Planted Tank for Terrapins?

[Kristen]

Another case of fish-madness has prompted me to convert my classroom's 1ft tank into a small enclosure for terrapins. I was thinking that I could perhaps have an above water and under water area for the terrapins and perhaps a few fish as well.

I drew a little plan of my set up in attachments (Excuse my uber leetness art skillz).

My main concerns are:

1) Will I be able to keep fish with my terrapins or will they become lunch? I was thinking of adding some guppies.

2) I know terrapins can get kind of humungous. My tank is pretty puny, but I only plan to keep one terrapin. Will this stunt its growth?

3) I plan on putting a pretty big nanas under the waterfall to help diffuse the flow. Will this damage the leaves in any way? Can I keep nanas partially above water?

[doppelbanddwarf]

Even small terrapins that you just get from LFS will hunt down fish for food. Also depending on the size of the tank, it may outgrow the tank. As long as the nanas are kept wet there shouldn't be a problem, however the terrapin may also eat the plants. I'm not too sure whether terrapins would appreciate an underwater cave too. If it gets stuck underwater it could die of suffocation.

[bryan]

Yes they eat fish.
Yes they out grow tanks.
Red ear sliders also bite if they are teased, so count the little kids' fingers before they go home.
Yes the anubias can be grown terestrial but keep them wet all the time.

Go with wild guppys and shrimp, you can even teach the kids about the birds and the bees if they breed.

[Kristen]

I guess them terrapins are more trouble than they're worth... They don't even look that cute. Oh well, I guess I could just put some guppies and shrimp in. Cherry shrimp maybe with some flame moss?

[CK Yeo]

Great sketch!

A few potential problems I see:

1. They poo lots. Your filter might not be able to cope.
2. They eat plants. I am not sure if they eat A. nana though.
3. They eat fish.
4. They eat shrimp too (in case you are thinking...).
5. Water level too low. Your HOB filter might not be able to draw water up

ck

[Jervis]

And the water splashes from the HOB can be quite noisy especially at night.

[Savant]

Terrapins grow large pretty quick... You will need the school pond for that.....

[Kristen]

lol there goes the end of my terrapin plan. Guess I'll have to convert the tank to something else. Any ideas anyone?

[daoism]

shrimps!!!

[torque6]

And the water splashes from the HOB can be quite noisy especially at night.

what i do is to follow illumnae suggestion and level up the water inline with the slope of the hob. There is a slide right under the HOB which can adjust the angle of the water flowing in. I had my as close to 90 degrees as possible. No noise from the hob eventhough it has a aeration airtube slide right into it.

[Kristen]

shrimps!!!

Everybody loves shrimps lol. Alright, shrimp it is. Time to start a new thread because I'm such a n00b.