Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

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Anyone have experience with AP and Australian Turtles..

Our neighbour has been given some turtles to look after for a few years whilst the owners go on an overseas posting..
An elaborate tanks and filter system was supplied and I suggested that they should put it all to practical use and go AP..

Their comment was that not all plants were suitable to turtles.
They were planning to get some water lillies and were told to get the right ??? ones and some are "Poisonous"

I suggested a floating raft GB with pots protruding into the water..

Anyone know if some plants just don't go with turtles..
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Hi Bui,

I am no expert but I'm the philippines, turtles are our thing since we can find it any place where Carabao's and cow's bathe.

One thing, Turtles like plants cause they can eat it and it also allows them a good hiding place in case some sort of hiding has to be done. There are also turtles that are carnivorous which just uproots plants.

Either way if you plan on using turtle for AP I'd say have a separate tank for the Turtles and have the beds away from them.

This is based on my experience and not based on any expert who may have had any greater successes, I've seen them eat snails, eat plants so I think as long as you keep them away from the plants turtle AP shouldn't be a problem hope this helps.


MARK

I've heard something about turtles and salmonella? There is someone with turtles on the forum who seemed to know more about it. Can't for the life of me remember the name though. I will do a search and get back to you.


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Yep it was Salmonella being transferred via the plants. I don't know how likely it is though. There is actually lots of chat about it on the forum so do a search on "turtle" and you'll find heaps


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Thanks for the comments chaps - Salmonella - now that does not sound to be something we would want, but I would guess that IF you could grown tomatoes, then at least the produce would ba away from the poo..

But is was more a case of what should you NOT use, considering their omnivorous nature..
eg.. the roots of what plants, might be poisonous??
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Is there an option to keep the growbeds out of their enclosure?
I would think they might knock/pull over the rafts, especially if they contained something they'd like to eat.
There are also issues with floating rafts directly onto a pond surface that contains solids. The roots can get clogged with muck and not take up oxygen and nutrients properly.
I'd suggest having media filled growbeds to assist with filtration, and keep them out of the way. My understanding is that turtles spend more time on the surface than fish would, so rafts may be inconvenient?

I'm still new to this, but the suggestion is based on all the reading I have done so far.

Also re the Salmonella, it's worth doing some proper research if you plan to eat the produce as I believe tomatoes were actually one of the plants tested that showed they took up the Salmonella bacteria.

If you are just growing greens for the turtles to eat though it won't be a problem I'm sure.
If that's the case, maybe water hyacinth would be a nice crop for them? It's quite pretty, grows quickly, and is safe for turtles. It can grown in the pond the same as water lilies.

Aaaaand I just did a quick google for you and found this - thankfully it backed up my water hyacinth idea :
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articl ... etanks.htm

+1 Kat pretty much nailed it.