Planting Turtle tank

[Aqua Shack]

@Torrey Hope this iis the right place to ask about tips with regards to planting a turtle tank, having a lot of issues with them digging the plants up, I do have some java fern on wood, but would like to try and make planted Val or something work. Any help would be amazing, thank you 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Aqua Shack

[Colu]

You could try aquarium co-op easy planters to protect your plants while they establish

[Aqua Shack]

Damn wish I could get those from aquariumcoop here in the UK, but really good shout, I might be able to find another brand that sells them in Europe, thanks for the help 🙂

[Torrey]

You answered my question, where are you, lol.

@Aqua Shack great to read you during the talk!

 

A few questions, and then I can streamline suggestions.

1. What kind of turtle(s)?

2. How many?

3. Size of enclosure?

4. What plants do you have on hand, and have you verified non-toxic for your breed of turtle?

My first recommendation would have been the Easy Planters, because ez🤷‍♂️

Even so, my ornate ornata will rip them out, so I custom build "plant protection" so Karma the turtle can mow things back but not kill them completely. 

[Aqua Shack]

@Torrey so I have 2 Reeves turtles in a 75 long (imperial Gallons) , filled up about with about 50 gallons. I have been running a mix of anubias on wood and have Val to hand, although to be fair haven't double check toxicity so will need to do that. 

Currently on the look out for easy planters in the UK but no luck yet, turns out they are not so easy to find haha, but that sounds like the way to go, and yeah turtles love a little home wrecking...

[Torrey]

Duckweed and frogbit are both safe food plants that just float.

 

You will need to keep a second pond or aquarium to keep frogbit and duckweed "mother plants" in, because the little pigs will eat it all gone if allowed to. 

Reeves are **much** easier to protect plants from than many of the land turtles, and definitely easier than snapping turtles. 

Buy plastic craft canvas, and use nylon fishing line to 'sew' a box to keep the plant's pot in.

I chose to 'sew' multiple boxes, and I trade them out. My plant grow out tank grows the plants inside their cages. The pots are dirted, the pot goes inside the canvas 'box', and I cut out enough of the plastic craft canvas for the stems to grow through (but not big enough for turtle noses to get inside). Carefully thread the plant through the designated holes (valisneria typically needs a dozen holes just big enough for leaves to come out, while milfoil might not need me to cut any extra holes), and allow the plants to grow nice, thick foliage in your grow out tank. As the Reeves eat/ break down the stems, they can't kill the plant because it is safe inside it's plastic craft canvas box you made.

When there's very little foliage left, put the plant back in the grow out tank, and offer the turtles a new victim... I mean plant.

 

In a 75, you have enough room to put quite a few plants in. The more plants you have in there, the more the destruction gets moved around. 

The person who taught me this trick would put heavy duty magnets inside the plastic craft canvas 'box' under the plant's pot, and would put another magnet under the tank, so the turtles (RES) couldn't move the boxes.

He used large rocks around the planter boxes as well. 

Turtles, like children, will have particular tastes, and eventually they will select "favorite" plants to eat.

The trick, then, is to rotate plants regularly enough that they don't develop vitamin or mineral deficiencies or surpluses.

I need to make some more boxes, but it will probably be a few weeks before I get to it.

 

Tag me if you need visuals to follow.

[Aqua Shack]

Amazing thank you, some great ideas here I will deffo incorporate 

[Torrey]

On 9/21/2021 at 5:34 PM, Aqua Shack said:

Amazing thank you, some great ideas here I will deffo incorporate 

Glad you were able to join the nerm-side!

[Aqua Shack]

Haha been a silent nerm for like 5 years way back in the day when I started with KG Tropicals, but actually managed to catch a live stream for once, loved it 👌

[JacobAndBri]

On 9/18/2021 at 3:17 PM, Colu said:

You could try aquarium co-op easy planters to protect your plants while they establish

That's what I'm currently going to try out in my turtle tank. I have sand for a substrate and the two plants I use them for are a Red Tiger Lotus bulb and some Brazilian Pennywort. I'm adding Easy Green and root tabs. 

Another idea is maybe adding a plant weight to the bottom of the slotted pots and adding more substrate so that they can be buried in the slotted pots. There is the fussier idea of putting a sort of cage or net along the bottom of your tank, planting, then adding more substrate above that. 

Good luck! 

[Torrey]

On 1/6/2022 at 10:38 PM, BriAndJacob said:

turtle tank. I have sand for a substrate

I do NOT recommend sand for turtles. Turtles like to dig and eat, generally the recommended substrate is either bare bottom (I hate bare bottom for turtles because they have to constantly be cleaned) or gravel/rocks the size of their head or larger so they can't eat the substrate. 

Taking a turtle to the vet is expensive, and impaction due to the turtle not knowing when to not eat anymore sand requires a vet.

I was talking to my sis and my niblings (her kids) over the holidays, and one of my niblings came up with a great way to protect plants from turtle destruction:

My sister's degree is in forestry with a minor in environmental sciences. So everything needs to be reusable *or* the kids need to have a plan in place for any plastic packaging being repurposed. One of my niblings loves Bolthouse Farms chai protein drink... which only comes in a plastic bottle. 

