This is Thornton Turtleton. When he was tiny and we were just starting out, his home was a broken down freezer chest filled with water and plants. His basking lights were underwhelming, and we didn’t even know what type of turtle he was. His shell started out a bit rough and we tried to feed him goldfish (sweet little mostly herbivorous turtle!).

Since then Thornton has grown into a Lovely and Quite Large Freshwater Turtle. His lights, tank and filtration have all been upgraded and we did some digging and found he’s likely a female eastern pond cooter. Turtleton loves to sun in his indoor climate controlled basking environment (Refusing to bask in the outdoor pond!!!) (Really!!?!!). He also absolutely loves to eat his Delicious Turtle Food and lettuces.

The sucker fishes are Thorton’s best friends — they clean his shell and live in the tank with him. They too love to eat Delicious Turtle Food, as well as sweet red bell peppers, cucumbers, and algae. Thornton lives with some guppies but doesn’t really seem to realize they exist except as maybe the equivalent of the rocks and bubbles in his tank. (Turtle Finger Waggling is directed only towards the sucker fishes).

The guppies, in turn, are a fluctuating Mass-of-Fish with regular population bursts, occasional genetic complexity introductions, and (when the population density gets to be just too much) some necessary culling.

And the whole tank loves turtle poo.