Godzilla, the 3-striped mud turtle

Farcryjj

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I had Godzilla for almost 5 months now. :D I believe he was born last fall and has grown from size of barely a toonie, to now 3 inches in length. He loves to eat small snails as snacks. I hope I'm doing everything right by him...
 

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Moozillion

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WOW! Gorgeous set up!!!
THat's a lucky little guy/gal!!!
That size tank is that?
What are those big plants sitting on?
How did you set this up? (pulls out notebook and pen to take notes...)
 

Farcryjj

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5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2016
Messages
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WOW! Gorgeous set up!!!
THat's a lucky little guy/gal!!!
That size tank is that?
What are those big plants sitting on?
How did you set this up? (pulls out notebook and pen to take notes...)
LOL! Thanks for liking my tank!

It is a 60cmx40cmx35cm tank, if I didn't remember it wrong. I think it's about 25 gallon if it is full of water, and i normally keep the water level at half.
I followed a youtuber MD fishtank guy for one of his setup for his musk turtle, which I think makes sense and looks nice. LOL. You can see his video tutorial here:

I made some twist on the setup. Basically, I used gravels and lava stones as the base under the stone mountain, so the big stones won't slide. Then I covered everywhere with filter sand, as they are white and clean and cheap. LOL
The plants above the water are mostly ferns, which can survive with just clean roots in the water. The roots basically sit on top of the sand with some water. I have a heart plant sit in the back, and some other small plants sit here and there. Under water, I used mostly epiphyte type of plants, which means that their roots do not need to be buried under the sand. They can live just being attached to a stone or wood, and do not need much nutrients to thrive.

Of course you need an aquarium light for the plants to live, and a spot light for Godzilla to warm up, if he/she chooses to. I didn't use a heater in the water, because my room temperature is always in the mid 20s (Celsius). I used an internal filter to cycle the water. I did put some small fish and lots of red shrimps to help clean the tank. It turns out all the snails that I put in the tank as the part of cleaning up crew were eliminated. LOL. But I have a lot more in other tanks, so I put them in almost everyday for him to snack. Of course the more plants you put, the cleaner your water would be. Since Godzilla is still very small and doesn't have an interest in the plants, those plants are growing very well for now. I think one day he might take charge of the tank and start to dig around the plants. LOL

Below are a couple pictures in the middle of the set-up process. Please let me know if you have more questions. :)

 

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TortsNTurtles

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Godzilla is so cute! I want one someday! Thanks for sharing the beautiful turtle setup. I saved it for the future!
 
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