Little slice of nature... Hamiltonii

[KevinGG]

A month or two back I acquired a geoclemys hamiltonii. Around the same time I became obsessed with aquascaping. So I ordered an acrylic tank. Equipped it with hundreds of dollars worth of lights, filters, plants, substrate, driftwood, stone and fish. And ended up with something I am really pleased with. First I will show the hamiltonii in his prior enclosure and then I'll show off his new tank.

This was at pick up

Thought I had better pics....


And the new tank



Here's the light setup




Thanks for looking! It can only get better as it grows in. Current fish are 8 Cardinal tetras
3 Serpae tetras
1 endlers livebearer
3 corydoras sterbai
3 otocinclus

Love these turtles. Might be adopting some yearlings from the behler chelonian center soon. Maybe get a breeding group going in the future.

Thanks
Kevin

 

[KevinGG]

All pictures taken with an iPhone. Just realized how blurry they look. I'll try and get some better pics up tomorrow using a cannon.

 

[gingerbee]

Cool turtle!! Really like what you've done. He/she hasn't eaten the fish????

 

[naturalman91]

thats a nice tank was a custom?

 

[Anthony P]

LOVE hamiltonii! You've done such a good job with this turtle. I hope the yearlings work out well! Too bad they can't live in that tank forever :-/

 

[KevinGG]

LOVE hamiltonii! You've done such a good job with this turtle. I hope the yearlings work out well! Too bad they can't live in that tank forever :-/

Thanks Anthony. Yeah Not looking forward to setting up my 220 gallon when he grows up. Or digging the big hole outside for summer.

 

[KevinGG]

thats a nice tank was a custom?

Yup. Got it done by a local aquarium company to fit in that space.

 

[KevinGG]

Cool turtle!! Really like what you've done. He/she hasn't eaten the fish????

Hamiltonii are kind of like tanks. They're big and not the fastest things. So I picked tetras and other fast small species because he most likely won't be able to catch them. Also, there are way too many sight barriers and hiding places that the fish can fit in. I just don't see him being able to catch them. They're great enrichment though

 

[naturalman91]

Yup. Got it done by a local aquarium company to fit in that space.

that's really nice i've been wanting to get a custom tank tho i thought they were to expensive never actually looked at the price tho

 

[KTyne]

That's absolutely gorgeous! I would love something like that if I could get myself to maintain it

 

[Tom]

I only recently discovered hamiltonii and really dig them. I have zero experience with them. Thanks for the pics. I hope we get many more updates.

As I looked at the pic, I was going to ask if that was C. sterbae. The I scrolled down farther and saw the caption. Don't see many of those. I used to work for the main guy who imported them from Belem. I unpacked many a shipment late at night in the warehouse. We got some really cool ones that were totally unknown from time to time.

Anyhow, great tank. Nicely done.

 

[KevinGG]

I only recently discovered hamiltonii and really dig them. I have zero experience with them. Thanks for the pics. I hope we get many more updates.

As I looked at the pic, I was going to ask if that was C. sterbae. The I scrolled down farther and saw the caption. Don't see many of those. I used to work for the main guy who imported them from Belem. I unpacked many a shipment late at night in the warehouse. We got some really cool ones that were totally unknown from time to time.

Anyhow, great tank. Nicely done.

Thanks Tom. I love them because they are a little more tropical than other corydoras species. So I can keep them in hatchling tanks that need to be close to 80 deg.

 

[Anthony P]

Have you fed your hamiltonii any snails yet? You haven't lived until you see a hamiltonii eat snails. They actually make up he largest portion of the wild diet for this species. But watching how they do it is amazing.

 

[KevinGG]

Have you fed your hamiltonii any snails yet? You haven't lived until you see a hamiltonii eat snails. They actually make up he largest portion of the wild diet for this species. But watching how they do it is amazing.

There are snails that snuck in on plant roots in the tank. He went up to one, took a very gentle bite. And then left it alone. He actually tried twice. It might have been too big. But they breed like crazy so I'm sure he's eaten one of the smaller ones. I'll keep my eyes open to see if I can spot him doing it

 

[Anthony P]

They take them, and they do gentle bites, but enough to break the shell of smaller snails, and they spin the snail around as they keep making those small bites. As the snail spins, shards of shell flies out until it's all gone and then the turtles swallow down the snail. It's amazing to see how they move the snail around like that.

 

[KevinGG]

They take them, and they do gentle bites, but enough to break the shell of smaller snails, and they spin the snail around as they keep making those small bites. As the snail spins, shards of shell flies out until it's all gone and then the turtles swallow down the snail. It's amazing to see how they move the snail around like that.

Wow that's amazing. I'll be sure to post a video if I ever catch it in the process of doing that.

 

[KevinGG]

He's uprooted a few plants so far. He likes to nestle in the front corner of my tank. I might have to move them around. Still no fish casualties. I have no idea how the shrimp or snails are doing with him around. But I'm guessing they're fine

 

[gingerbee]

Really a pretty guy!!

 

[riley_bla41000]

That's a very pretty turtle!

 

[Anthony P]

Amazing photos