Urgent Care :: Adopted RES Frantic Swimming/Aggressive Behaviour

[DevonB]

Hey there!

I'm just going to get right to the point and skip an intro

Me and my girlfriend adopted a male res who we believe is about 4 ( his shell is about 5 inches).
He came with a 60 gal tank/heater and filter as well as substrate (its all rocks) but it was insanely filthy (the water was literally black and probably only a few inches deep maybe)

I tore the entire thing apart (after putting him in a 20 gal holding tank) and sanitized everything.
The heater is set at 78 and I have two 60w incandescent bulbs over a floating rock for a basking area/eating area.

For the first day or so he seemed fine. He wouldn't eat so I put some food on a fork in the water and he seemed to like it.

But now he will NOT stop frantically swimming at the front of the tank. Or anywhere for that matter. He's not interested in his food dish at all now either.

I read somewhere new sliders, especially ones coming from a bad enironment , will have interesting temperments and may be overly aggressive towards people so its good to cover the front and sides of the tank and get them used to the sounds first then slowly remove it so I have done that.

I'm hoping someone on here will be able to shed some light on what his issue is so I can help this little guy out!

Thanks in advance!

[steve]

I read somewhere new sliders, especially ones coming from a bad enironment , will have interesting temperments and may be overly aggressive towards people so its good to cover the front and sides of the tank and get them used to the sounds first then slowly remove it so I have done that.

They have strong personalities, so this isn't probably true. He might be begging for food... see if he's fixated on your fingers and hands when they get close.

[DevonB]

See thats what I thought at first. When I do put my hand to the tank he stops swimming but only for a minute or so then its back to flapping his arms. At first we thought maybe it was a female looking for a place to lay but he's definitely a male (he's got a really long tail)

When I try to feed him he wants nothing to do with it I've tried pellets,fresh fish,melons,berries,dandelions you name it. After work today I'm going to pickup some feeder fish and see if that helps. Maybe he's bored? I've been reading frantically on this site (which is awesome BTW) and trying different little things

We don't know much about the previous owners or what his eating habits were like and I'm new to turtle care so I really want to get this right! Seeing him like this makes me sad

Thanks again for any info

[steve]

But he will eat? What does he look at when he's frantic? Is it towards you, away or aimlessly?