Aquatic Gardens Ponds, Streams, Waterfalls & Fountains: Volume 1. Design & Construction Volume 2. Maintenance, Stocking, Examples V. 1 Print and eBook on Amazon V. 2 Print and eBook on Amazon   by Robert (Bob) Fenner

"Found" turtle; not eating, wheezing?      5/23/17
hi I found at turtle on the side of the road and it was not moving scared that it was going to be hit I took it home where I found out that it was a midland painted turtle but now it isn't eating and it is making a weird grunt noise what does this mean.
<The best thing to do with wild reptiles is to leave them where they are.
This has to be close to a safe, turtle-friendly body of water already inhabit by the species in question. Just dumping a turtle in "the woods" or a backyard isn't acceptable because there's no knowing if the turtle will
find the food and shelter it needs. Your local herpetology club or natural history society may be able to help here. The next best option is to contact your local animal rescue charity or agency. Wild animals can be acclimated to captive life, but there may be legal issues here (many reptiles are protected at city, state or national level) and on top of that wild animals can come with parasites and other issues that need to be taken into account. If you want to keep this animal as a pet, then please write back and we'll offer up some help. Cheers, Neale.>

Semi aquatic animals...? 2 gal. bowl in a FW tank...  stkg... confusion/confused    9/2/2013
Hi,
<Hello,>
I have a 30 gallon tank, heavily planted, with a rainbow fish,
<"A" rainbowfish? Should really be in groups of 6+ specimens, if we're talking about Melanotaenia and other such species..>
small albino Pleco, and a botasia catfish (not sure if that's accurate, looks like a 3 inch bullhead, is full grown)
<Have absolutely no idea what a "botasia catfish" is, and Google offers up "basa catfish", which is another name for the Iridescent Catfish which definitely isn't full grown at three inches. Three feet... maybe!>
I have recently installed a slanted Betta bowl at the bottom of my tank, I have plants and an airline in it, creating an underwater air bubble. I have seen this be done before, and it allows you to house some semi aquatic animals that need land/air.
<Sounds nightmarish! Abnormal air pressure, minimal space to move around, oxygen concentration extremely dependent on efficiency of air pump... yikes!>
I would like to get something that would normally need land so I can keep it and not need another special tank for it. I figure I could get a  crabs, amphibians of some sort, or maybe a turtle. I would forward to hearing your impute.
<Would not do this. The theory sounds cool, I admit, like a science-fiction story with an underwater city or something. But then if you think about why those don't work in real life, even with modern engineering, you'll realise that trying to achieve with a cheap air pump and a glass bowl is a little optimistic. The space would be too small (a few gallons of volume at most, and land area of a square foot, tops) for most animals to be happy, so why bother? Plenty of fully aquatic fish choices for a tank this size and the livestock you already have. Obviously anything amphibious (in the sense of using both water and land) would move in and out of the bubble, and turtles are 100% incompatible with fish, so they're right out. Virtually all amphibians are bad choices, apart from African Dwarf Frogs, and your existing fish are too large for those. Crabs are almost always brackish water animals, so incompatible in that regard. Basically, virtually all of these "mix land animals with water animals" set-ups don't work, and the lifespan of the animals kept this way is invariably less than when kept properly.>
Thanks
<Hope this helps! Cheers, Neale.>
RE: Semi aquatic animals    9/2/2013
I am well aware that this is not ideal, but I always see newts, frogs, and other various semi-aquatics in tanks with no land at all, rotting away in a pet store in fact, nearly all my pets have been adopted or were the rejects at a pet store. This design at least gives them something.
<Unfortunately, while your intention is good, the result is bad. By buying animals from pet stores who don't care for them properly, the pet store makes a sale and is encouraged to buy some more. Logically, the best approach is to leave badly cared for animals in the store; ideally, you'd pass on your concerns to your local government (who license pet stores one way or another) and you could also contact an animal welfare channel.
