How many turtles can you realistically fit into a 40 gallon aquarium? Right now, I've got 5 living in one. I've got two red-ears, two musk turtles and one snapper. They are all pretty much the same size, give or take, and none of them are aggressive towards one another. The water quality in the tank goes to hell every couple of days though. I am using a Fluval 3-plus submersible filter. I use a 2-plus of the same brand in my 10 gallon aquarium with a Mississippi Map that I bought recently, and the water never gets as bad as it does in the larger tank. Doubtless this is due to the number of turtles and their size - the map is a yearling - but still, I want to be able to change the water once a week, not every time I feed them something other then pellets. Anyone have some good tank setup tips?
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Tank questions
Replies (6)
The rule of thumb is 1 inch of turtle to 10 inches of tank space. Also the submersible filters are not adequate for most turtle tanks due to the amount of waste the turtles produce. Visit turtletimes.com for lots of really good information on this topic.
Cheers,
Pam
Mean't to say 10 gallons of tank space, not 10 inches. Sorry.
Pam
The easiest thing to do,,,lose the fluval filter.
It's not enough.
I have the 30gal turtle tanks with the cutout for a filter.
And I use aqua clear filters...and a couple whisper.
I do a complete water change about every 6 weeks.Water stays crystal clear...and no stink.
And in each tank there is 3 turtles. And they eat everything.
Even if they seem to be getting along fine, it will not last. Snappers have to be kept alone and almost all of them will eventually attack other living things in their tank. It is just not worth the risk.
For your tank getting dirty, i would suggest feeding the turtles outside of their tank. They will eventually get used to the practice and it will keep their tank a lot cleaner.
If you prefer to feed them in the tank, i would suggest getting some inexpensive fish to help clean up the scraps. Algae eaters and guppies do a pretty good job of that. A few may get eaten by your turtles but most will survive just fine.
Good Luck.
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Mike
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2 Painted
1 Musk
1 Common Snapper
1 Cooter
1 Map
1 RES
1 Corn Snake
1.1 Water Dragons
2 African Frogs
1 Toad
1.0 Degu
1.2 Chihuahuas
0.1 Cat
Way over crowded! Those guys are gonna be BIG eventually! The Snapper will get HUGE...he'll need a pond!
Yeah, I know. I'm doing my graduate research on alligator snappers, and I've trapped and been fascinated by turtles in general since I was a kid, so I know what I've gotten myself into. I'm a poor college student at the moment, though, and my landlady refers to herps - and anything else she doesn't like - as "rodents", so the probability of installing an outdoor pond in the immediate future is highly unlikely. The snapper isn't even a pound yet, so I've got a few year's grace on his size. I just haven't ever heard a standard on how many and what size turtles per tank.
