Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do any of you ever keep your muds in a 40 gallon breeder tank?
For years on various forums I've read posts from people who use the 40 breeders.. there is not one store in my entire region that sells 40 breeders so I have never seen one except in photographs.
I've checked every fish & pet store, nobody has one but they can special order for a sky high price. My vet can special order any tank that I need. That's how I got my 55 gallon, the vet ordered it for me from her veterinary supplier & got me a great deal on the price. If I decide on a 40 breeder, she'll order it for me & get a better price than the pet stores will.

All the pet stores sell 55 gallon tanks but they all sell them as kits with light fixtures and a bunch of stuff I'd have to pay for that I didn't want, I wanted a tank only.
Now... I'm thinking a 40 breeder for the mud but since I've never seen one I'm not sure about it.
What do you think about them for 1 mud who lives alone?
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PHRatz

This is the tank I use to house one or at most, two adult mud turtles in. It is not set up for breeding but is a maintenance aquarium only.
Maybe it is because we have some large aquarium stores down here but these are easy to get tanks that are not that expensive. Fifty-five gallon tanks are very cheap though since they are the most common (besides ten gallon) size.
If I am not mistaken, the forty breeder tank is the same as a fifty-five except that the forty gallon is not as tall.....four inches shorter I think??
BTW, this is a pretty basic set up and it could be nicer.

Hey nice photo! My mud tank is even more bare than yours.
I have no idea if a 40 breeder is the same length & width as a 55.
I wish there were cheap tanks around here like you have.
We rescued an African fat tailed gecko about a year & 1/2 ago. We needed the frog's 20 gallon for him so we decided to buy a 20 gallon high for the frog to live in.
I couldn't find one anywhere, when I tried an aquarium only pet store, they said they could order me a 15gH for 45 bucks.
That's outrageous! Finally found a 20gH at Pet's Mart for a dollar per gallon.. that's more like it.
They don't carry 40 breeders though & I don't even want to ask that particular aquarium store about anything.
So WOW if a 40 breeder is that long, Scooter the mud will love all that room!
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PHRatz

I must make a correction to my post with the photo......
My tank (the one pictured) is a 40 gallon 'long' aquarium not a 'breeder'. I was wondering about them so I called a friend who owns an aquarium shop locally. A 40 gallon long has the same dimensions as a 55 gallon except that it is shorter.
But a 40 gallon 'breeder' is a whole 'nother creature. They measure 36" X 18" X 17" which is perfect for mud turtles. Unfortunately, they require a different stand than the standard 55 gallon tank does and thus are more expensive to set up.
Both a 40 gallon long and a 40 gallon breeder cost "less than $100.00" according to my friend.

I must make a correction to my post with the photo......
>>My tank (the one pictured) is a 40 gallon 'long' aquarium not a 'breeder'. I was wondering about them so I called a friend who owns an aquarium shop locally. A 40 gallon long has the same dimensions as a 55 gallon except that it is shorter.
>> But a 40 gallon 'breeder' is a whole 'nother creature. They measure 36" X 18" X 17" which is perfect for mud turtles. Unfortunately, they require a different stand than the standard 55 gallon tank does and thus are more expensive to set up.
>> Both a 40 gallon long and a 40 gallon breeder cost "less than $100.00" according to my friend.

THANK YOU so much for finding out this info. It's extremely helpful for me because I misplaced my dimensions on 40 gallon breeder tanks. A friend emailed them to me a few months ago & of course I lost the paper I wrote it down on lol.

This is perfect because my 55 gallon is now set up on the top part of this new stand that is built for 55g tanks.
The fabulous thing is that there is a shelf built onto the bottom of the stand that is 46 inches long & low enough that a 40g breeder will fit perfectly under the 55g tank.
The old homemade stand was built like bunk beds with the mud living on the top "bunk" & the painted on the bottom. With this new stand all we have to do is switch places for them.. it'll work out perfectly to get that 40g breeder!
The room looks so much better too without that huge clunky & ugly homemade turtle stand.
Thanks again!
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PHRatz

Now, if I could only find that perfect canister filter! One that is EASY to setup and clean and that doesn't cost a fortune.

