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We had two turtle tanks for 3 sliders. Two of them lived together for their entire lives, long before they came to live with us. One turtle had its own tank. We kept them all in a basement room, partially so that we could keep a lot of water without any worry about weight.

So – over the weekend, the basement flooded due to heavy rain. EVERYTHING had to come out of the carpeted basement room. We have made due, the best we could, but there is no room for turtles downstairs right now.

We had to set up one tank, upstairs and put all three turtles in it. It is poorly placed for weight (no load bearing wall) but it is in the only place it can be. Really, there is nothing else that can be done here. Because I’m worried about weight – I had to limit the amount of water in the tank. It’s lower than I normally run it, and with all three turtles in it.

Rosa and Laverne are both a touch over 6” and Shirley is a bit over 5” – also, Lucky the 4” goldfish and Captain Shiner the 3” goldfish are in there too. It’s a half full 75 gallon tank.

It’s barely better than pet store conditions in there. (okay, they still have it way better than pet store conditions).

Lucky for me all three are pretty well adjusted turtles – all female. Nobody has been aggressive to anybody else just yet, feeding time went fine, and they were all three basking together the first day.

I’m still worried about them. This may have to go on for a month or more.

Does anybody have any suggestions on anything that might help keep them happy in their over crowded environment?

you really shouldnt have to worry about weight with a 75 gallon. could you just try to make space in your basement for the tanks? keep the two up and running but maybe like half full? or see if you could keep them at a friends for a while?

I think people should worry about weight with 75 gallon tanks.It’s about 750 lbs. or more. I looked into it pretty extensively and I’ve found a 55 gallon tank to be about the largest amount of weight that can be placed just about anywhere in any house. IMO – Anything larger than a 55 gallon tank on a second floor should be placed with care and should be placed near a load bearing wall or support post. In my situation – there really are no options. I'll spare you the complete description of the room, but there isn't good soppurt and the floor stringers are accross a very long span. When you are in the room below an somebody walks accross the floor, it sonds like a hollow stage. It's not a good room to push your luck with weight.

The basement wasn’t supposed to flood. Carpeting has to be torn out, and there is no space left because everything had to come out of that room. Big stuff. Drum sets (yes, plural) bass guitar amplifiers (yes, again – plural… big ones. Speaker stacks 6 feet tall) tables, TV, book shelfs - a lot of big stuff has been displaced. We have a 10 foot Christmas tree – it can only be in one place in the house. We have two couches. Believe me – there are no options here, nothing is going anywhere other than exactly where it is, otherwise something important would be out in the rain. We are SO stuck with this.

…and no – I do not know of anybody that would let me set up a large aquarium in their home for my turtles. It would be nice of such people existed in my life, yet they do not.

I really seem to be completely stuck with 3 medium sized turtle in one half full tank. I know it’s not ideal at all – thus the post on the turtle forum.

I’m really just looking to see if anybody has any ideas about how to cope… especially if we run into problems with aggression. Right now if I have to take one out it has to go into a 20 long with super crappy filtration. The alternative would be a 5 gallon bucket. I’ve considered taking turns in the tank – 12 hours in dry dock / 12 hours in the tank on alternating schedules. Hopefully it doesn’t come to all that. Right now they’re getting along.

Mostly just looking for any ideas on anything that might help them cohabitate nicely and get along with each other. Would feeding more often (yes – it would be over feeding) keep them full and make them docile or less likely to fight for food? Let them out of the tank to exercise and get tired? Anybody know of any over-crowded coping mechanisms that may help crowded turtles?

ok ok, im not gonna argue with you about your house haha. id say feed them all separate. feeding together can lead to aggression. take them out and feed individually. you could take them out. i've never heard of anyone doing it to attempt to reduce aggression but i dont think it could hurt. is it possible to have the other 75 setup somewhere with maybe 20 gallons in it? depending where you are located its possible someone on this forum would be willing to help out. any relatives that can help?

I'd have storage containers ready incase you do have to separate them. Girls together have a better shot at getting a long... well, not being aggressive at least.