An Update

Update:
Changed Baby Timmy's basking area to his old dock and he seems much happier now.
Took the ramp that was Baby Timmy's old dock out of the Musketurtles' tank and gave them some eggcrate. They have all been up on top and they get up a lot easier now.
Mollies are all pregnant except the boy (duh). Snails are reproducing like snails. Started with one, now have over 9000. (Actually probably close to 300 but that's a lot from one.)
Brought in some plants / plant clippings. Accidentally scooped up a baby mosquitofish so that one went in with the Mollies for now.
All the turtles are scarfing the latest bunch of dandelion greens. I might make it a point to pick the neighbors' weeds this coming spring just to harvest enough to keep from spending $3 a bunch.
Baby Timmy ate a fly.
I put pond lights into the fish pond and it looks GREAT. Wish the water was a little clearer but my husband misinterpreted my directions for feeding them and ended up overfeeding for two or three days. It'll go away with more filtration and less feeding, I figure. The little fountain makes the water just fine and nobody is gasping at the surface. I also put in more fake plants and it looks really cool, especially now with the lights.
Sheldon's been doing turtle jazz hands at Morkie. I just know he's going to show somebody his willie and I'm going to see it and be forever traumatized.
Big Timmy's been relentless with his fluttering at Betty this week. When I feed them, I have to shove him away with a stick or she can't eat. She is having none of it, though, and simply steps on his head and moves him out of her way. He comes back immediately, though.
I'm thinking I want to bring Betty in for some hardcore basking to get rid of those retained scutes. I have a box made up and an area I can wall off so she'll have plenty of room. I can poke at the spots on her shell and move the air pockets, but that makes me worry she'll get fungus or something in them, you know?
I think my goldfish might be about to lay eggs. I think that Poseidon the Pleco might eat them all though.
That's probably it for updates.

Moving Things Around

The three littlest turtles outside in the turtle pond weren't basking on the new basking area shelf. I hadn't seen them for a week (since I had moved them from the fish pond), so, on Friday, I waded in and pulled them out. I dry-docked them in a container to make sure their shells were ok, which they were, and then I set about making a place for them inside the house for the time being until I could build them a separate basking area out in the other pond. 

Found out Mork is a girl and Shelly is a boy. So now it's Sheldon and Morkie. 

Yesterday was spent moving, scooping, wrangling, draining, filling, siphoning, and ... and just ... doing stuff. 

Sheldon, Morkie, and Mindy are all in the 55 gallon tank. Bit of an underpowered filter for the 50-ish gallons of water in there, but the heater is 200W, the temperature 74-78 depending on proximity to the heater, and I'll be doing water changes on the weekends and netting and cleaning daily. I may actually end up doing water changes twice a week. I don't intend on them staying there for too long, though. 

The ATBA was a success after three constructions of it. I just need to get the eggcrate ramp attached; I used Baby Timmy's old Zoo Med dock as a ramp and it's working just fine so long as they all don't try to get up it at once because then it gets knocked askew and everybody falls off. The temp is just about 90 and the lights are separate from the basking area in case something were to happen to the cord - nothing would come crashing down to set anyone on fire. 

Each shell looks good, even though Sheldon's is a little sketchy. He just needs to shed. But I knew that already. 

Baby Timmy got the 20 gallon tank, which is filled up to about 15 gallons. He's still only about two inches, so I'm not worried. This is temporary. Not as temporary as the Three Musketurtles in the 55 gallon tank, but he's got the 55 gallon tank to go back to one of these days. 

I think Baby Timmy needs a tiny ramp too. He hasn't been on his floating lily pad all day, but I saw him hanging onto it. I'll wait until tomorrow to see if he was just adjusting to the new environment. 

The harem of mollies went into the 10 gallon tank with the pretty rock filter, and it's right on our kitchen counter, so we have something to look at while doing the dishes. They have a little house / cave under the filter (I needed to raise it up so I took apart Castillo de Timmy to use for a base) and all the plastic pond plants. They've already eaten all the snail egg sacs but there are a dozen other snails to keep them company. 

The Three Musketurtles got an apology shrimp and a blueberry each along with their greens today. I've never seen turtles fight over food but they sure did today over those shrimp. I'm rethinking ever giving them shrimp again despite the entertainment factor. I gave the outside turtles (the big ones) shrimp too and I had three of the five eat it right out of my hand.  Amazing. 

Finished. For today, anyway.

All the surviving fish are in the inside wooden pond. The four small turtles in there look overwhelmed. 

