Filed under: Turtles | Tags: Aquarium, aqu, balancing, balanced aquarium, shrimp, ghost shrimp, tiger oscar, plac..., bottom feeders, algae, UV Light, filter, canister filter, submersible filter
BALANCE IS KEY
Ok I have a question…. What does 99.9% of turtle and fish owners agree upon? The answer is that it is impossible to make a freshwater aquarium biologically balanced with a turtle. What do I mean by biologically balanced? If I succeed I should only have to clean my tank maybe once a month and change the water very very rarely. Sounds good but how do we do it? Well before I try to tackle any problem I look at all of the obstacles. In this case there are so many I’m going to make a list.
The Reasons it is “IMPOSSIBLE”
- Turtles Eat Everything that moves and tries to eat everything that doesn’t
- Turtles when startled rampage around cage destroying everything and re-landscaping your aquarium
- Turtles are extreamly nasty and poop A LOT
- Aquarium Stuff is Craaaazy Expensive and I am totally BROKE
- Filters Suck Unless You want to spend BIG dollars
- Turtles will be turtles….
Alright here are my successes and failures so you dont have to make them! Also I would like all the help I can get so share your stories as well!!
YEY’S and NAY’S
- Do not buy $15 stalks of bamboo unless you have a way to literally cement them to the bottom of the tank! My turtles alternately attacked, ate, dragged and subsequently killed the damn thing within 72 hours!
- Ghost shrimp = food. I put ghost shrimp in the tank but they just kept getting eaten by either the turtles, goldfish, feeder fish and most recently by my Tiger Oscar. They help clean but die quickly.
- Live plants = Bad Idea. They decay causing yellow water….. damn the yellow water!
- Feeder Fish = Awesome if eaten immediately. Other wise you end up with a tankful of feeder fish that are friends with the turtles.
- Tiger Oscar = Feeder Fish Solution. Get one of these big guys and they wont get eaten by the turtles (or at least hasn’t yet) and they clean up the ‘herd’ of feeder fish.
- Bottom Feeding Fish = Algae Solution. If you get them big enough they wont get eaten
(once again not yet) and they clean up the tank! - DO NOT GET SHITTY REPTILE CANISTER WATER FILTER
- NO GRAVE
- Evaporation does not clean tank for you. It makes it worse because just clean natural H2O is evaporating not the nasty stuff!
Thats it for now! Give me your feedback!
Filed under: Gecko | Tags: cricket cage, cricket food, crickets, feeding, female Tangerine Leopard Geckos, Gecko, gecko food, Gecko Housing, Gecko Morphs, Leopard Gecko, Leopard Gecko Feeding, Leopard Gecko Food, Leopard Gecko Housing, mealworms, Morphs, Patternless, Patternless Leopard Gecko, reptiles, superworms, Tengerine, waxworms
Leopard Geckos
Whats up guys! I have got some new reptiles! I have 2 female Tangerine Leopard Geckos and a male Patternless Leopard Gecko! Their Names are Flash, Beyonce and Xerces.
Housing
Housing of Leopard Geckos is really quite simple however it is essential that it is done right. For a single Gecko you need at least 12 square inches so a 10 gallon tank is more than big enough. However if you want to house two together you want at least a 20 gallon tank. When you getting the tanks remember that leopard geckos do not climb very much so you do not need high ceilings. Like I said in the Tortoise Section I strongly suggest rubber maid tanks for these guys as well. However they can live in a aquarium much easier than the tortoises. For these guys you do not need a full spectrum light or any sort of heat lamp. However you are going to need an under tank heater to keep them warm and to help metabolize their food.
Feeding
Ok these guys are Insectivores, which means they live on insects. Some of their favorite foods include but are not limited to mealworms, wax works and crickets. I have heard a million different explanations as to what to feed them but my friends Marsha who owns and operates Golden Gate Geckos feeds her babies a staple of mealworms with the occasional cricket to keep them active. She always makes sure that the meal worms are covered in vitamin and calcium powder as it is impossible to gut load mealworms. If you guys have any questions comment!