My setups (and a few Q's)

Its been a while since I've been on this site, but I figured I'd put up some pictures of my new tank. Its a 75g and I put my pair of painted turtles in it over the winter months. The substrate is Special Kitty kitty litter, covered with sand and rocks from the Maumee. Plants include anacharis, hornwort, corkscrew val, water hyacinth, duckweed, and a mini cattail that should be sprouting soon. Currently the fauna in the tank is limited to just a few trapdoor snails and several fathead minnows. The tank is filtered by a Fluval 305 canister filter, which seems to work nicely when accompanied with regular, partial water changes. There is a slight current caused by the output of the filter that runs across the front of the aquarium, however it is not strong enough for many river species. I wish to add more native pond fish to the aquarium, especially orange spot sunfish and tadpole madtoms. Anyone have other suggestions?





I apologize for the picture quality, its hard to photograph the tank without a huge glare and there is still quite a bit of tannin in the water from the driftwood.

Also thought I'd share my water garden. This is where my painted turtles enjoy the summer months, along with several breeding fathead minnows. The pond is also home to several leopard frogs and two bullfrogs.
The pond:

What I believe to be fathead eggs? (I have several flower pots half buried on their sides at the bottom of the pond as well):


I was wondering if anyone from the Toledo, OH area (I'm in Perrysburg) could offer me some advise on the nearest place to seine for orange spot sunfish and tadpole mad toms? I have looked through many of the trip reports, and it seems that the dam in Grand Rapids would be the best bet. I was curious if anyone has had luck catching these species at Sidecut park, or Buttonwood? I appreciate any help. Thanks
-Jake

It looks good. Other possible species would be pirate perch or banded killifish. Unfortunately, I don't know good spots in Ohio.

What healthy plants you have in your water garden! That's beautiful.

Tannins can be removed by activated carbon or seachem brand purigen® (http://www.seachem.c...es/Purigen.html ) if you're interested in removing them.

The one piece of advice I can give you about catching orange spotted sunfish is to use a hook and line. I recently was informed that it's illegal in Ohio to take home sunfish who were caught with a seine. (They're much easier to catch on a hook than in a seine anyway, so that law is really just saving you time and effort.)

Are you concerned that your turtles might eat the fish?

Edited by EricaWieser, 17 July 2011 - 02:07 PM.

Thanks for the compliments. I do have a few bags of activated carbon in the canister filter currently. I kind of like the look of the water actually, its really not as bad as it appears in the pictures. I did see the post on orange spot sunfish, ill be sure to collect them by rod and reel. In the past I have had the painted turtles in with several bluegill. At first a few were eaten, but after the first week or so the fish become accustomed to avoiding the turtles and eventually the turtles stop trying. Apparently after the fish become wiser, the turtles don't view the possible meal as worth the effort. The bluegill were in a much more open setup, with few areas to hide. I'm hoping the various barriers provided by the driftwood roots, rocks, and plants will help to provide the fish with an easy way of avoiding the turtles. I also buried a few flower pots halfway in the sand in the back left corner to provide an additional hiding place for the tadpole madtoms. I expect a few fish to be eaten at first, but they should have much better odds with the new setup.