Writing to the store manage could be worthwhile, too. Regardless, if the animals languish in the pet store, the retailer won't buy any more.>
This also allows Bettas to live as they require close air, African clawed frogs require air access so deep tanks are not ideal (although I have heard that they go on land),
<Only exceptionally, likely when the ground is waterlogged following heavy rain. Ordinarily, if they crawl out of the water, something is extremely wrong with the aquarium. It is true they like basking within floating plants though, even with their heads poking out. Do bear in mind Xenopus spp get quite big, and are essentially incompatible with small fish.>
some crayfish species require oxygen, a bull frog tadpole could use that to grow up in (but be released or relocated when full grown),
<Releasing a bullfrog from an aquarium into the wild would be very wrong, likely illegal in your area. I'm assuming you're in the US, and you may think that bullfrogs are native so what's the harm. In fact bullfrogs are not found in every waterway in the US, so you could put them somewhere they don't belong, and there may be genetic variation from region to region, and the pet ones sold may carry distinct genes from the ones in your area, and releasing a pet bullfrog allows those non-local genes into your local gene pool. Finally, the big no-no, and likely the legal issue, is pet bullfrogs have been exposed to bacteria, viruses and parasites endemic in the pet industry, and releasing a bullfrog will allow those into your local waterways.>
I could perhaps use it to breed killifish, and most pet store newts have little land anyway, so this is not as foolish as you think.
<Trust me, it's a terrible idea.>
Not to mention that the Betta bowl is a two gallon one, note one of those light bulb sized things, the air line is not cheap at all and I did my best to make the land part cozy.
<Assuming you didn't pay tens of thousands on having an industrial engineer create something that ensures a steady air pressure and balances oxygen and CO2 concentrations properly, the set up you design is simply a bowl with an air pump connected to it. So my reference to "cheap" wasn't a concern about the quality of the products used, which I'm sure are excellent.>
And as for my rainbow fish, it was called a Madagascar rainbow fish yet looks NOTHING like one, I do not know the scientific name and still cannot find another that looks quite like it.
<By all means send a photo and I'll help.>
He was adopted, I've had him for years, and had a mate for him (but he killed her, always was a bit over aggressive) he does not like the company of other rainbow fish or gouramies and the catfish was at a pet store, they said he was full grown and that he is pretty shy.
<Again, a photo would help.>
Other than that most of my fish are still shrouded in mystery. All-in-all you may hate this idea, but who knows, this thing may be worth it after all.
<If you're looking for an expert fishkeeper like me to say, sure, sounds great, that isn't going to happen. You sound like a really sensible, ethical aquarist, and I'd urge you to stick to that path. All this Betta bowl idea does is take swimming space away from your aquarium while creating a sub-optimal habitat for animals that need more than 2-gallons space. Just don't see an up side here at all. Cheers, Neale.>

Slider 4-6 years old ... giving away     1/24/12
We have heard that it is a bad idea to release the turtles into natural areas,
<It is>
but we have been considering it.
<Please don't>
This turtle is rather large, we live near the Tennessee river in North Alabama where there are many places along the river with inlets and such to release her far away from any type of traffic areas and neighborhoods. Is there anyone, or would you know if this is a bad idea, if it isn't when would the best time of year be to do this? She is familiar with eating plants and fish, although of course it's within the environment of her tank.
Thanks again for your input.
<Did she do something wrong?  Why is she being banished?>
<There are a lot of reasons to NOT let her out in the wild.   For one, compared to a wild animal, she's not afraid - or not AS afraid.  She will be more approachable by people on the shore, in boats, canoes, etc. who may intend on doing her harm.  She also may be familiar with eating, but she's had no experience with being EATEN and the world you are contemplating for her is full of them.>
<Last, in spite of every possible contingency, she may be carrying some latent disease or pathogen that is harmless to her but lethal to the local turtle colony.>
<In any case, find a Turtle & Tortoise club near you and tell them that you have a Slider that you would like to give up for adoption.>

Hi,
<Hiya - Darrel here>
Turtle compatibility question.
<OK>
I'm a new owner.
<Of ?? New owner of a 40 gallon tank? Of turtles?>
40 gallon tank. My original idea was for a common Musk and a Mississippi Map.
<Ummm>
I called the guys at turtlesale.com and they said they would be fine in that size and as far as getting along he said "usually".