I have to put the lights for the basking areas down a bit because it's not warm enough on the platforms. The little ones are basking anyway, which is cute. 

In the works is a charcoal filter system for the fish pond, but ... later. I am so very tired. This week has been exhausting and full of panic and rush. 

Pictures to show my work: 

My reed fencing came in. I think it sets off the garage corner nicely. 

You can see just a bit through it, and it gives the turtles extra security and privacy.

Here you can actually see one of the little turtles basking.

The space behind the wooden pond allows the kids and me to watch the turtles up close, and to feed them.

 I got some dandelion greens on special at the store and I propped them up like real plants on the basking area. As you can see, the small turtles have already torn at them and pulled some out.

The big turtles eat what's hanging in the water.

And my kid, doing a turtle puzzle. He loves his turtles.

Big Fish

This evening, I put my feet into the pond as I sat on the side and I dropped fish food pellets in the water nearby. This brought the fish to me and I could get a close-up view of them next to a measurable object - my foot.

The largest fish are more than half the length of my foot, and the smallest goldfish are about the length from the tip of my big toe to the pad of my foot. So the big fish are about six inches long and the smaller fish are about three inches long.

I also bought some more floating toys and a mask / snorkel set for later. I'll be away from the pond for a few days this week so my sister'll be taking care of it all, but when I get back, there'll be a relaxing float around the pond in my future for sure.

Worms

Since the turtles don't eat in front of me very often, I've been thinking of other types of food that they would like to entice them to eat just so I know they do. Worms would be easy to raise and I could leave them in a feeding area to ensure a good count of how many were eaten (likely all of them).

A bonus to the worm thing is that we could have the in the old aquarium and throw all of our compostable trash into it and the kids could see the worms eat and learn about composting. Red wiggler worms can double their population in 90 days or less, so it would be really easy to keep a sustainable level of worms for turtles and composting.

I am very excited about our new worm / composting possibility. I'll start after next week.

Multiple Snails! (and stuff)

I found several more snails in the nursery area and did some research: They look like Apple Snails, which are  very popular in pet stores and aquariums. They're still small yet, but there were three. Research tells me that some types of apple snails can reach a size of six inches in diameter. SIX INCHES OF SNAIL. And turtles eat them so I won't have any overgrowth problems. I think these are the blue apple snails, which don't seem to get that huge.

All the turtles came to the surface while I was out feeding the fish (I only feed them a tiny bit now to stop the algae overgrowth we had) except Original Timmy, but I saw him this morning out the window. I have to get more little houses built for them; they all try to crowd into the two we have made out of pet carriers. Everybody looks healthy and happy out there.

I found a floaty thing in the garage for the kids and let them both float themselves in the pond to be near the fish. One fish nibbled on my oldest's finger, which made him giggle. I was, of course, near them at all times because it's still a body of water.

My small lily pad is still small and lily-paddy and growing just fine. I'm thinking I will create a small fish garden with that one and another small plant and one small fish for my sister, who's been wanting a fish of her own again. My big lily pad is still amazing and is now a little bigger than a half dollar. The others haven't reached the surface yet but I raised the planters so they'll get a little more sun. Maybe it'll encourage them to grow.

Snails, turtles, more baby mosquito fish, tons of huge goldfish... This is such a fun pond.

Thursday's Update

Well, I may have accidentally gotten another pleco. A dark black one. It's cool. It's in the spa / plant nursery right now because it's kind of green in there.

I have five or six rooted cuttings of water mint now, and I would cut more but there's a huge spider web that attaches to both plants and I don't feel like disturbing the spider right now. It's pretty impressive and the kids like watching for the spider at night. There is also a tiny black spider on one of the mint cuttings, which was a surprise. I didn't even see how a spider could make it over to where the cuttings were, but spiders are pretty good at moving around, I guess.

Got a hula hoop to feed the fish in. They kept eating the turtle food so I got them the hoop to hopefully train them to eat in it and leave the other food alone. It's been known to happen, and goldfish are trainable.

Built / rebuilt a better basking area that we can see from the window in my room. It's an old desk top and bricks. It's partially submerged and right in the sun most of the day. I see one turtle already checking it out.

I need to get an underwater camera.

Fat Fish

The fish seem to be trying to eat all the turtle sticks I put in for Timmy these days. No wonder I have such fat fish. I saw one take down an entire stick by himself. It was half his body length.

Maybe this isn't healthy for them. 

I need to get another basking area set up just to put food on so Timmy can eat it at his leisure and not have the fish steal it.