What would be a good tank setup for a aquatic turtle?
Rule of thumb is 10 gallons per inch of turtle, this works well as a rule and gives your turtle plenty of space for swimming. Heaters should be protected, especially from the bigger turtles who can pretty much move them about.For greenery real plants usually get eaten so i use plastic or silk plants.As for the substrate the choice is yours, some people like myself prefer bare bottom tanks just for the ease of cleaning.Sand is good too and if you want to use gravel please make sure its bigger than the turtles mouth as they have been known to ingest gravel. For heating the basking spot you need a Heat Lamp with a bulb, i just use an ordinary household spotlight bulb.The temperature needs to be high 80’s to low 90’s.A UV lamp is important (imo) to help your turtles make vitamin D3 which they need to absorb calcium.Sunlight is the best.I give my turtles around 10 hours per day of heat and UV.
tank ’bout 10x the turtle long by 4x the turtle high ( nose to tail when i say turtle) fill it 7 inches or less and make sure it has a rock wheree it can bask completely out of the water a UV ray light on one side of its cage a normal heat lamp on the other side lots of rocks ( floor gravel- some times will be ingested, but they need to do this if there stomach is blocked it wont hurt them) calcium stones/shells keep bottom of tank covered with rocks 2 apple snails to reduce algae or waste 2 cat fish to reduce waste two filters onn either side of the tank lid to cage!!! trust me it NEEDS a lid floating turtle pelets shrimp treats with all this you dont have to cleen it more than once every 2 weeks- hope this helps!
