Is this tank ok for upgrade?

OkAdiza

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Hello,
I was hoping to upgrade the tank that our baby sliders are in. I know the one we currently have is too small and I have been keeping an eye on them for bullying type behaviors. I read somewhere this behavior can be different for turtles than tortoises on the forum (laying on top of the other, etc) but recently it looks like one is definitely following the other one around and getting in it’s face. I put a pause on getting a new tank earlier because my mother passed away end of December and there was a lot going on. Now I’d either like to try and get this larger tank on sale while we can afford it or part with one of the sliders. The one I am looking at is a 55 gallon tank from Petco. Would this be ok? The hope is as they get bigger to go the large stock tank route. I will probably still get the larger tank even if we do end up rehoming one.
Thanks for your help.
 

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OkAdiza

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I don't keep aquatic turtles.
But if I did, I'd be looking at galvanized steel "stock tanks".
If you have multiple sliders, you're going to be buying a lot of fish tanks.
Yes, I completely agree. We might have to rehome one of the two with the aim to have a stock tank for the one when it’s full grown. At the moment, I’ll have to go with a larger tank?.
 

Markw84

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Petco is having their dollar per gallon sale right now until Feb 1st here in my area. Don't know about where you are. The $ per gallon normally applies to the smaller tanks, but the larger tanks are then 1/2 off. I would definately go with the 75 gal tank instead of the 55. It is the same length and height, but it is 18" wide instead of the 13" width of the 55. That is a lot of added footprint size for not much more $$
 

OkAdiza

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Petco is having their dollar per gallon sale right now until Feb 1st here in my area. Don't know about where you are. The $ per gallon normally applies to the smaller tanks, but the larger tanks are then 1/2 off. I would definately go with the 75 gal tank instead of the 55. It is the same length and height, but it is 18" wide instead of the 13" width of the 55. That is a lot of added footprint size for not much more $$
Yes! That’s the sale I was trying to take advantage of. I didn’t realize the 75 was the same length and height. I’ll have to check if they are available here. I know there were a few with the 55, but didn’t check the 75. Thank you!
 

OkAdiza

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Thanks @Markw84 for the info on the 75 gallon. We were able to get one before the sale ended. My question now is, isn’t 6 months way too young for displaying mating type actions? I know they are too young to sex, but I caught the slightly larger of the two baby sliders doing the flickering of the nails at the other one’s face this afternoon. Is that also done as a territorial thing? I was hoping a larger tank would help, but I’m thinking they just need to be separated and we may need to give one away?. Any thoughts?
 

Moozillion

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Thanks @Markw84 for the info on the 75 gallon. We were able to get one before the sale ended. My question now is, isn’t 6 months way too young for displaying mating type actions? I know they are too young to sex, but I caught the slightly larger of the two baby sliders doing the flickering of the nails at the other one’s face this afternoon. Is that also done as a territorial thing? I was hoping a larger tank would help, but I’m thinking they just need to be separated and we may need to give one away?. Any thoughts?
I think the nail flickering can also be threat/dominance, maybe?
I keep my aquatics in separate tanks, so I don't really know much about this.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Thanks @Markw84 for the info on the 75 gallon. We were able to get one before the sale ended. My question now is, isn’t 6 months way too young for displaying mating type actions? I know they are too young to sex, but I caught the slightly larger of the two baby sliders doing the flickering of the nails at the other one’s face this afternoon. Is that also done as a territorial thing? I was hoping a larger tank would help, but I’m thinking they just need to be separated and we may need to give one away?. Any thoughts?
Sliders definitely will do the nail fluttering thing at that age. I've raised a few and they all started pretty young. It's nothing to worry about. They should be ok for a couple years. You'll mostly run into trouble with older males. Here's a thread with some good info on it.

 

OkAdiza

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Sliders definitely will do the nail fluttering thing at that age. I've raised a few and they all started pretty young. It's nothing to worry about. They should be ok for a couple years. You'll mostly run into trouble with older males. Here's a thread with some good info on it.

Thank you! That thread was helpful. I had read in the past that is could be a dominance/territorial thing, but wasn’t positive. I’ll continue to keep an eye on them. Hopefully we won’t have to rehome anyone.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Thank you! That thread was helpful. I had read in the past that is could be a dominance/territorial thing, but wasn’t positive. I’ll continue to keep an eye on them. Hopefully we won’t have to rehome anyone.
I've got 3 female sliders and one male living together. It can be done. I think most people run into a problem with two males.
 

Relic

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Perhaps the new tank could be divided by some type of rigid plastic mesh - like the material in plastic milk carton storage units - which would let water freely flow from side to side (in case you have an external hanging filter on one side) - but would separate the turtles. I raised a clutch of 16 sliders years ago and kept them all in a large plastic tub until they were a year old and then released them. Never saw any fighting. Good luck.
 
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