<How many fatalities are there in 'usually'?>
I chose these two because I like the way they look and their size and they are in my price range. I plan on keeping these a long while and I don't want to see either injured or have to separate them. I read Musk turtles are pretty aggressive.
<Yep - in their way, they're worse than a Personal Injury Lawyer>
So anyway I need a small size turtle (male) that can remain compatible. Even same species or different species. Yes I did search Google can't really find any exact answers I know it depends on personality.
<If you have a patient personality you'll fine more answers on Google>
<Oh, wait, you meant the turtles, right?>
I'm open to two Maps, a Map and Musk, two Painted or anything.
<"Anything" is a wide open category, Jeff.>
Would like an energetic swimmer that remains below 5 inches.
<Well, they ALL have to come up for air eventually, keeping them below 5 inches would require some breathing apparatus>
<Wait . Unless you meant their SIZE?>
Any ideas or facts?
<Facts? Did you know that the comedy movie AIRPLANE! was based on a script from a DRAMA back in the 1950's called "Zero Hour!"? Even the dialog "The fate of everyone on board depends not only on finding someone who can fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner!" is all in a movie entitled Zero Hour! Starring Dana Andrews as a man named Ted Stryker.>
<Oh wait you meant TURTLE facts? Hmmm>
And I'm fine with feeding two different kinds of food.
<Jeff - the Mud, Musk et al, are often lumped together (in care sheets, etc.) with the snapping turtles (the Chelydridae) because of similar habits, diets and temperament. A Mud turtle can live peaceably with a Map turtle as long as the mud (or musk) is very small and the tank is very large. Even so keepers of these mixed animals will find the occasional chunk out of a leg. I have kept both (those actual two, by the way) in a 55 gallon show tank, but I did so with a Plexiglas divider. I wouldn't allow them to mix.>
<Another mistake is to keep a softshell turtle with any other. Actually even another softshell can be "iffy">
<The Maps, Painteds, Cooters, Sliders all get along fine. Slight altercations happen between individuals but as long as they have room to get away from each other they seem to be able to work it out>
<On a separate note, Map turtles are quite a bit more skittish and private than the rest. They are more aquatic too, which means that they don't have the tolerance for poor water conditions that don't seem to bother the rest of the water turtles.>
<MY suggestion: 1 Painted, 1 Red Belly and 1 Cooter will give you nice mixes in color and personality yet all are active swimmers and engaging personalities>
Thank you,
Jeff
<Yer welcome!>

Turtle question. SW avail.... Oh, and shark sel.f' as well   2/28/10
Hello,
<Hiya - Darrel here>
I just bought a new tank for my living room/game room (pool table, bar, darts, etc.). The tank is 8'x3'x3', 538 gal.
<VERY cool and a lot of us here are now officially jealous of you>
I have a 100 gal. sump, and I am currently in the process of replumbing it. I need a new, bigger pump than the one that came with it. It's gonna be a saltwater tank, FOWLR. I already have a 90 gal reef tank, a 45 gal. FOWLR, and a 35 gal tank that I will probably turn into a quarantine tank (all saltwater of course).
<At that size, please also give serious consideration to water changes. Permanent plumbing to a drain, a safe, warm place to have a minimum of  75 gallons of new water ready for changing (538 gal + 100 gal sump plus 35 gal quarantine tank) plus a method to get to the various tanks. It seems obvious but you'd be surprised how many people don't think of that until after those 5 gallon jugs from the local fish store just don't cut it when you need 15 of them per week><<Excellent. B>>
My question is this. I am very interested in getting a turtle for it. Is there anywhere that I can buy one?
<No>
Is it even legal?
<No>
I've been looking over the internet, and I can't find anything so far. I am trying to make a list of what I can stock this tank with, and I think a turtle, among other rare exotic fish would be so cool.
<A turtle would be cool. So would a Marine Iguana from the Galapagos. So would a dinosaur but the first two are illegal and the last one is impossible><<But, I seen it on TeeBee>>
<Seriously even if virtually every species of sea turtle in the world was not listed as CITES protected species it simply isn't possible to provide a health environment for them -- and even if you could (which you can't) you can't provide the proper diet.>
I am open to any suggestions if you have any.
