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. 

Snails and Plants

Got some large plastic pots to upgrade my planting. I put my three small clay pots with my watermint cuttings into the long shallow pot and sank it into the pool with rocks. The water doesn't cover the plants but it reaches just far enough into the clay pots to wet the roots of the plants. It seems to be ok at that level.

With one of the large pots, I un-potted one of my big watermint plants and put that into it with some rocks. It should take over the whole pot that way, and I hope it will pretty fast. I love those plants and they are crammed into the six inch pots, which isn't great for them, so I hope they expand to fill all the room they want in these new big ones. I'll wait a week and see how this watermint is doing in the large pot and then I'll probably transplant the other one too.

There were snail eggs slathered all over the bottom of the original watermint pot. I saved a few of the blops in a jar so the kids could see the process, but I put the pot back where it was as well so some of them will hatch in the nursery water. Snail eggs do look kinda gross. Like snot with dots.

In other news, I talked to someone who used to build ponds for people and he says I definitely need a pump to keep the water moving. He says it keeps the fish healthier and the plants will grow better. I'll work on that next.

Thar Be Snails

I think my sister is about to have 100 snails.
Before shot, then today's shot.

Eggs and More Eggs

This morning I got a load of new hyacinths from my pond exchange group and, as I was putting them into the pond, our huge orange dragonfly flew over and LAID EGGS. She flicked her tail in the water while flying, splashing and curling her tail down into the water next to the plants over and over. I looked it up and whaddyaknow, that's how they lay eggs.

I think she approves of the new plants. Adult dragonflies only live a few months so I sure hope her babies approve of the plants too. I need to see what the eggs look like so I can move some to the spa nursery to keep the goldfish from eating them all.

And the snail I gave my sister might have laid eggs. Huge mass of dots in a squishy jelly. Might be eggs.

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.