Yellow Belly Slider Turtle In This Setup?

[9murphy9]

yeah i get what you mean but i just mean if hee's keeping fish with them than there going to require a higher temp

 

[lloyd]

Thanks for your input. I understand your point of view but then that means you must have the same view on fishes that they shouldn't be kept in aquariums as the majority of them also come from the deeper seas? Right?

Thats a good point. i certainly wouldnt keep a fish that grows the size of a yellow slider in a 2 foot tank

 

[didz04]

I understand the caution to be taken between fish and turtles especially when I have experienced it so I know to take extra care, don't worry. But thanks for all the great advice I was having doubts to go ahead with this but with all your support I'm going to go give it a go. Details of my tank is the length is definitely going to be 4ft and its on a built in cabinet on the wall which has a maximum of 13" from the back to front, so either it will be 12" or 15" and have it a little sticking out which should be fine and height around 15".

Fish - I am not 100% sure yet but its not going to be cichlids for sure with their high ph issue. I will look into some fast moving fish and also I'm thinking I should be able to get away with some medium paced swimmers, as you guys mentioned the musk turtle is a less active swimmer compared to the ybs. I will have a look around before I make my mind up and let you guys know.

Hear me out though. I was thinking about making the water level a few inches below top I'll add my medium sized docking station (still have from my previous ybs) but was thinking of going large for these guys instead. I thought what if I were to surround the dock station with a platform so the water level lets say 15" x 15" would be at 3-4" while they are small and they can also swim in the deep end if they want. What do you think to this? It will be a real platform possibly made out of acrylic.

 

[Asp]

To be honest you still risk them drowning when they're very young - I could see a situation where they might even get stuck under the large secondary platform.

If you're going to go with musks or muds then the best way to go is either to buy them as hatchlings and raise them in a seperate container for the next, say, three years OR re-home a couple of adults or sub adults. Even small species like oderatus get too big for some people who buy them when they're adorable and the size of a 20p peice. I've seen a few around at 3-4 inches recently.

However, the idea of a tank with more than one level is quite an intriguing one for adult musks. I was going to say that (as previously noted by Alex) 12" water depth is about the max you'd want for adult musks, (I'd even say that 8-10 may be a better bet), but a 15" tank with a, say 6 or 8" level and a basking station that should be great and will increase the possibility of fish.

As I have previously noted Musks aren't great baskers, so your medium dock should be fine. However, remember that to keep terrapins you shouldn't have any kind of lid on the tank, and you need some way of fitting a UV and a heat lamp.

In terms of fish species, I have kept gold barbs very successfully with muds and musks, as well as white clouds and zebra danios. It may be a bit of a trial and error thing - the chances are that if they can catch them they will so don't take too many risks with slower species.

 

[didz04]

The platform I am sorting out will be covered underneath so nothing can get to that area under the docking station. Thats how I am having it and if they feel like they can't swim in the deep end then surely they will stay around the shallow areas, until they grow and swim better. I will keep a close eye on them.
How long can they stay underwater? My ybs stayed under for a long time, don't the musk turtles like the water as much as the ybs?

I rang viscum and they currently have them in different sizes. I will go with barbs as you mentioned a shoal of tiger barbs would look nice.

I will have everything sorted with the UV and heat light and I am sorting out a strip LED light for the whole tank.

 

[didz04]

I am going to design my idea on paper and see what you guys think? I will be picking up my tank next weekend.

 

[Asp]

It's not that they don't like the water - if anything they will spend longer in it that the sliders, but they just stick to the shallows when they're small. I generally hold a better safe than sorry mindset. It might be a good idea to have some kind of object - half a flower pot or something - in the shallow area that they can sit on with their heads out of the water.