Design for the bottle is cut in half, punch holes an inch away from the edge, use fishing line to sew plastic canvas to the bottom, add plant in a small clay pot in the bottom, attach top of the bottle the same way the bottom was attached. Nibling used the foot in panty hose to put the dirt in, then the plant, then a plastic zip tie to gently "close" the panty hose before putting the root/soil / pantyhose ball in the small clay pot. This keeps the dirt from fouling the water. 

Their RES has knocked the contraption over, and rolled it around. So they used gorilla glue to glue the clay pot into the bottom of the Bolthouse Farms bottle, and the panty hose inside the clay pot.

The contraption can be moved all over the tank by the RES, while protecting the plant that keeps the water quality at its best. The Aquarium Co-op planter didn't save my plants. Plastic mesh does. 

@Aqua Shack how is your turtle doing?

 

 

[JacobAndBri]

On 1/6/2022 at 11:27 PM, Torrey said:

I do NOT recommend sand for turtles. Turtles like to dig and eat, generally the recommended substrate is either bare bottom (I hate bare bottom for turtles because they have to constantly be cleaned) or gravel/rocks the size of their head or larger so they can't eat the substrate. 

Taking a turtle to the vet is expensive, and impaction due to the turtle not knowing when to not eat anymore sand requires a vet.

The Aquarium Co-op planter didn't save my plants. Plastic mesh does. 

@Aqua Shack how is your turtle doing?

When doing my research on substrates, It seemed to me like sand was a better option than gravel or smallish rocks. Not using small (but not too small) rocks came down to the cost. Bare tanks just don't suit me for various reasons. I will definitely be happy to adjust things as needed. I'm ready to adapt the tank to my turtles personalities, habits etc. More committed to the turtle being happy rather than my aesthetic being on point. Hopefully my feeding schedule and the sphagnum moss I have, will both deter the babe from eating things they shouldn't. 

Thanks for the tips and background! 

[Joe L.]

Howdy! I saw this post and wanted to give my two cents on turtles. On the topic of subtrate, I have heard that sand has a risk of impaction, but I have also found it to be a nightmare to clean in turtle tanks. On the topic of plants, I would recommend trying out some floating plants because turtles have been knwon to uproot live plants and make a mess out of a perfect aquascape.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Joe L.

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

Yeah I've had aquatic turtles since I was 9 years old and have cared for turtles that my university had as part of their live collection, and I have never had a turtle get impacted from substrate. Does it happen, sure. However I think its really rare, especially when you consider where turtles live in the wild. This is always something I hear people worry about with herps/in herp groups. Impaction happens, but it is rare in my experience. Same goes for axolotyls and really any animal. They live in dirt, sand and what have you in the wild. They can handle it. 9 times out of 10 they spit it out, and the other times it just passes. While I recognize that people can do as they like with their animals, I don't think this is something to keep anyone up at night. I say use whatever substrate you like (barring things like broken glass and razor blades). Digging in substrate is a form of enrichment for turtles. Many species that feed on mollusks and crustaceans will dig for them. I used to stick treats for turtles in the substrate for them to dig out and find. Some species actually will burrow into the sand and hide. I've seen turtles take little underwater "sand baths". Anyways, didn't mean to get preachy. It's just that people being afraid of impaction and saying animals don't need substrate is a pet peeve of mine. I'll get off my soap box now.

Edited January 26, 2022 by Expectorating_Aubergine

[Joe L.]

On 1/25/2022 at 6:20 PM, Expectorating_Aubergine said:

Yeah I've had aquatic turtles since I was 9 years old and have cared for turtles that my university had as part of their live collection, and I have never had a turtle get impacted from substrate. Does it happen, sure. However I think its really rare, especially when you consider where turtles live in the wild. This is always something I hear people worry about with herps/in herp groups. Impaction happens, but it is rare in my experience. Same goes for axolotyls and really any animal. They live in dirt, sand and what have you in the wild. They can handle it. 9 times out of 10 they spit it out, and the other times it just passes. While I recognize that people can do as they like with their animals, I don't think this is something to keep anyone up at night. I say use whatever substrate you like (barring things like broken glass and razor blades). Digging in substrate is a form of enrichment for turtles. Many species that feed on mollusks and crustaceans will dig for them. I used to stick treats for turtles in the substrate for them to dig out and find. Some species actually will burrow into the sand and hide. I've seen turtles take little underwater "sand baths". Anyways, didn't mean to get preachy. It's just that people being afraid of impaction and saying animals don't need substrate is a pet peeve of mine. I'll get off my soap box now.

@Expectorating_Aubergine I am so sorry for spreading misinformation now that I have read this. I was not aware that impaction rarely happens. In that case, do you think I could use Eco-Complete on my turtle tank? I am tired of keeping my tank bare bottom for aesthetic reasons.

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

That's kinda pricy, but sure.