Need advice for 30g w/turtle & guppies

cellodaisy

cellodaisy

AC Members
Jan 11, 2009
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Cincinnati OH 45219
meganstrickland.com
I have a 30g which is home to an Eastern Painted turtle (very young---about 2.5" shell) and some feeder guppies. I'd like to add plants to take up nitrates, compete some with algae (not eliminate it---the guppies munch on it), make the tank look a bit more natural, and provide the occasional snack for the turtle. Fry cover would also be great eventually, but I'm currently keeping fry in a separate tank so it doesn't have to be fast-growing.

The overall goal is to REDUCE tank maintenance, so extra lighting, CO2 injection, and supplements are not in the picture. I also have no substrate and want to keep it that way. I need hardy, low-light plants that can deal with higher pH levels (around 8)---my tap water comes that way and I'm told guppies like it and turtles don't much care so I'm leaving it alone. I'm currently thinking Java Fern, Java Moss, and possibly some Anacharis. Are those good choices? Would something else be better? Is there much difference between mosses other than appearance?

This newbie would greatly appreciate some advice. Thanks!
 
Oh I am sooooo jealous. I LOVE turtles, they are my fav. animal :) I've had tons of painted turtles and addored them :) Java moss should be good and it will soak up nitrate. You can float this but it grows pretty quickly. Java fern would be great too because it doesn't need much lighting or extra nutrients. It can be attached to drift wood or rock and the roots will attach themselves eventually, instead of being buried.

I now miss my turtles. They were little too and so cute to watch bask on a log ;)
 
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I would go with Hornwort and Anacharis. Also, idk how different eastern painteds are from red eared sliders but i had a red eared and she ate EVERY plant i put in with her lol
so a word of warning on buying plants: buy a small quantity to make sure that she doesn't have a thing for plants, THEN buy a larger quantity...in that order. :)
 
keep us updated on how she does! Do you have place where she can crawl up if she doesn't want to be in the water, like a log or something?

Crimson, do you have any pics of your turtle? I've never had a red eared slider but they are adorable :)
 
good advice aqua, i made that mistake as a newb and she got shell rot, or something along those lines.

aqua: nope, she outgrew my (ok i know this is a no-no now, so don't freak lol) 10g so she is living the good life in my neighbor's pond now... :( she was sweet tho, she LOVED diced up bananas :D
 
Crimson: that is so sweet about the bananas. I know what you mean, our pet store does that here :( I loved to see them on the log, they were so cute!

I can't freak because at least you moved her when she got too big! Do you visit her at your neighbor's? I had a little turtle pond that my dad and I built :) I have to admit, it was fun and cool to do. We fenced it with garden siding. Sadly we didn't account for critters... :( I was looking at the pics I have at them the other day (It was only like a year ago). They made me smile before I realized how bad they were lol
 
cool that sounds like fun to build! im planning on doing something similar either this summer or next.
lol aw
yeah, they really are personable and intelligent creatures, i just wish that she would have stayed smaller! Lol
and nope, i don't go to visit her, unfortunately, the pond is WAY too big for me to find her or anything, and there are a lot of ponds around too so im not even positive that she's in that same one anymore. Nonetheless, everytime i drive past it i think of her lol
 
AquaGem - Yes, there is a basking rock with a heat lamp and UVA/UVB lamp. I actually suspended the rock from the tank lip with chain so that I didn't have to sacrifice all the swimming space undernieth. Then I made a little platform out of a piece of clay pot and suspended it next to the rock a few inches below the water surface to give her some "shallows" to hang out in. She loves both! I'll try to get some pictures up. She is quite adorable. I know I'll have to get a bigger tank eventually, but 30g should hold her for a few years.
 
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