Equipment for Fly River Turtles

If you were able to find a small or baby Fly River Turtle for sale, consider yourself very lucky. Before you bring your new pet turtle home, you should already have an aquarium setup and cycled properly. The basic equipment needed to care for the Pig-Nosed Turtle as a pet are just about the same aquarium equipment needed to care for Cichlids. You should plan ahead on where you will setup this equipment. Once the turtle tank is setup it will not be an easy task to move it around.

New Aquarium

You should have a nice area to display your turtle pet. This place should be big enough to set up a strong table or aquarium stand. The turtle aquarium should be out of direct sunlight to minimize and control the amount of algae that may grow in the turtle aquarium. This will also help prevent many common problems the fly river turtle may suffer from. The aquarium will need to have access to a power outlet or surge protector to power the heater, aquarium light, air pump, and aquarium filter.

Aquarium Size

Although you can start a baby Fly River Turtle off in a 10 Gallon tank, in just a few months this small Fly River Turtle will grow fast enough to require at least a 20 gallon aquarium. So you're best bet is to start off with something a little oversized, but not too overkill. If you're looking to buy an aquarium that already comes with a hood light, make sure it can accept a flourescant bulb that is used to provide UV for reptiles and turtles. Although some will say it is unecessary for the pig-nosed turtle, it's also not harmful in any way. I've used it since day one when bringing my turtle home and I think it actually helps.

Aquarium Filter

For a 20 gallon aquarium, I suggest using the AquaClear Power Filter with BioMax that is designed for 20-50 gallon tanks. This is an external overflow type filter. I don't suggest using an under gravel type filter since these Fly River Turtles love to dig into the sand. Pick up a really good EboJager heater. This is very important as i've seen cheap filters short out and basically cook a tank with high heat. If a filter doesn't work you don't have to worry as much about your fly river turtle dying, but a broken heater that either heats up too much or fails to heat the water at all can be more problematic and end up killing your pet turtle. It's alright to use a heater that is designed for a larger tank. This just means that the heater will not have to work as hard and you can still use it if you decide to upgrade to a larger tank.

To complete the next following steps, you will need to pick up an aquarium test kit at the pet store that can at least check for PH levels, Ammonia, Nitrite, & Nitrate. This test kit will help you prepare your new aquarium water. I'm using the Freshwater Master Test Kit by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. You will also need to pick up products to adjust the PH levels both up or down. This means two seperate liquid droppers. There are tons of products that work just as well so you can ask your local pet store.

Aquarium Base - Sand or Gravel?

The base of the aquarium should be sand or you can use fine crushed coral. I would advise you not to use large gravel as this may hurt the turtle shell or the turtle may accidently swallow the gravel which is hard to pass. Since this is a river turtle that needs a PH higher than neutral, they say coral helps bump up the PH levels. Your PH levels should be between 8.0 - 8.3. Other items like drift wood in your tank may lower the PH levels. I am currently using fine crushed coral (It feels like sand). Make sure to wash your sand very very very well. Some aquariums will even tell you to boil it a couple of times to eliminate any salt (since coral comes from the ocean). You will need at least 10-15 lbs. of base if you're using a wide 20 gallon tank. They also have 20 gallon tanks which are higher than they are wider. Sometimes reffered to as a 'show' tank. Show tanks are great for fish that swim up and down alot. It's great to see your turtle swimming up and down, but if the pig nose turtle ever becomes sick or ill, he'll sit at the bottom of the tank. Feeding your turtle will be much harder in this case as they will tend not to want to swim around as much. Usually these wider than higher tanks are labeled with an "L" for 'long' and higher than wider are sometimes labeled with an 'H' for 'High'. The 20 gallon long is labeled 20L as in the photo below. So using a wide tank as opposed to a high tank is more practical when keeping small fly river turtles or treating an ill pig nose turtle.

Using 10-15 lbs. of base should be enough for your pig-nosed turtle to dig into and hide. As the fly river turtle grows you will need more base for the turtle to cover his shell completely to the top. Remember that the Fly River Turtle is a soft shelled turtle. Do not use any items in the aquarium that could scratch the turtle's soft shell. This means items such as lava rocks, coarse gravel, fake coral decorations, etc. Damage on the pig-nosed turtle's shell can quickly lead to a fungus infection. Preventing fungus infections for your fly river turtle is much easier than treating a fungus infection. The treatment of fungus infections with your fly river turtle is not very difficult, but requires much time and patience.

Circulation and Aeration

You will also need a small air pump to help aerate the water. At the end of the air pump tubing you can attach an air stone or bubble wand. You won't need anything high powered to aerate the aquarium and just ask your local aquarium to help you choose the best one for the job.

Water Treatment

You can use normal tap water to fill the tank. Tap water is usually already hard which is great for the new river turtle aquarium. You'll need to treat the water with products to remove harmful things such as ammonia and chlorine. Without getting too technical, you can pick up one of many products out there designed specifically to start out new aquarium water. Tell the aquarium pet store you'll be setting it up for a cichlid. If you tell them it's just for a turtle they may tell you different things as the Fly River Turtle is not too common. I use AmQuel+ which removes Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, Chlorine, & Chloramines. Although turtles are not as sensative to water conditions as most fish, the products you use to treat the water can cut down the oxygen levels in the first hours of use, so treat the water well before placing the soft shelled turtle in the aquarium. If you want to use the product at a later time while the turtle is in the tank, use a little at a time and make sure it is well circulated/aerated and not overcrowded with other fish.

Cycling Aquarium Water

We're almost ready to buy a fly river turtle and bring it home for a pet, but we should take care of a few more things. So far we've setup an aquarium stand, placed a 20 gallon tank filled with water, replaced the lighting with a reptile UV bulb to turtles, treated the water, added an external filter, heater, air pump, and added the base. Bring the water temperature up between 80 - 85 degrees fahrenheit. The turtle is more hardy than most fish, so personally I don't think you need to cycle the aquarium water. I would just treat the water, make sure the PH levels are correct, get the temperature right and let the aquarium circulate for about 24 hours. The process of cycling aquarium water can take weeks by process of adding hardy fish and allowing them to live and feed in the aquarium to help build up healthy bacteria for aquarium fish. Again, I stress that I am no expert and you should read more information about Fly River Turtles . If you have the time to cycle the aquarium water, you can read more about cycling water at this link .

After running the tank for about 24 hours, you could test it about by placing a few feeder goldfish into the tank. If feeder fish can stay alive in the tank, your turtle sure will. Take the fish home, and place the entire plastic bag into the tank. This will help equalize the water temperature slowly so that you don't shock the feeder fishes. After the water has equalized (at least an hour) pour the feeders into the aquarium. Watch them for a while to make sure they don't just die and float to the surface. Once you feel comfortable that your aquarium is good go out and buy your Fly River Turtle! Once your Turtle is swimming in the tank, all you need to do now is care for your new pet. You can read more about how I do Turtle Care in my Care Info page .

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