Picture of a turtle on a computer monitor with text My Turtle Cam
  • Home
  • Caring for Turtles 
    • Basic Facts about Turtles
    • Health and Safety for Turtle Keepers
    • Choosing a Pet Turtle
    • Care and Feeding of Pet Turtles
    • Turtle Respiratory Infections
    • Caring for a Gravid Turtle
    • Keeping Multiple Turtles in a Tank
    • Books About Turtle Care at Amazon
  • Your Turtle's Habitat 
    • Setting Up a New Turtle Habitat
    • Water Preparation
    • Water Filters and Filtration
    • Maintaining Water Quality
    • Proper Lighting for your Turtle Tank
    • Heating your Turtle Habitat
    • Using Live Plants in your Turtle Habitat
    • Using Ghost Shrimp in a Turtle Tank
    • Surviving Power Outages
  • Turtle Supplies at Amazon
  • Watch the Turtles! 
    • Turtle Webcam Feed
    • Pre-Recorded Videos
Light Theme · Dark Theme
Facebook Share Button Twitter Share Button Reddit Share Button
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All product links on this page are monetized.

Adding Live Plants to Your Indoor Turtle Habitat

 

A turtle in a tank among some plants

One of the most frequent questions that new turtle hobbyists ask is whether they can put plants in their turtle's habitat.

The answer is most certainly yes, they can. But there are benefits and drawbacks to having plants in a turtle tank, and you should think about these before making your decision.

For most new turtle hobbyists, I suggest that they wait until they're comfortable caring for their turtles before adding live plants to their turtles' habitats. Adding plants before you're comfortable with your turtle's needs means you have to learn more things at once. There is one exception, however, and that's hornwort, which we'll talk about further down in the page. Hornwort is such an easy and useful plant that I recommend it even for beginners.

If you already have some experience with aquatic plants (for example, if you take care of a planted fish tank and have managed to keep everything alive), then you may want to consider some more advanced plants for your turtle habitat. If you're a beginner, let's look at some of the the advantages and disadvantages of keeping live plants in a turtle habitat, and then you can decide what you want to do.

Advantages of Keeping Live Plants in Your Turtle Tank

  • Live plants help filter nitrates and ammonia out of the water, and may help reduce algae by competing for carbon dioxide. Improving water-quality is are the most important benefit of having live plants in a turtle tank.
  • Live plants help oxygenate the water, which discourages the growth of anaerobic bacteria. Most "bad" bacteria are anaerobic, which means they don't do well in the presence of oxygen. (Anaerobic is pronounced "an-air-RO-bik.")
  • Live plants add visual beauty to the habitat and make it look more natural.
  • Turtles often enjoy exploring and hiding in the plants, as well as munching on them from time to time.

 

Disadvantages of Keeping Live Plants in Your Turtle Tank

  • Some live plants require a substrate, which means something on the bottom of the tank for the plants to root in. You'll have to vacuum the substrate at least once or twice a week, or else the turtle poop and leftover food can foul the tank, make the water smelly, and make the turtles sick. (Some plants, however, don't need a substrate and are able to get the nutrients they need from the water. Other plants, like hornwort, can simply be left floating on top of the water.)
  • A few plant species are toxic to turtles, so don't use plants unless you know what they are and that they are safe.
  • Turtles sometimes decide to make salad out of plants. That will make a real mess in your tank that you will have to clean up.
  • Turtles often dig plants out by the roots for no apparent reason. Maybe they're bored.

Like I said earlier, if you're new to the turtle hobby and have no experience with tending aquatic plants, it's probably better that you concentrate on learning to care for your turtle before adding any plants other than hornwort to your habitat. But if you have enough experience with turtle care that you think you're ready to start adding plants, then read on.

 

What Kind of Plants Can I Add to my Turtle Tank?

When choosing live plants for a turtle habitat, there are three important things to consider:

  1. Whether the plant is toxic to turtles. Most aren't, but check anyway.
  2. Whether the turtles will find the plants so tasty that they eat them before they even have a chance to grow.
  3. How well the plant will do in the relatively warm, relatively low-light underwater environment of a turtle tank.

As it turns out, some of the more common, inexpensive aquatic plants available at pet shops make very good plants for turtle habitats because they're not toxic and they grow well in turtle tanks. Here are some good plant choices for beginning turtle hobbyists.

 

Java fern plant

Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demursum). This is my favorite plant for turtle tanks and freshwater aquatic habitats in general. It's also very inexpensive. It does need a lot of light, though, so you'll need a plant light of some sort.

