terrapin owners come in please! advice needed for new setup :)

[antitrust]

hi guys,

thinking of starting a tank for terrapins since i've a spare 2ft tank and a pail of lapis sand lying around....

going for an amphibious setup with feeder shrimps as 'cleanup crew' in the submerged part. will probably use some potting soil or peat moss(?) for growing some moss or other ferns/crypts for a small section of the land area.

will scape with driftwood, rocks and black polished pebbles...

for water filtration will use one of the hailea internal filter with a rainbar..]

water level will be at halfway point of the tank, with a lapis slope and driftwood that will be out of the water for basking.

what do you guys think? anything to look out for with terrapins and how much should i pay for each of them?

[Merviso]

Terrapins have a very high bioload. The tank will stink very fast and you will have a hard time cleaning up the substrate. Think you might even have to tear down the whole scape just to do a good cleanup.

BTW... terrapin will grow to a very big size and have a long lifespan! Please do think consider the long term commitment before you start to get them...

[andrewtyr]

They will eat up any plants you try to put in.

[Don90]

Terrapins grow real quick and they shit alot.

You filter is not going to be enough in the long run. You'll have to clean the filter very often as the shit will clog the filter.

Your 2ft tank will be too small in a years time or so depending on how much you feed.

And your feeder shrimps are gonna get eaten by your terrapin once it has grown to a certain size.

They will uproot whatever plants you put inside.

Oh ya, once they reach adulthood, I think they need at least a 4 feet tank. They can grow to about 30cm...

[antitrust]

omg haha ok. maybe its not such a good idea too..

yea was worried abt them shitting alot... maybe i'll try hermit crabs instead. hmm..

thanks for the input guys

MOD: pls feel free to close this thread. thank you!

[Savant]

These guys live forever and grow pretty big... so better think twice...

[erikospeed]

Seriously it all depends what u feed the RES with .
If u were to feed commercial available green colour turtle pellets , chances are its gonna outgrow the 2ft tank within a year or so .

Try feeding pretty pets or mazuri turtle pellets both have low protein level as compare with those normal lfs turtle pellets.

Normal Protein of LFS : Least 35%
Pretty Pets / Mazuri Pellets : Max 15%

Hope it helps.

[Pantera]

hi guys,

thinking of starting a tank for terrapins since i've a spare 2ft tank and a pail of lapis sand lying around....

going for an amphibious setup with feeder shrimps as 'cleanup crew' in the submerged part. will probably use some potting soil or peat moss(?) for growing some moss or other ferns/crypts for a small section of the land area.

will scape with driftwood, rocks and black polished pebbles...

for water filtration will use one of the hailea internal filter with a rainbar..]

water level will be at halfway point of the tank, with a lapis slope and driftwood that will be out of the water for basking.

what do you guys think? anything to look out for with terrapins and how much should i pay for each of them?

Sounds pretty good set-up...but baby res usually are sweet looking thing but as they grow, carapace colour will be duller and darker...many will just give away or...do consider. A 2 ft tank is ok but width should be at least 1.5ft as they can reach a reasonably medium-large size.
I would say filtration and water change is the most important factor for them. Do post the seup once ready!

[johannes]

They need a dry area to bask under basking light as RES are basker type, they also need UVB tube if your tank is not exposed to sunlight, as they need UVB to make Vit D, on top of quality food you gave.

Btw, i did a simple set up using 3ft, for 1 terrapin, with a big driftwood plus a piece of slate as dry area for basking.

just put java fern (cheap cheap ones) and water is only 25 cm, filtered using 2213, 25% water change fortnightly, eat mealworm, dried shrimp and gammarus.

with croaking gouramie, and some juvenile betta pugnax..., some croakings were eaten though... haha... but luckily the pugnax are too fast for it...