neptune that long though. Does the algae get bad?

[JessicaTS]

My protein skimmer takes care of algae
And i feed my turts apple snails once in a while
Remember that what you put with your turts can always end up a meal. (except for other turts )
So whatever you do, don't put goldfish.

[leahiniowa]

I recently bought a 55 gallon tank as a new home for my slider. It came with an 8 inch long pleco. (Slider is about 6-7 incles from head to tail.) He has a nice long log to hide under, but I also make sure to have a large quantity of feeder fish in the tank as well. My husband says Shelly (our slider) bit the pleco on the back, but I don't see the bite mark myself. I don't really have any other place to put the pleco, unless I gave him to the friend who kept Shelly for a while before we had a tank to accomodate him.

We originally bought Shelly in Chinatown, NY, when he was only about 1" in diameter. We didn't know that was illegal until much later. Ignorant as we were, we kept Shelly in a little plastic box, like they sell in Walmart for creatures. He hardly moved or did anything.

Then, when one of our teens began allowing him to swim around in the box while she was cleaning it (and we were very good and cleaned it a lot), so I looked him up and discovered he was aquatic. We gradually introduced him to the aquarium, but then had to foster him at our friend's house b/c I didn't want him eating all my neons. Just about 2 weeks ago we heard about this 55 gal tank w/all these accoutrements selling for $100! The filter wasn't really big enough, but it had the lights, the gravel, the vacuum device, even an attachment to the wall where you can put a betta. Now we spend much more time in the basement, where we keep the aquarium, watching Shelly, and he provides entertainment for visitors as well.

[sonyj]

It's wonderful that you've been able to improve Shelly's living conditions. Hope you don't mind a couple of pointers/questions to help you.

Gravel shouldn't be in an aquarium for turtles. Turtles will eat anything smaller than their head and this can lead to impaction and surgery, which isn't good for a turtle. Many keepers find out that their regular tank cleanings are much easier without anything in the bottom, or large river rocks.

The lights that you said you have, is it both lights needed especially for turtles, a UVB bulb(simulates sunlight) and a UVA bulb (heat). It is extremely important for turtles to have both of these.

When measuring a turtle you measure SCL (straight carapace length). Measure his shell from tip to tip not including the curve. This is how long he is. If he' s more than four inches you can tell what sex he is. Male turtles will be physically small growing to be 7-9inches tops. A male will have EXTREMELY long front claws (think Edward Scissorhands) and a thicker tail with the cloaca closer to the tip of the tail. Females are physically larger growing to be 10-12inches in length. They will have small front claws, and a smaller tail with the cloaca closer to the shell.

General rule is 10 gallons of tank per inch of shell with as much water as you can fill it without them escaping. Be sure he has a basking dock that is under the lights and he can completely haul out of the water and dry all parts of his shell.

Keep us posted about how he likes his new tank and if you have pics we'd love to see him.

[leahiniowa]

Thank you sonyj, for the advice. I will act upon it as soon as I can (I am an Orthodox Jew and tonight is Yom Kippur, followed quickly by Shabbos, which means I'll be partially out of commission until Sunday). I will have some measuring to do and some changes to make, mainly with the gravel, lights and basking platform (which doesn't allow him to dry off all the way). I am at least comforted by the fact that he is not in that stupid little plastic box he was in for all those months that we didn't know better! It's sad to think of people buying those poor creatures and not allowing them to live the life they were born for, and also not having the joy of watching them swim and enjoy their acqueous life.

[ellman605]

hmm, thats real odd, i have lots of gravel, they either ignore it, or they take it, put it in their mouth, and thenr ealize its not food, and spit it at eachother, must be fun .

Also, i noticed that Gravel is evil, because its what the turtles like to do to YOU thats evil. They like to ruin my day by putting all the gravel behind the filter, so when i get home from school, i get to fix it again! and those plants i ahve, they like to move those around too, so gravel works fine for me, its just heavy and requires a lot of work