Adding hornwort to your turtle habitat is about as simple as can be because it doesn't need a substrate at all. You can tie it to a rock or a suction cup to anchor it to the bottom of the tank, or you can just leave it floating like I usually do. I use it as a floating plant because turtles tend to "rearrange" plants that are rooted or tied to the bottom, so it winds up as a floating plant anyway.

Hornwort is the only plant that I always use in a freshwater turtle habitat because it needs no care, is very hardy, and helps keep the water healthy by taking in a lot of nitrates. Better yet, most turtles don't like the taste of it, but if they do eat it, it's harmless to them. It's also the only plant that I recommend that all beginning turtle hobbyists keep in their habitats. It helps keep the water pure and requires literally no care except an aquarium plant light.

 

Java fern plant

Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus). This common, inexpensive aquarium plant does very well in turtle habitats. In nature, it grows attached to driftwood, rocks, and other submerged objects. It doesn't really have strong roots, so just sticking it in the substrate won't work. It'll just come loose and drift around in the tank. You have to attach it to something.

The easiest ways to use Java Fern in a turtle habitat are to wedge it between a couple of rocks or some driftwood; to tie it to a rock or a piece of driftwood with some thread; or to tie it to a suction cup and stick it to the bottom of the tank and pile a bit of substrate around the plant's base. You can use dental floss or string to tie it. Hopefully it will last until the plant attaches itself to the object.

 

Anuberis barteri plant

Anubias barteri (Anubias barteri, many varieties and subspecies). These are slow-growing, broad leaf plants that are excellent choices for a turtle tank. They are one of the easiest aquatic plants to grow and maintain. That's why they're a favorite of beginning aquarists. They're also inexpensive and easily available in pet shops and aquarium supply stores.

Anubias plants are about as trouble-free as plants get. They do very well in low-light, don't care very much at all about pH, and must taste really, really bad because fish and turtles leave them alone. The easiest way to plant them is to tie them to a rock to weight them down, and then pile some Fluorite or gravel around the base of the plant.

 

Amazon Sword Plant

Amazon Sword Plant (Echinodorus amazonicus; many other species). These plants are pretty hardy and easy to maintain, but they do need a decent amount of light. Don't plant them in dark parts of your habitat like underneath the turtle dock. Turtles and fish may nibble at them, but they usually don't eat the whole plant. The turtles are more likely to try to pull them up by the roots. Maybe they're angry that the plants don't taste better!

Sword plants have roots and are planted in the substrate. It may help to attach them to a rock at first, however, until they have a chance to grow strong roots. If they're uprooted, you usually can just re-plant them. They're pretty tough. They're also pretty easy to get: Any pet store that sells aquarium plants should have Amazon sword plants.

 

Egeria densa plant, also called common waterweed

Common Waterweed (Egeria densa), also called Anacharis.

I'm not sure whether I should include this plant or not. Lets look at the good and bad things about it. On the good side, E. densa is cheap, only needs moderate light, grows like a weed (which is is), is easy to find at most pet shops, and is fairly nutritious to turtles.

On the bad side, many turtles (such as adult Sliders and Painteds) like E. densa a little too much. They pig out on it and make a huge mess. Mud turtles and musk turtles usually leave it alone, though. Very young Sliders and Painted Turtles may also leave it alone because they prefer meat when they're young.

One more thing: E. densa is an "invasive weed," which means it takes over other plants' habitat in the wild. In many places it is illegal for that reason. Where it is legal, it should be grown only in indoor habitats and never in outdoor ponds.

What's the Best Substrate for a Planted Turtle Tank?

Turtle nibbling on a plant in a tank, showing the substrate

This question has a lot of answers depending on who you ask.

Some people say sand is best, but I don't like it. It's too hard to keep clean, and it's too dense to allow water to circulate around the plants' roots. It has no nutrient value for the plants, and it can damage your filter if it gets stirred up and sucked into the intake. But some turtles, like softshell turtles, like to dig in sand. A thick layer of fine silica with a shallow layer of water is a good substrate for them.

Other people say dirt is best, but I don't like dirt. You have to sterilize it first before you put it in the tank, and it makes the tank water very muddy whenever your turtles dig in it (which they do a lot). You can't use an under gravel filter with dirt, either.

Some people say regular aquarium gravel is best, but I don't like it very much. Some aquarium gravel can have sharp edges that could possibly injure your turtles, especially if they eat it (which they sometimes do). It also contains no nutrient value for plants (or turtles), but many aquatic plants seem not to mind very much.

My favorite substrate for planted turtle tanks -- in fact, the only substrate I use in planted turtle tanks or any planted aquatic tank -- is a product called Flourite that's made by SeaChem. It's a clay-based gravel that comes in 15-pound bags and is made especially for planted aquatic tanks.

