The environment that you house your turtles in is very important, these reptiles are usually seen as an easy animal to raise but their environment needs to be correct for them to stay healthy
This article looks into whether turtles can live in a fish tank
Table of Contents
Can turtles live in a fish tank?
There are many reasons why a person would want to keep their turtles in a fish tank and one reason is the convenience but is this the best for turtles?
Here is what you need to know if you want to keep your turtles in a fish tank
The size:
The size of any turtle enclosure will determine if the animal is comfortable or not.
These animals come in a range of sizes and they will grow a lot from the time they start off as juveniles to the time they are adult-size
Your pet turtle will do just fine if it’s living in a fish tank as long as the tank is big enough for it at the time.
The recommended guideline for housing turtles in a fish tank is that you give them a 10 gallon tank per inch of turtle shell.
And the tank will have to get bigger as the animal increases in size.
The water in the tank should be as deep as the width of the animal’s shell. This will ensure that the animal can still touch the bottom of the tank and that it will be able to swim.
Additions to the tank:
If you want to keep turtles in your fish tank then you’d need to make sure that you add all the elements that the turtles need into the tank.
The elements that your turtle would need include a basking area, a UV light, a filtration system, and a variety of decorations to make the environment entertaining for the reptile.
Dry area:
The basking area should be kept dry so the animal can dry itself after swimming. It should also be easily accessible for the turtle and the animal should be able to quickly get itself up to the basking area. The basking area will be a part of the land area.
It isn’t recommended that you add branches or rocks from nature as these can bring harmful bacteria to the tank
Filtration system:
The filtration system that you use for the tank needs to be strong enough for the tank size.
It also needs to be strong enough to filter out all the waste that the animal produces and clean out any leftover food that you may have not removed
Light in the tank:
The light source used in your pet’s tank should be a UVB light which can also provide heat to the turtle, this will regulate the animal’s body temperature.
A water heater can also be used to regulate the animal’s body temperature. These need to be placed where it can fully heat up the water in the tank and it needs to be able to heat the water up evenly.
Decorations:
Adding decorations to the tank will not only make the tank better to look at for you but it will also make the turtle happier overall and be a source of entertainment for the animal
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: My Turtle Got Bit By A Dog, My Turtle Has A Cut On Its Leg, My Turtle Ate My Fish, My Turtle Is Getting Too Big, My Turtles Nails Are Too Long, Do Turtle Tails Grow Back?, My Turtle Bites My Other Turtle, My Turtle Can’t Swim, My Turtle Doesn’t Swim
