By William

 

Phrynops gibbus

6.5" - 10"

Few studies have been done on this species. In the wild, they are said to feed heavily on anuran (frog & toad larvae).

Air Temperature:  80° - 90 °

Basking Temperature:  85° - 95°

Water Temperature:  72° - 80°

6.0 - 7.5

Black water streams and swamps, rivers and ponds.

Peru, Trinidad, Suriname, East Ecuador, parts of Colombia & N Brazil.

Yes

Large aquatic setup. This turtle rarely basks but does so at times, so it needs ramp and basking lamp. Most times it will haul out at night. They like to hide under cover so provide suspended basking ramp (or cave). Also provide UVB lighting.

Recommended size for a single adult would be a 70 gallon aquarium as a minimum (120 or larger preferred). This will provide adequate swimming area, as well as assisting the filtration in maintaining good water quality. For additional P. gibbus, I would recommend adding 55 gallons of tank space per additional turtle at a minimum.

Stock Tanks and Rubbermaid containers also work well. The same space recommendations remain the same.

Fish, Mazuri, ZooMed, snails, krill (they seem to prefer to eat at surface so floating pellets are best), forget Reptomin, they are eager to eat most types of meat-based foods .

Recommend keeping with same-species only, as they tend to get aggressive with other species.

This turtle is said to be nocturnal and, in my experience, this is true. They will eat day or night and are active at night, more so than during day, plus they like to sit on basking area at night. They seem to get along well in small groups and tend to hang together. They will mate easily in captivity and lay 3 to 4 eggs once a year.