Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my 40 breeder with a 4" common snapper, a 4" penninsula cooter, a 4" western painted, and 4 goldfish. whisper 5 filter and a 160 watt powersun. what do you guys think?

The setup is pretty but that's alot of turtle for 40 gallons of tank. Also -- just a word of advice regarding the common snapper. I have too often seen animals coming into the rescue (cooters, sliders etc.) with tails legs and feet missing because they were house with a snapper.

It is always the same story too. "I don't understand. They were friends and grew up together and then he just suddenly bit off his feet!!"

It may never happen but there is still a big risk. I can send you pictures of one of my permanent residents (a beautiful redbelly cooter). He had his front right foot and left rear foot bitten off by a snapping turtle who was his roommate for several years before he did the dastardly deed.

Steve

I think the aquarium is too small for the number of turtles and I
would house the snapper by himself.

Linda

I'd also switch to a canister filter, or add another filter for that many turtles.

Katrina

filtration is fine. it is a whisper. if i added another filter it wouldnt be a canister, i hate those things. too hard to clean and too hard to tell when it needs to be cleaned, also not worth th eextra cost over whispers. i will separate them before the snapper gets much bigger, but for now they are fine. it really isnt too much turtle for that tank. they all have ample swimming room, basking and resting spots, hiding spots, never crowd eachother. for now it is good.

I echo the concerns about the snapper. Even at a relatively small size you are taking a risk. Other than that it looks like a nice setup. I prefer canisters myself but if you find that the whisper does the job along with water changes more power to you.

why do you mention water changes? do you mean they are more needed because it is a whisper, or are you just emphasizing that they are still important no matter how good i think a filter is?

I believe regular, partial water changes are a good husbandry measure even with a filter on the tank. I run Ehiems and Fluvals on my tanks and I do partial water changes weekly.

Well whatever works for you. You will find that a Whisper filter may fall short of your expectations once you turtles get a bit larger. Also as was mentioned by another poster, I would not risk waiting on that snapper. They can deliver a nasty bite to another turtle at 4 inches in length.

You raise a some good points with canister filters but in the long run they deliver the best performance overall (I have tried everything over the past 35 years). Filstar XP canisters are easy to work with and you view the "gunk level" in the canster pretty well.

Again if you are happy with the Whisper great but if do ever consider a canister this is one brand I recommend for ease of cleaning and efficiency.

Steve

Whispers work...

...until your turtles hit 3"...

XP3's are awesome. They work great, quiet, and extremely easy to clean and run.

i used whispers(one 60 and one 20 or 30 or 40 cant remember which and they are all the same filter cartridge size) on 2 10" yellow bellys in a 55, bad size for 2 huge turtles, i know, thats why i gave them to my neighbors who have a 200 gallon pond. they kept that tank clean. i was impressed, i like whispers, but i didnt think they could do that. changed bio-bags once every two weeks.

Well, the water quality doesn't look "fine" in the picture. Plus, the over the tank filters allow more air-borne particles, which can dirty up the surrounding area.

Katrina

the water is crystal clear in that pic, and the only thing that gets dirty around the water and filter is the filter itself. not the walls or table or anything like that.

I don't really understand why you're posting here with pic and describing your set up and ask "what everybody think about that?" if then you just blew away all suggestions and advices.
I think you just wanted to hear how great turtle keeper you are and how perfect set up you have. Well, you don't!
And you don't care if somebody (more experienced or educated in turtle field)disagree with you.

Hope your turtles will be fine anyway.

Katykd

you are right, i thought it was a great setup. through this and another forum i have found out it is not in other people's opinion. i do plan on moving the snapper to his own 30 breeder soon. i still think it is enough tank for them for now based on number and size of turtles. yes bigger would be better, but that is always the case. the only other concern was filtration. whisper filters have always been more than enough filtration on every turtle tank i have had. i will continue to use them.

thanks for everyones input. if i didnt want to show off what i thought to be a great tank, i wouldnt have learned how and why it wasnt so great. i didnt blow everyone off. i took all suggestions into consideration and like i said i do plan on moving the snapper and continuing to use whispers.

Great! )
Sounds much better.

One other thing no one has metioned; I could be wrong, but it looks like there is small gravel in the bottom of the tank. I would recommend using something else. They can eat the gravel and become impacted. Usually the only relief is surgery. Just something to think about.
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TurtsandTorts Discussion Group
2 Russians (Harley and Marley)
2 RES (Sunny and Fatty)
2 Gerbils (Sydney and Vienna)
1 Cat (Abby)

The possibility for impaction exists but most turtles that are eating well will pass gravel with no problems. I often get sliders into the rescue that are 6 inches or larger and they start passing pea gravel!! (sometimes stones that are nearly a half inch long).

Naturally -- no gravel is the best way to ensure that they won't get impacted but most to pass it without incident.

Steve

it isnt small gravel, more of a medium size. i keep it in there since most turtles i have had like to dig through it in search of food. i already knew about the risks of impaction, but thank you.

i had axolotls (salamander type of amphibian) when i removed them from their graveled tank and into bare bottom tanks they started to pass the small gravel from the old tank. no porblems there.

here is a pic that better shows the clarity of that tank: