Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Hi newbie(s) here

[PhelpsTurtles]

Hi, My wife and I recently purchased two RES babies (silver dollar in size, 30 days old). We already had a 29 gallon tank that we had fish in a while ago. We repurposed it and it is now home to Squirt and Radar. It is planted with Anacharis and Amazon Swords, we also have some fish in there, some corie cats to help cleanup the uneaten turtle mess, some neon tetras, and a few guppies. One of our little guys (Squirt) loves to hunt, but has only managed to grab an injured tetra. They both love to graze on the Anacharis, so we will be buying more here soon. Please comment on the pic of their setup so we can make adjustments. We have been doing a ton of research on here, and have messed with the basking light to get it at a steady 88 with the water temp at a steady 80.

Before they started eating the plants:


After they started eating the plants (fish in pic):


Eating some red leaf lettuce:


On their log:


Again on the log:


Sorry about the hard water stains on the glass.

[steve]

Welcome to the forum! The setup looks great, what kind of substrate is that?

[PhelpsTurtles]

Thanks for the complement! the substrate is Tahitian Black Sand, extra fine granules so it shouldn't pose any issues.

[steve]

The dark seams around the scutes might be an indication that they are growing too fast, so you might need to be conservative with pellets/treats/prey.

[PhelpsTurtles]

The dark seams around the scutes might be an indication that they are growing too fast, so you might need to be conservative with pellets/treats/prey.

Ok, we have only had them for two days now. But we will keep a reduced feeding in mind. Other than the dark lines, does everything else (habitat) seem ok from the pics you have seen?

[steve]

Try to get the UVB lamp over his basking area if possible and add some more water to his tank. Not sure what filtration is in there, though it and the tank will be looking at upgrades shortly.

[PhelpsTurtles]

Try to get the UVB lamp over his basking area if possible and add some more water to his tank. Not sure what filtration is in there, though it and the tank will be looking at upgrades shortly.

Upgrade is in work, gonna have a 45g corner that we need to clean. The filter is an aquaclear 50, also the basking lamp has the UVB bulb in the housing above the basking area. The strip light is a 10,000K daylight bulb for the live plants.

[steve]

Sounds good, looking forward to the updates!

[penelope]

Welcome to the forum! They are adorable!