Flourite's a little expensive, but I think it's worth it. Here's why:

  • Fluorite is made for planted aquariums. It's the best substrate for most plants.
  • Fluorite is non-toxic, stable, and provides a good footing and high nutrient value for rooted plants.
  • It's very pretty stuff, and it really makes the habitat look nice. I usually add some white, rounded medium-sized gravel to it.
  • For whatever reason, I've never seen a turtle eat Fluorite. I guess it tastes really bad.
  • It's an excellent medium for friendly bacteria.

There is one annoying thing about using Fluorite: No matter how much you rinse it, the Fluorite dust still turns the water into something that looks like mud (or tomato soup, if you use the red Fluorite) when you add water to the tank for the first time. The dust isn't harmful, but it clogs the filter and seems to annoy the turtles.

The label suggests that the Fluorite be rinsed before use, but that doesn't help very much. It still makes mud when you put the water in the tank. So don't plan on introducing your turtles to the tank for at least three days -- and probably longer -- if you use Fluorite. That's why I always add it before I turn on the filter or add the turtles to the tank.

After I add the water, I fill the filter with cheap filter floss or poly fill pillow stuffing, and let it run for a day or two to get the dust out of the water.

Once the water looks pretty clear I shut off the filter, remove the floss, and put the permanent filter media in the filter. Then I turn the filter, let the water cycle if it hasn't already, and add the turtles once the water chemistry is within limits. I usually don't add plants unless the tank is cycled. Adding the plants can make the cycling take longer because they compete with the friendly bacteria for nutrients.

Once the tank is cycled, I add the plants and hope the turtles don't eat them or uproot them. Some turtles like to be landscapers!

One 15-pound bag of Fluorite is barely enough for a 20-gallon tank if you spread it really thin over the non-planted areas, so you can calculate how much you'll need from that. (For my 75-gallon tank, I used 60 pounds.)

 

Plastic or Other Artificial Plants in a Turtle Tank

Turtle swimming with head above the surface of the water with text: Find Turtle Tanks on eBay

If tending real plants is too much of a chore, you can try using artificial plants.

Most artificial aquarium plants will work fine in most turtle habitats, but the ones that are molded in one piece tend to hold up better than the ones where the leaves are removable from the stalks of the plants. Turtle are much stronger than fish and will pull flimsy plastic plants apart.

Artificial plants won't do any good for the water quality (unless they get algae growing on them). They'll just make your tank more attractive for people to look at and less boring for the turtles. They'll also provide a place for fish or shrimp to hide if you have them in the tank.

Personally, I think artificial plants are better than no plants at all. They make your turtle's life less boring, as you can tell from this video:

Turtle Exploring an Artificial Plant

(Shot from underwater using a GoPro.)

One thing to be careful about is that turtles often try to "taste" the leaves of plastic plants, and a few turtles never quite figure out that they're not real and will continue trying to eat them. If this happens for more than a few days after placing the plants in the tank, you should remove the plants. Plastic is not good for turtles. It can cause digestive system impaction.

 

Get Fast, Free Shipping with an Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Turtle at the bottom of a tank poking its head from the rocks ready to be fed with text: Find Turtle Food on Amazon. Turtles swimming underwater with light shining down into the water from the surface with text: Find Turtle Lighting on Amazon. Turtle swimming with head above the surface of the water with text: Find Turtle Tanks on eBay. Turtle sleeping peacefully in clean water at the bottom of a tank with text: Find Turtle Tank Filters at Amazon. A small turtle at the bottom of a tank with text: Find Turtle Tanks on Amazon. Turtle swimming next to the heater in a turtle tank with text: Turtle tank heaters at Amazon Turtle swimming next to bubbles with text: Turtle tank air pumps at Amazon. Turtle swimming amongst the leaves of an artificial plant with text: Turtle tank decorations at Amazon. Turtle peeking out from between the leaves of a plant with text: Shop for live aquarium plants at Amazon.

The gray-bearded author outdoors with a wild bird on his shoulder and a Buy Me a Coffee tip link
buymeacoffee.com/rjmweb

 

MyTurtleCam.com is an educational site for hobbyists interested in aquatic turtle care. All information provided is accurate to the best of our knowledge and belief, but is presented for educational and informational purposes only. No information on this site should be considered authoritative with respect to human health or animal health and husbandry. Copyright © 2009 - 2023. All rights reserved.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All product links on this page are monetized.

Legal and Privacy Policies. Hosting provided by Turnkey Internet.