Beginners of animal lovers incorrectly believe that aquarium turtles can withstand any conditions, making a lot of mistakes in the arrangement of their habitat. Separating into land, sea and freshwater creatures, these reptiles have completely different habits, before buying an exotic pet you need to learn all the nuances of his behavior.
How to keep aquarium turtles?
It is problematic to establish houses of giant reptiles living in ocean waters. In an apartment it is advisable to keep land species of creatures, their swamp brothers or small reptiles, who are accustomed to the freshwater environment. The content of turtles in an aquarium is extremely difficult to name. Fans need to know the basic rules for selecting the soil and suitable capacity for pets, be able to maintain a correct water balance and acquire good food.
How to equip an aquarium for turtles?
To an amusing creature with a shell pleased the owner of his company for ten or more years, you need to create suitable conditions for him. An ignorant approach leads to frustration and the death of the acquired reptile in a short period. The economy of means and purchase of a poor-quality capacity of the small size in the given question is inadmissible. For the maintenance of large land creatures generally require aviaries, the size of which exceeds 250 liters.
What aquarium is needed for a turtle:
- To calculate the capacity use the formula, where the length of the aquarium is determined by multiplying the length of the reptile by 7. The width of the tank is about half its length.
- A small or medium turtle is suitable living space with dimensions from 60x40x50 cm, and a large establishment or several medium reptiles need a water aquarium with a minimum dimensions of 120x50x50 cm.
- The minimum dimensions of an aquarium in width should exceed 2 lengths of a reptile carapace.
- Capacity of 40 liters is suitable only for toddlers, for them they acquire a vessel of elongated horizontal shape with a height of 35 cm.
- Large considered aquarium turtles, reaching a length of 13 cm, which requires a volume of living space of 150 liters.
- Amphibious species of animals need a coastline for recreation. The best suited containers, where water occupies 75% of the total volume, and the land area is optimally consistent with the size of the inhabitants with shell.
- Aquarium bugs should not touch the bottom during swimming. It is desirable to equip the vessel with a depth of the pool of 20 cm.
Filter for the aquarium of turtles
This device is necessary for the arrangement of the vessel, where the aquatic species of reptiles will inhabit. There are external and internal filters . The design of the external filter resembles a canister with a pump, taken out of the reservoir. In its case there are several compartments filled with a filtering substance. With the aquatic environment of the aquarium, this device is connected by means of tubes. The advantage of external filters is that they do not occupy a useful area inside.
Internal filters differ in smaller sizes and look more modest. They are equipped with pumps and diffuser, coping well with the cleaning of the liquid. The filtration of water occurs by means of a cartridge with a sponge, coal or other elements. The design is attached to the wall from inside the container at different angles. If you make a list of what a turtle needs in an aquarium, then the filter should be in it on the first lines.
Care for aquarium turtles
In aquariums and terrariums must be present soil, artificial pool, a lamp for lighting, ultraviolet lamps. The temperature of the medium in a warm corner reaches 30-40 degrees, depending on the type of reptile. Creatures from hot countries, like the Libyan turtles, are extremely thermophilic. Ultraviolet is important to small aquarium turtles, the correct care and maintenance of which is impossible without vitamin D. UV lamps help to assimilate this element with the body, with its lack animals suffer from curvature of the shell and rickets.
Ground is made for water creatures from gravel and fine sand. Land-based aquarium turtles are suitable for land from the garden without impurities and chemicals, coconut substrate. Reptiles often damage the roots of plants, you can plant them in pots or confine themselves to swimming algae. Well decorated aquarium islets from stones and a decorative kind of driftwood.
What to feed aquarium turtles?
In the question of what aquarium turtles eat, they are not particularly demanding. Land creatures eat juicy and dry vegetation, pieces of vegetables, fruits, slugs, caught insects. In the aquariums, they are offered leaves of fruit trees and grapes, salad, dandelions with alfalfa and clover. Aquatic species of reptiles eat shellfish, shrimp, snails, pieces of beef. In addition to live food, sea turtles need vegetable food - salad, cabbage and greens. Include vitamin nutrition and minerals, eggshells, bone meal as food for pets.
Types of aquarium turtles
There are hundreds of types of reptiles of different sizes that have a shell. Some have chosen to live in the sea and amaze their views with their size; others live on continents in fresh waters, sands and swamps. Aquarium turtles are considered species of creatures that are best suited for keeping in captivity. Long-term experience of the majority of fans of exotic animals suggests that the least demand for special habitat conditions is land and freshwater reptiles.
Sea turtle in the aquarium
Species of marine reptiles living in the ocean, we will not consider here. For the maintenance of large leathery, green and olive turtles, large pools with complex equipment are needed. The houses are mostly created by freshwater creatures, which successfully replace the huge marine aquarium turtles. For this purpose, it is possible to find in the pet shops residents of the aquatic environment of moderate size, which do not require large maintenance costs.
Common species of turtles for marine aquarium:
- Chinese trionix - reptile with a weight of up to 4.5 kg and the size of individual individuals up to 40 cm;
- matamata (fringed) - the weight of the creature is up to 15 kg, it requires a large 250 l aquarium;
- red-bellied turtle - has dimensions acceptable to the house up to 30 cm, so it is the most popular and widespread among fans of the species;
- musk turtles - exclusively water creatures, almost not requiring land, up to 13.5 cm in size.
Aquatic land tortoises
To create and maintain a quality aquarium for a land tortoise is simple, the main condition - the size of the container should correspond to the size of the acquired reptile. It is advisable to buy a reservoir with a reserve, choosing it "for growth" is 2 or 6 times more spacious than is required for the baby at the moment. It is undesirable to use thermocouples for heating reptiles, heat release from below harms the pet's body. It is better to install a simple incandescent paw, adjusting the temperature of the height of the arrangement of the lighting device relative to the ground.
Popular terrestrial aquarium bugs:
- Central Asian turtles;
- Mediterranean species of turtle (Armenian, Libyan, Iranian, Moroccan and others);
- Star bug (imported from Sri Lanka and Hindustan);
- Toothed bug (guest from South American forests);
- leopard (panther) turtle.
Swamp turtle in the aquarium
The appearance of this reptile is not very bright, but it lives perfectly in an artificial environment, without causing the owners big problems. The color of the shell of the Sicilian subspecies of reptiles is yellow-green, and the animals from Europe and America are predominantly black in color. Breeding of aquatic turtles of marsh species does not represent complexity. In nature, they eat skins, frogs, fish, various larvae, aquatic plants. Salad, duckweed or cabbage are mostly eaten by adults.
Aquarium bugs that live with fish
The content of reptiles together with fish is a troublesome business. Many of their species are predators, eating small animals in their habitat. In addition, reptiles require a special site with land, which other water creatures are not needed. An exception is a clever twin-headed (swine) turtle, it behaves normally in an aquarium with large-sized fish. She eats vegetable food, meat of squid, small fry of non-fatty varieties. Arrangement of the island swine-bug does not require.