My gf and I have owned Herc for about three weeks now, it having been given to us by a co-worker of hers who was moving. When she IM'd me with "want to own a turtle?" I really had no idea what I was getting into - I imagined a tiny pet-store type thing, not something as large as a salad plate with a unique personality!
Herc came with a 75-gallon tank, a heater, a rather lame filter we now use for the guppy/plant tank, a fairly mediocre platform made of ceramic, a fluorescent light suitable for plants, and a pretty bad case of algae all over the tank and his shell.
That was all it took to think that "adopting" him was the right idea.
The photos below are from the first week we got him but I hope to post ones of his new home shortly (I'm happy with it though it doesn't quite match some I've seen here tonight or match where I'd like it to be). At the very least he's now got a proper UVB light, a heat lamp, an XP3 filter, a two-staged basking platform, a cadre of feeder fish that move to fast for him to bother with, two pleco to bottom-feed on detritus, and a school of four goldfish he tries to catch every now and then. And I've now become a regular at the aquarium store down the street from work, alas.
Incidentally, the goldfishfish are the ones that "got away" when we were training him to eat something other than pellets, which was all he'd ever been fed (he still only eats lettuce and other greens as a last resort which is annoying but something he needs to learn to do?). We've sectioned the tank roughly into 1/4 - 3/4 divisions using a large limestone rock which prevents Herc from getting back into the fish section, behind which the goldfish shelter amongst the plants (which also protects the plants from the turtle). I figure: they got away, they should get to enjoy it... for now
And we used to have three pleco....
I confess the constant "swimming against the front of the tank" is still a bit freakish but people here seem to say it's just something they do....
Its great to find this site so thanks in advance to everyone here for sharing their wisdom!
Cheers
Chris
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