General Care Discussion :: aquatic plants a turtle won't eat

[RunninWideOpen]

Does anyone know of any aquatic plants that would help reduce algae that the turtles won't eat? I tried the anachris today like many people have suggested but they already ate it. All of it. I had 6 pretty big strands of it and 4 hours later there's nothing left. My turts are pigs!

[adam85491]

Now I don't mean to piggy-back of your thread, but the Petco. around here as basically little pieces of bamboo and then these live plants that come in a plastic/cardboard container (like what a glass thermometer comes in). Where do the petstores keep the edible aquatic plants? The Petco near me has two large fish tanks with big fish/common gold fish and then a wall of tanks with different kinds of fish. I wanted to buy some anacharis, but I don't even think they have it.

[RunninWideOpen]

I found my anachris at a local nursery.

[aeo]

my RES eat all of what I put in the tank. except for rocks and fake plants ( of course ).

[marisa]

My RES has never eaten any of the "---wart" plants like hornwart, moneywart, etc.

The Petco (and Petsmart) near me have aquatic plants in a special tank that they advertise as being for sale. Anachris has been banned for sale here in CT, but I've seen it in Petcos in other states (in tanks especially for aquatic plants).

[adam85491]

Why has the sale of Anacharis been banned there? The Petco. near me sells a lot of turtle stuff, but it is illegal to buy a turtle here in New Jersey, even though they know if you are buying turtle food or a turtle dock you most likely have a turtle.

[marisa]

The state authorities, in their wisdom, decided that the plant was too invasive---anachris made the list of invasive plant species in 2005; before that I could buy it at garden shops no problem. I've been told that there's anachris in most of the lakes in this state (someone jokingly suggested I take up snorkling and I could pick my own). Unlike plants like duckweed and water hyancinth, which don't survive the cold winters, anachris can and does, apparently.

Crazy, isn't it? You can't buy a turtle in NJ, but you can go across the river into Chinatown, or even a NY petstore and buy one and bring it back to NJ. The petstores are there to make money, and even if they can't sell a turtle, it's not illegal to sell turtle supplies.

New Jersey sounds tough, at least on paper. You can't buy a turtle there, but there's nothing saying you can't own them. Legally, however, turtle "owners" are supposed to pay $10 per year for a license to have one (at least they used to). I somehow don't think if this is still a law, it's enforced well, if at all. There also used to be some reptile/turtle rescues in the state, so it's obvious the authorities know people have them in addition to the ones in the wild.

[SpotsMama]

Tohmit, when your turtles have been very good and you want to reward them, you can give them strands of anacharis!

[adam85491]

I've never heard of that license thing, but I know someone at the local Petco. has two turtles and didn't mention anything.

[RunninWideOpen]

good idea spotsmama! it definetely won't work to keep the anachris in there, lol. i can't believe they ate it so fast!

maybe i'll try the hornwart and moneywart like marisa suggested. it would be nice to keep something in there to slow dow the algae. it grows pretty quick on our turtle dock.

[marisa]

I have to (and should have) added that although my RES wouldn't eat the stuff, that didn't prevent him from ripping it up and making a general mess. Anachris is known as an oxygenator (adds O2 to the water), and is a plant that probably would be better at helping to slow down the growth of algae.

adam85491, I'm not surprised no one's mentioning needing a license (and like I said, I don't know if the requirement still exists)---who wants to pay $10 a year to own a turtle given all the money we spend on them anyway to give them a good home? I'd wonder what the state uses the money for...

[rogersb]

Having watched my two 11-year-old female RESs nibble on just about every plant I've put in their pond, I'm not sure that they won't eat just about anything.

As commented by others, anacharis gets gobbled up pretty quickly. I haven't tried water lilies, but was advised by a nursery that they will meet the same fate as anacharis.

But I have had good results with water hyacinth, water lettuce, water clover/velvet, and parrot feather. Although the turtles will nip chunks out of all of these (are they just "tasting" them ?), the plants still survive, and since they're inexpensive (the plants, that is...) you can always buy more if they get nipped into oblivion.

I should add that I feed my turtles in addition to whatever they ingest from the aquatic plants.

Re algae control, I run a sterilizing UV filter, but even with that and the plants, I do not have (and don't want) a completely algae-free pond. In particular, algae still collects on the bottom where the water current created by the pump output isn't as forceful, but to me this is just part of the pond environment like the plants and the basking platform. And you can always swish the algae off the bottom with a brush so it gets sucked in to the UV filter and killed.

[devilduck]

The only thing I've had luck with marimo balls, I guess they don't taste too good. Every leafy plant I've put in has gotten devoured or destroyed.

[ataraxiamb]

I think it's hard to find a plant they won't eventually eat. My turtle tried to eat a fake plant when I put it in his tank!