Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I'm getting a hatchling next week, so I wanted to know how deep the water should be. I've read and been told several different answers so I thought I would just go with the general consensus.

Thanks

i like to start them out in something small(5gal or goldfish bowl)to ensure they catch their prey.put plants and hide in to make them feel at home. once well started and feeding you can put them in a 20gal (3/4) full as long as they have limbs or rocks to climb up and get air. i think the extra swimming puts them in better shape and they'll eat better,

i got mine when he was the size of a 50 cent piece. i started him in a 20 long with 3-4 inches of water.

Thats what I have, a 5g, I'm gonna load it with some dwarf platies and anacharis. I have a heater in there to keep it at 80.

So I have one vote for 3-4 inches. Any others?

The issue with water depth is if you get it too shallow where if he gets himself flipped over he can't do that turtle flip over maneuver and he could drown. This is even more likely to happen if you don't have any substrate and he's just on smooth glass. You want to have enough water that he can't get stuck on his back but not so much that he's swimming constanly to get air. Deep is OK if (like I think Steve said) there's lots of stuff to climb on right up to the surface. It ain't cool to wake up one morning to find your new hatchling dead on his back in an inch of water.

yeah, at one end i had a rock that stuck out of the water. if you read one of my previous comments i said i had a basking spot for the first yr. (my ally never used it) plus i had some fake plants suction cupped to the sides of the tank. i also had a gravel bottom. so yeah, had stuff for him to hang on to, and the water was deep enough where if he flipped over he could right himself. good point gambusia, i suppose i should have went into more detail how my tank had been set up. i also had a full spectrum bulb over him for the firts 3 yrs.

Here's an old picture of two of my commons in their hatchling tank. There's lots of wood and plants to climb on and I mound the gravel in the corners so they can easily get air. At the center of the tank the water is about 7".

thanks for the replys, this is my setup:

so far it has 1.3 platys in it, that "died" at work.

i work at a petstore so only healthy feeders for my hatching lol