Kent

From what I have researched common musks and 3 striped muds (3"-4" shell length) are the only ones that you could maybe get away with in a 20 long. But I would strongly recommend going for a 40 breeder instead. Neither of those turtles needs alot of depth but the more floor space the better. I have a 3 striped mud turtle in a 65 gallon (36" wide 18" deep and 24" tall) that is the same foot print as the 40 breeder but I have not filled it to the top so it is probably about 40 gallons of water and that is perfect for him for life. As a bonus my 3 striped mud turtle is very active and does good with plants and small fish tankmates so the aquarium is very busy. They do need a basking area but I have only ever seen him use it twice so it does not need to be to big.

I have a 3 striped mud turtle, he is full grown with a 3" shell length. I have have only ever seen him use it twice but I do think it is important as an option. I had planned to build a basking platform for him at the top of the aquarium to keep the water volume as high as possible, but all my research suggests that they need to be kept in a shallower tank with resting places near the surface since they are not as strong of swimmers as others turtles. Definitely something to keep in mind as you do your research. When it comes to fish tank mates right now I have Platies and Cardinal Tetra's. The only time I have ever seen the turtle eat a fish it was one that was obviously weak and having trouble swimming. He would have a hard time catching them in a chase but they do not seem at all concerned with him since at feeding time they are right around him nipping at the scraps. I do make sure that any fish I put in would at least be safe for him to eat if that were to happen. So no cories or anything with sharp spines. And no Algae eaters that might suck on his shell. If I recall correctly in one of this video's @Cory mentioned that he had learned the hard way that some fish will peck at the turtle's eyes but I do not remember what fish that was. Hopefully he will chime in because that definitely makes me hesitant to add anything larger then a platy.

Thank you for your feedback. That is the same concern I had with the idea of Corys. They are one of my favorite types of fish but this tank will not get any. I think I am gong to go for Platies and ghost shrimp. The turtle is not supposed to be a good hunter but if he does get lucky and catch them they are ok for turtles to eat. I will probably pick them up soon so I can give them a good and long quarantine before they get added to the tank. That will give them time to start breeding and give me time to get some plants set up in this tank. The sump will go on the floor beneath the tank. So far the turtle is doing good in 9" of water. I need to get it up to 14' before the overflow will work. So for now I have my quarantine tank under there.

At his point I have been doing a lot more reading then writing on this form but I am in the process of setting up my dream tank. It is a 90 Gallon 48”Wide x 18” Deep x 24” Tall. It is Drilled for 2 1.5”overflows to a 40 Gallon breeder sump. This is the largest aquarium I own and when I first got the tank I was having a hard time deciding what to stock it with. I enjoy smaller fish and larger schools but wanted a larger fetcher fish as well. I was thinking of Angels or Gourami. Then Last weekend I found my dream pet locally which is hard to find around here He is a one year old 3 Striped Mud turtle. His shell is about 3” long right now but he should get to about 4” at full grown. Mud turtles are not known for being great swimmers instead they more walk on the bottom of the tank. To start I have about 8” of water in the deep end and 3” in the shallow end. I plan to slowly raise the water level over the next month to get it to get the deep end up to 14” where the sump overflows will actually work then I will be building some platforms to give the turtle plenty of area’s to rest close to the surface. Once I am positive the turtle is doing well in the tank and that the filter is keeping up with his bio load I will be adding fish to the tank. There is potential he could eat some of the fish but most fish will be much to quick for him to catch unless he gets very lucky. At this point I am leaning towards Platies. As the main fish. I have seen people keep Cory Catfish with them but I am concerned if he tried to eat one. Also if I recall correctly Cory had an issue with fish hurting his mini musks at one time but I do not recall what type of fish that was to stay away from. Also I plan to get as many plants as possible in the tank as time goes. I have not bothered to add plants yet since as I fill the tank fuller I will be shifting the sand around quite a lot.

That looks fantastic. I can't imagine having the space and choice for that many fish. I look forward to seeing what you stock them with.

Thank you Cory for your suggestion. - I have cleaned as much of the bacteria out of the sand as possible -Trimmed the plant leaves that were thickly covered. -Cleaned the external parts of the filter snd heater with hydrogen peroxide -Cleaned the rocks with hydrogen peroxide -Manually cleaned glass as well as used peroxide above the waterline during a water change. Also I have chemiclean and have tried it but it did not seem to help. Every weekend since this started I have cleaned it as best I can and by the next weekend there is some amount of it back. Not quite as bad but still there. since Erythromycin is not available here I took a gamble and ordered some Maracyn off of eBay that just arrived so this weekend I will do another good manual removal and try dosing Maracyn at the same time. Thank You Kent

I am having some algae or possible Cyanobacteria issues in my 40 Gallon breeder I am hoping some of you are able to give me some advice on. For the full story on the tank. It has been running for about 2 years now with an almost complete tear down to move it about 6 months ago. Before I moved the tank it was looking almost perfect for what I was trying to achieve. On the left had side are all crypts and on the right is a sword plant. Before moving the tank the plants were almost reaching the surface. When resetting up the tank I thinned the plants out and they have not come back fully where I want them yet. Two weeks ago the algae was looking pretty good. There was a decent amount on the rocks in the centre and on the back wall but the sand and plants were completely clear. By last weekend the Algae or Cyanobacteria all the sudden got dramatically worse the rocks are now an unpleasant brown colour and the sand has a thick layer of the stuff anywhere the light hits. So last weekend I cleaned as much of the algae off of the rocks and sifted the clumps off of the bottom as much as I could and now over 1 week it came back extra thick. For the tanks specs it is a 40 Breeder with a 36" Fluval plant 3.0 on it turned down to 55% and only on for 8 hours. It gets 4 pumps of easy green a week and before this algae a 25% water change ever 3 weeks. The Ammonia tests at 0, Nitrite at 0 and Nitrate between 20-40. The stocking is 2 Bolivian Rams, 2 Red Lizard catfish, 6 Otocinclus, 11 green kubotai rasboras, 1 Guppy and 1 Ember Tetra. I would love any advice you can give me on how to clean this up and get it back to stable. The next step I know of would be a complete tear down and cleaning to start from scratch but I would really like to avoid that if I can since I have seen how much uprooting the plants set them back last time. As an extra note if it is cyanobacteria I know I have read that people use Erythromycin to treat it but I live in Canada and Erythromycin is not available here. Thank you Kent