I got a few new additions! *New Pictures! and 2 Videos!*

[CrissAngelLover12345]

I got a common pleco for my turtle's tank to take care of the algae in there (I did research before I got him, and found that commons are pretty much the only ones that get big enough that the turtle likely won't consider as food). He is already pretty big. He was a drop off at Petco that someone had kept in a 10 gallon tank for 4 years and he had big time outgrown it. He's enjoying life in the larger tank. He loves the cucumber slices I give him. biggrin His name is Hoover. Here are some pictures:





Eating a cucumber slice:





I also got two snails for my 10 gallon tank to clean the algae from in it. Gyarados flared at them when I first put them in it. XD He just ignores them now. I don't have any good pictures of them yet, but I'll take some soon and post them. biggrin I think I'm going to name them Omanyte and Omastar. XD  

[Akiska]

I hope your filtration system is up to par. Common plecos are MAJOR waste producers. With my Oscar and Pleco combo in my 75 I had to do 75% water changes 3x weekly to keep water quality up. And my filtration system was 425 gallon per hour.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

I don't remember exactly how fast/strong the filtration system is. It's a pretty strong one. The tank is over filtered (the filter is rated for a larger tank than what this tank is). I'll try to locate the box to find out for sure though.. I had tried scrubbing the algae off, but it just kept coming back.. So, I did some research to see if there is any algae eater that the turtle won't try to eat, and common plecos were the only ones I found that got big enough that turtles wouldn't eat them/be able to eat them easily. I'll definitely make sure to check the water regularly and do a water change as necessary. smile If I have to do a water change extremely frequently, I'm definitely going to save up for a hose that connects to a water faucet that is long enough to go to the tank (though I'm already going to do so, I'll just try to get it sooner lol). If I have to change the water frequently, then I'll do so.

Unfortunately, one of the snails already died.. I don't even know why it died.. Everything about the tank is fine.. The temperature is good and the levels of everything are good.. The only thing I can think of is maybe it was sick..

I'll post pictures of the snails soon as well as of the tank with the live plants in it.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

I finally uploaded some pictures of the snails and the tank (sorry they're fuzzy, they were taken with my ipod). biggrin

Here's Omanyte (the one that passed away sad )



Here's Omastar (he has spots, though they're kind of hard to see in this picture):



Here is the aquarium with the live plants (I used to have artificial plants in there. I like the way it looks with the live plants. biggrin )



I'm uploading a video of Wartortle eating zucchini (You see Hoover in it too and he does eventually start eating. biggrin ). I'll also upload the video I took of Hoover eating a slice of cucumber. I'll post links to them once they're uploaded! biggrin  

[Akari_32]

The pleco and turtles poop way more than any creature that size needs to. I'd suggest looking into a properly sized canister filter wink Canister filters need to have 4-6 times the output of the gallons of water you have, and all others need to have 10 times the amount of water you have as the output. Common plecos also grow three feet long (more like 2 in an aquarium environment, but still), so use your best judgment, if he does continue to grow, when you should consider rehoming him to someone with perhaps a pond.

He's super cool, enjoy him! Can't wait to see him in action wink don't forget to suppliment his diet with a variety of veggies and a good brand of algea wafers, such as New Life Spectrum H20 Stable Wafers smile  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

I got the strongest canister filter the store had when I upgraded the tank back when Squirtle was still alive. I hope Hoover doesn't grow too much more. I do plan on possibly upgrading the tank again after I move out on my own (this one was smaller than I wanted, but since I only had to pay for the parts I needed to repair it (the tank itself was free) and Squirtle badly needed a larger tank, I had gotten this one from the neighbor).

I am definitely enjoying them both! I am supplementing both of their diets with veggies. When ever I put a veggie in for Hoover, I also put one in for Wartortle so he's not pestering Hoover while he's trying to eat. I had put some live plants in for Wartortle, but he ate them all within a couple weeks lol. I also supplement Wartortle's diet with feeder fish, floating balls of freeze dried shrimp (he LOVES those, I should record a video of him eating them because it's so amusing to watch him chasing them around the tank. biggrin ), and bloodworms. biggrin

I have found NLS wafters to have Ethoxyquin in them. The wafers I have are Aqueon and one of the only brands for algae wafers I could find that didn't have ethoxyquin in it and they're really small (I had gotten them for my BN pleco I had in my 10 gallon tank when she was still alive). I think the opening for Hoover's mouth is at least as big as the wafer is. Is that too small of a wafer? When I went to get the snails, I saw that store had food for plecos that was larger (looked to be intended for larger plecos). I'll look into those. I can't seem to find them online, or I'd show you what I'm talking about.. I guess they'd be more like algae blocks than wafers.

The videos have finished uploading! biggrin Here is the one of Hoover eating a slice of cucumber: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaLyUc40kcc&feature=youtu.be

Here is the one of Wartortle eating a slice of Zuccini (Hoover starts eating his slice of Zuccini a little later in the video) biggrin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD0mkjJelA0&feature=youtu.be  

[Akari_32]

As, their both so cute! Om nom nom veggies! :p  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Thanks! biggrin