First time to use test strips

I used some test strips today.

Ammonia and nitrite were at zero, which was expected since I use biological filters and my tank cycled a long time ago.

Nitrates were around 30 ppm. The strips are the kind where they change color and the color was between the 20ppm and the 40ppm colors. That was after a water change. This means that I have to change the way I’ve been doing my tank maintenance.

I always do tank maintenance on sundays, not counting the times were siphon clean any waste sitting at the tank bottom. On the first sunday of the month, I do a 100% water change and scrub everything down. I change one or two gallons of water the remaining sundays after that. Every sunday, I clean the sponge filters under running water and clean the biological filters (ceramic rings and lava rock) with old aquarium water.

I did some research and it seems that 40ppm of nitrates should be the max in turtle tanks. I should do an 85% water change when nitrates reach 40ppm, which will reduce it to 6ppm. At least according to the turtletimes forums.

I reached the 30 ppm level today after a week, and that was with a one gallon water change. I have four gallons of water (too little, I know – a bigger tank is coming soon!!). Since I changed a gallon, it means I actually had 40ppm before the water change!

From now on, I have to change all the water every week!!

December 9 size

During routine tank maintenance today, I measured the turtles.

Measuring the length of their carapace they are:
2 and 5/16 inches – Rex
2 and 1/8 (2 and 2/16) inches – Cinderella

Cinderella hasn’t grown in the three weeks since my last measurement.  It’s pretty weird since her carapace felt a bit pyramided.  Rex’s was fine though.

Chinese Algae Eaters and my RESs

The two smaller Chinese Algae Eaters (CAE) disappeared. I was very surprised to discovery this. Based on all the research I did, including this page in Austin’s Turtle Page (a really great resource for turtles) I really expected them to last a real long time in the turtle tank.

CAE’s are good for community tanks when they are young, but they turn territorial when much older. Young CAEs are priced much higher than the medium or larger (older) CAEs. Being price wary, the CAEs I got were medium ones, but one of them was bigger than the others. Figured they wouldn’t be territorial yet and would take a while before they do. Lately, I’ve seen it acting territorial – chasing the feeder goldfish away or trying to suck on them when they get close. I’m guessing it got territorial on the two smaller CAEs and attacked & injured them – then the turtles got the chance to eat them.

Oh well, guess the tank was just too small for the CAE’s. I’ll just get more when I get a bigger tank.

November 18 size

 

During routine tank maintenance yesterday, I measured them…

Measuring the length of their carapace they are:
2 and 1/4 (2 and 4/16) inches – Rex
2 and 1/8 (2 and 2/16) inches – Cinderella

 

Sometime in early November, they started being fed every other day as they are no longer hatchlings (below 2″).

more live food and aquarium mates

I feel like it’s been awhile since I posted about something other than my turts’ size. Here’s an update on their live feeding…

Since the last rosy was eaten, they haven’t eaten any of the 2 remaining goldfish. When November rolled in, I bought them more live food – which I aim to do for them everytime a new month comes in.

I bought them 5 rosy minnows this time. Rex immediately ate one of the fish as I was transferring them to the turtle tank. It was so quick!! After putting 3 or 4 of the fish in the tank, I saw one of them in his mouth with its tail sticking out. It was head first and he was swallowing it whole. I reached for the camera as he was swallowing it, but didn’t manage to get to a photo of the action.

The day after, another minnow was missing, although there’s no way of telling who ate it. The next day yet another minnow disappeared.

When I bought the minnows, I also bought a mystery snail. I figured the turtles might want to try some other food, and if not, then it could help keep the tank clean. The turts have bitten the snail a few times, and even took a chip off the shell, but haven’t managed to eat/kill it yet.

In the meantime the turtles, Cinderella in particular, was getting very aggressive. She was always trying to flutter Rex and would make bite attempts at his claws and face. Given the overly aggressive behavior, I divided the tank to avoid any of the turtles from drawing blood and missing eyes and such. Dividing the tank was a bit difficult since I also divided the basking area, which is a Zilla corner basking platform. I’ll post pics of the divided tank later. I placed a minnow and a goldfish on each turtles side and the snail on Rex’s side. Several days into the divided tank, the remaining minnows disappeared at about the same time.

It really makes me happy when the turtles eat the live fish, and even happier still to know for sure that Cinderella ate one too!! The gold fish are still there, I think they just don’t like the taste of goldfish.

Then we thought that the snail was dead. With Rex biting and clawing at it a few times a day, we thought he might have gotten successful. So I went out and bought 3 snails and 3 Chinese Algae Eater fish. After putting the new animals in the tank, the dead snail proved it was alive and not dead after all. So now the turtles each have 2 snails, a gold fish, and Chinese Algae Eater each, with Cinderella having an extra Algae Eater.

The Algae Eaters are quick nervous little fish that the turtles are likely never going to eat. The snails are likely going to become turtle food one of these days. If the snails spawn and create dozens of baby snails, the tank will not become snail infested – I’ve no doubt the turtles will enjoy eating all those tiny, yummy baby snails!!

On an extra note: the turtles are now being fed every other day as they are no longer hatchlings (over 2″ in length).

changing the “turtle growth charts”

it takes too much work to update them…I’ll replace it with a table instead.  It will still track their growth over time and will still have a link at the top of the page

October 28 size

Didn’t measure them for a bit..  Anyway, am glad that they both grew significantly in the past few weeks…

Measuring the length of their carapace they are:
2 and 1/8 (2 and 2/16) inches – Rex
1 and 7/8 (1 and 14/16) inches – Cinderella

RES Documentary

Found a documentary on Red Eared Sliders…there’s not too many educational videos out there – but there should be. Red Eared Sliders are the most popular and abundant pet turtles, people have to learn how to care for them properly!!!

Added “turtle growth charts”

This is to help visually track their growth.  The link is up top just under the banner.  I’ll update the chart every time I measure their size.

October 7 size

Rex grew by another 2/16th in a week and Cinderella grew by just about a half of 1/16…

Measuring the length of their carapace they are:
1 and 7/8 (1 and 14/16) inches – Rex
1 and 1/2 (1 and 8/16) inches – Cinderella