Hello everyone,
I just found this site tonight (wasn't looking before now though), and I've been doing a lot of reading. The reading has led me to come to the conclusion that I haven't been my son's RES's best friend.
On a good note, he is healthy and has grown a lot over the past year.
On a bad note, to use a Star Wars metaphor, I've been 'Using the Force' to take care of his needs.
Last June, my son's mother brought home a 4" RES as a birthday surprise in one of those little critter cages (6"x9") with barely enough water to cover the bottom. None of the advice she conveyed made much sense to me, so I started to do what I thought was right. Over the past year, he has grown from almost 4 inches to about 7.5 inches. His first upgrade was to a 10 gallon tank (about 3 weeks into having him), and then to a 29 gallon tank at about 5 months. Last week, he finally moved up to a 75 gallon tank.
Every since the beginning, he has had fish for company. He has eaten a few 'friends': a red-belly pacu, a dragon fish, and several goldfish. The goldfish were in the 10 gallon tank and he chose to not eat one of them. The sole survivor was transferred to the 29 gallon tank with the RES. Two oscars (each were about 2" long), the red-belly pacu (also about 2" long), and a placo (about 3" long) were added at this time. The dragon fish was in the 10 gallon tank and lasted about 3 months before my son noticed it's head was missing. The pacu was about 4" long when he became food. The remaining goldfish was transferred to a neighbor's pond a few weeks ago. The placo (now nearly 10") and oscars (now over 6" long) were transferred to the 75 gallon tank with the RES.
The RES has alway had a way of resting at the top of the water, first by resting on floating plants and then with a floating basking platform. At this point, I'm considering a few of the ideas posted in other threads as a way to enhance his environment. He now has a heat lamp and UV lighting (introduced with the 75 gallon tank) and seems to be enjoying it. (At least the RES was taken outside routinely and allowed to run in the yard.)
I've always tried to keep the water quality under control through frequent water changes and multiple filters, but it has been a constant battle. (Having a turtle and several dirty fish in the same tank hasn't helped.) There for a while, I had even constructed a false bottom to protect ghost shrimp to help with the amount of waste in the tank. That worked very well until the RES discovered that the bottom was a false bottom. I had used the ceiling tile grid, covered with river pebbles. Once the RES understood that the shrimp were hiding down there, he bit through the plastic. Thinking that the plastic wasn't good for him to eat, I removed it. Twelve ghost shrimp were all consumed within a day.
His diet has always been varied. Feeder goldfish, rosy reds, ghost shrimp, turtle pellets, fish pellets, frozen food (plant type), and frozen shrimp. I only did a few feeder goldfish feedings before I was told that they were dangerous to both the RES and the oscars, for the same reason.
This RES has done a few 'normal' strange things... Like launching off his basking dock into the side of the tanks. One of these days, he'll crack his head or the tank. Chewing the glass thermometer (glass broke, but not the red tube).
But he has also begun doing a 'strange' strange thing lately (past two or three months)... He has been courting one of the oscars. He will swim up to it nose to nose with his front feet up at his head, palms up, and wiggle them while swimming backwards. From time to time, he will even try to push the fish over sideways and try to mount it. When the other oscar seems to be spending too much time with 'his' girlfriend, he'll swim over and push that intruder away. As far as I know, he hasn't snapped at either oscar. A short time ago when I went out to the tank to measure him for this posting, the RES and both oscars were huddled in the corner of the tank, next to the heater (the RES was furthest into the corner with the fish sleeping next to him). When I flipped the light on, the 'other' oscar bolted to the other end of the tank (first time I've seen that happen).
I don't know if his fascination with the air stones is normal or not, but he's been spending a lot of time either on them or floating above them with the bubbles blowing across his backside. He chewed one up to the point where I replaced it.
Considering that I've been "Using the Force", I'd say that I'm pretty lucky that my son's RES is both alive and healthy.
More later when I make additional progress...
Matt
I sounds like the force has been with you and your turtles to a fair degree. The tank size sounds really good and its good that you got the basking ramp and lights setup. That fake floor was a cool idea. Too bad it didn't last. I used the same grid material and made a caged in area under the basking dock for the minnows and live plants to hide in. Unfortunately the two smaller turtles were able to break in there and they ate up all the plants. The minnows have proved to be too fast for them to catch though. That's also hilarious that your turtle is fanning the oscar and trying to roll it over! lol! And yea, other people have mentioned how their turtles like the air bubbles in their tanks. It must be like us playing in a sprinkler or something. 