<On the off chance that I haven't made myself crystal clear -- there is no legal way to acquire one and even if you could, the cost of care would be astronomical and the end result would be a dead sea turtle. You'd be better off AND happier to amass a laundry basket full of $20 bills and toss them down a storm sewer. The net effect will be the same and it would be over sooner.><<& less frustrating and time-consuming>>
I am looking into a couple of sharks as well, if it is legal.
<Certain sharks are legal, yes.>
I'm not sure.
<For many years, not more than 45 miles from where you live, I raised and housed 4 alligators. When friends and neighbors would look at me and ask "why Alligators???" I' reply, perfectly honestly "because sharks are too darned delicate!">
<The problem, as I see it, is that the thing that comes to mind when someone wants to keep a shark is Bruce (the shark from "Jaws") also known as Carcharodon carcharias, The Great White Shark - right? Or a Bull shark or at least even a Hammer Head? All the really GOOD sharks are the pelagics - the open-ocean types or else their in-shore cousins the White Tip, Gray Reef, etc. but without exception those can't be kept in a closed system, even as sophisticated as yours. They need, at best - tens of thousands of gallons per foot of shark, constant keeper and veterinarian attention and all the attendant expense that go with that. So what we're left with are Bamboo sharks, Horned Sharks and a few other members of the family I call "The Boring, lazy, non-menacing Sharks">
<Please read: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/sharks.htm>
[Editors Note: On behalf of WWM we would like to apologize to any and all Bamboo sharks, Horned sharks, their families, relatives and dependents as well as their faithful fans, keepers, breeders, resellers and importers for that unwarranted insult. Moreover, having met Mr. Barton on several occasions he has no room to be calling anyone else Boring, Lazy or Non-menacing that was the quintessential case of the pot calling the kettle.]
As you can imagine, with a tank of this size, I want to have some of the best
livestock in it.
<I have an opinion that my colleagues may not share, so take it with a grain of salt (that may be been a pun - grain of salt!): Consider resisting the urge to put as many different species in that tank as possible and instead see how many of the SAME species you can accommodate. What I mean is this, the behavior and appearance of the Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens) is absolutely AWESOME in large groups/schools to the point of almost taking your breath away. Unfortunately, most of us mortals simply don't have enough "tank" to be able to house more than one or two. You do. If you apply some different logic (think outside the tank, to make a pun) you could end up with something unique. "The most impressive collection of {something} west of the Mississippi" or something like that.>
I plan on documenting the whole process, and as I go I will send pics if your interested.
<We are very interested -- along with a narrative of the process and the decisions that went into it!>
Right now its empty. but just the size of it alone sitting in my room is pretty awesome. I always come to WWM, and you guys have really helped me over the years.
<Yeah, but that was before *I* joined the staff. I've brought the team average down a few points since then>
This is the first time I've actually asked a question,
<And maybe learned your lesson?>
and I am sure you can give me some great advice like always.
<A lot of the team give good advice. Most give GREAT advice. Unfortunately, this time you got ME!>
Thank you in advance.
Rudy, Chino Ca.
<Seriously Rudy -- take lots and lots of pictures and send them to us periodically.>
Re Turtle question. SW avail.... Oh, and shark sel. f' as well 3/2/10
Dear Crew,
<Here we are!!!>
Regarding the keeping of sea turtles and wasting money .... Please note that amassing laundry basket full of $20 bills and toss them down a storm sewer is illegal in some jurisdictions. Here in Charlotte, NC the city actually charges us for the water that falls on our yards from the sky.
Basically they charge for what we use and for rain that we don't use. Please don't give them other ideas.
<"No man's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session" -- unknown>
I suggest he use the PayPal donate button on the site instead :')
<Thanks Greg! .... your letter gives me an opportunity to remind people that WWM does in fact have a "Donate" button on the home page and should anyone be tempted to toss money down a sewer ... that money could be put to much better use here, with us. Donations help us keep this free site up & running, purchase articles for the Conscientious Aquarist Magazine and the occasional hush-money to local officials willing to help us in our quest
for the ultimate domination of the world!><<Amen. B>>