>>Now, if I could only find that perfect canister filter! One that is EASY to setup and clean and that doesn't cost a fortune.

ROFL!! Yeah I know that feeling.
If you ever do find one like that, please let me know.
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PHRatz

Oh yeah. I have paid my dues with them over the years.
Started in the early 80s with Diatom filters, then Magnum (nearly impossible to put together and then maintain) and Fluval (ditto the Magnum filter) filters that cost more than the aquarium.
Foo! They are a pain.

>>Oh yeah. I have paid my dues with them over the years.
>>Started in the early 80s with Diatom filters, then Magnum (nearly impossible to put together and then maintain) and Fluval (ditto the Magnum filter) filters that cost more than the aquarium.
>> Foo! They are a pain.

LOL I know what you mean. I gave up on fish in the 80s because we had poor water quality & I couldn't find a good filter back then.
I have a Fluval canister that I bought in 1995 or so. My painted was a CB hatchling in 1994, with him I went through the power filters then gave that route up. LOL

That old Fluval is a pain to put together & get it going but it still works very well in a smaller tank. I don't use it now, it's not large enough to handle my larger tanks but I do keep it in case of emergency.
I had an emergency when...
I bought a newer larger Fluval which fell apart piece by piece. I bought replacement parts, the replacement parts broke too!!
I now have a Magnum 350 & so far it's the best I've ever had, it's the easiest to use..but I do think it could be easier. That particular one does cost a fortune at the local pet store but luckily I got in on sale through mail order. It was around 60 dollars cheaper through mail order so I liked that about it.
I like it but I always imagine what might be better.

The mud turtle has the ZooMed 501 tiny canister for turtles.. another pain but compared to internal filters & power filters it's better for him. But I can't imagine trying to use that little thing for a large deep turtle tank.
I'm leery about it continuing to work well when I do buy that larger 40g breeder tank. eek!
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PHRatz

Know what you mean about those canister filters. I have had three Magnum 350s but I hated that gasket at the top as mine always wanted to leak. It was a pain to get 'just right'.
Some of the smaller internal filters are actually quite good. The Fluval 1, 2 and 3 are not bad and I think that is what is pictured in the aquarium photo I posted. But they do clog easily and have become expensive lately.
For the past few years I have used Penn-Plax Cascade 300s. These are a small but powerful, very easy to install and use internal filter. I have two for each tank and at $14.00 are a good deal.
True, they are really too small to keep the tank as clean as a Magnum 350, but they can be cleaned in minutes. They are great if you only have one or two turtles and you feed them outside their tank to keep wastes down.

>> For the past few years I have used Penn-Plax Cascade 300s. These are a small but powerful, very easy to install and use internal filter. I have two for each tank and at $14.00 are a good deal.

My Magnum is great for the painted but if when we get a new tank for the mud I'll keep this Penn-Plax in mind in the event our ZooMed doesn't do the job anymore.

Today the dog has to see the vet. I put off calling her about ordering a 40g breeder for the mud because I knew I'd be there today. Hopefully this afternoon we can get that new tank on order.
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PHRatz

Ratz, if you got a 55 gallon tank stand that can house 2 tanks you may be better off getting a 40 long. A 40 long will fit nicely under the 55 with room to get into it. A 40 breeder is wider than a 55, so may eventually cause the tank to crack as it will not be properly supported. Just a thought

40 longs have the same foot print as a 55, 4 feet long, 12 inches wide, they are just shorter.
40 breeders are 3 feet long and 18 inches wide. So it will overhang front to back, which can eventually cause a stress fracture to form from the pressure of the water and not being properly supported.

Well darn it someone from the vet's office just called & said their supplier can't find a 40 breeder but that they can get one that's 36x18x19, that's too tall, it won't work. whaaa
however there is a new aquarium store here in town that just opened. I can check there to see if they can come up with something for me.

The bottom of the new stand measures 46x18x18 & DH already did reinforce the bottom by using the wood from the old stand so I'm not too worried about weight so much as height. blah!
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PHRatz