March 11-20, 2010 questions you asked Aqualand

We don't ship critters or live fish.
When writing us, include your location.
LA_Aqualand@msn.com

Jessica Tyarks, St. Louis, MO, March 11, 2010
Hi LA, I read somewhere that mystery snails need calcium to keep their shells from deteriorating. Is this true? And if so, what form of calcium can you put in your aquarium to help keep them healthy? Thanks,

A: I don't know if St. Louis pulls your water out of the Mississippi or out of the aquifer on top of the same limestone that runs underneath the Midwest. I'm assuming you have water with lots of lime in it, just like we do. Des Moines takes out half the lime but we're still pretty limey -- moderately hard. Aquarium water over time tends to drop in pH due to fish wastes. Acid water affects snail shells more than their diet. If you make regular water changes, your water will have less of a tendency to dissolve snail shells. Once they start dissolving, there's not much you can do. LA

Jessica Tyarks, St. Louis, MO, March 12, 2010
Hi LA, hopefully this question will get a better response than the last one lol. Now you're supposed to cover your heater for Oscars so can you use a black pvc pipe or does it have a chemical that's bad for the fish compared to the white one? Thanks,

A: If you cover your heater with any kind of solid tube, you will heat the water inside the tube very fast and shut off your heater. You can find heater suction cups that will keep your oscar from breaking your heater against the glass. LA

Brad & Jasmine Walker, March 12, 2010
We wound up with 2 tiger botias, and they tore apart our Dragon Goby with little effort. We gave them to a friend with a larger tank, and no slow-moving fish.
We also acquired 2 corydoras which we put in perfect water. They dropped dead within an hour of each other. Would there be any cause for this aside from the water conditions??
Our spiny peacock eel appears to be missing chunks of his body, but we don't have any fish that would openly attack him, so we're stumped!!

A: Sounds like a water problem. Make 25% water changes every other day for at last a week. LA

Spencer Culbertson, March 13, 2010
I breed fire bellied toads, and my gravid female has been going to the bathroom a lot. Is this normal? Also when they lay their eggs, are they singular or in bunches?

A: Since they eat a lot when filling full of eggs, it makes sense that they would defecate a lot. Change their water often. They need clean water. They lay eggs as singles and as small clumps. Our American toads lay them in l-o-n-g strings. LA

Jee Hoon Lee, March 13, 2010
On the cory pics link (http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Just%20Cory%20Pics.htm) on the last pic the cory is a sterbai not a haroldschultzi or whatever. The Harold thingies have black spots on their head. The sterbais have white.

A: Could be. They look almost identical to me. i used the Warren Burgess (TS-183) as my ID resource. They came mixed in with other cories, a not uncommon occurrence. LA

Brian Rhmi, California, March 13, 2010
Actually, I have a few things to address.
First of all, I want to let you know that I love your site! It's usually one of the first ones I go to when I'm researching new fish or plants.
I just want to let you know that Java fern does not just send out plantlets from the tips of its leaves, one of mine has three plantlets running down the length on one of the leaves. I have (hopefully) enclosed a photo for reference.
Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you add a page (it would be my wish if the link was bold and easy to see) about the Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle. Most fishkeepers (including me) started out without properly cycling a tank, and suffered heavy losses as a result (I lost half my population the first week). Other fish just seemed to drop dead without any apparent reason, though this is actually a result of ammonia poisoning. If you had a page dedicated to the Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle and ways of fishlessly cycling an aquarium, it would greatly reduce the deaths of the fish from newcomers reading your site; the nitrogen cycle is truly one of the most essential aspects of fishkeeping.
I also disagree with your Betta page; in my opinion (note: opinion), bettas should be kept in tanks of at least 2.5 gallons; again, having a too small tank will easily experience ammonia and nitrite spikes that may injure the fish. Despite the common belief, bettas do not come from mud puddles, they originate from spacious but shallow rice fields. Heating and filtration are required; a filter should be used to harbor colonies of beneficial, nitrifying bacteria; a heater is to retain the warm, tropical environments that the bettas were once from. Too small of a tank makes filtration, and especially heating, difficult.
Again, congratulations on such an incredible site! Keep up the good work!

LA
They clone from lef ends ...

LA
And they clone from the middles of the leaves.

A1: Yep, they come from all parts of the leaves.
A2: I wrote How to Start a Successful Aquarium back in 1980. (It's in the left-hand column.) The quickest way to short circuit the nitrogen cycle -- add a gallon of water siphoned from a crowded African cichlid under gravel filter. Voila -- instant aged tank.
A3: Today's bettas come from individual fifth-size whiskey bottles with twice weekly water changes. They are housed in unheated pole buildings similar to our egg-factory chicken houses (which I used to build last millennium). They walk across the bottle tops to feed and make water changes.

We keep our bettas in small bowls with every other day water changes by Kellie. I added a mini-Java fern to every bowl except the roundtails just before lunch today, I added your report to our betta page. LA

Kevin Gazelle, Foothill Ranch, CA, March 15, 2010
Hello, I was wondering if you guys could make a page on Gulper Catfish? They're really expensive and still rare but they are VERY popular.

A: They're not quite as popular here in Des Moines as they seem to be in California. As soon as I've seen more than one every 10 years, I'll look into them more closely. Do you know how large they grow? LA

Kevin Gazelle, Foothill Ranch, CA, March 16, 2010
I believe it was somewhere around 9 point something inches, but most are purchased at around 6 inches? (You might have to correct me there.) and seem to max out for a long time from my experience.

A: Okay. I'll keep my eyes open. I just haven't seen any for several years. LA

Matt Garringer, Iowa, March 15, 2010
Larry, Are these eggs? Here's a picture from my phone. Thanks,

A: When I saw your pic on your phone, it was too small to tell. Now that you sent the enlarged attached photo, I can now say that they are definitely eggs. As I said earlier, I've never seen eggs hanging out of a female's vent before. LA

Maridza Molina, New Jersey, March 16, 2010
Do you have an Argentinian black & White Tegu?

LA
This guy probably is.

LA
I don't think this guy was.

A: I believe we do, but we don't ship. LA

Maridza Molina, New Jersey, March 17, 2010
Ok thank you - I'm sorry to hear you don't ship. By the way - Great Website! Enjoyed it very much - very informative and interesting.

A: There's plenty of places already that do ship. Thanks for the kudos on the website. LA

Maridza Molina, New Jersey, March 17, 2010
True -- but no one seem to have them.

A: Many fish and reptiles only become available on a seasonal basis. Unfortunately, more reptiles become availble in extremely cold weather here in Iowa. I have to think twice about ordering them in below zero weather. And lots of suppliers won't ship when temps dip into what they decide is too low. LA

Priscilla Benbrook, March 17, 2010
Hi, I know that one part of your site was talking about the lifespan of Raphael cats & you thought it to be 10 years until you came across folks w/ much older ones. I just wanted to let you know that I have a Raphael cat, Moo, who is at least 20 years old. I got him in 1992 & he was already quite large. I also have a Yo-Yo loach, Jester, who is 18+ years old. I'm thinking Jester may be abnormally old as well.
Finally, I have 4 blind cave fish who are at least 8 years old. Regarding the latter, do you know *where on earth* you can get blind cave fish nowadays? I don't see them *anywhere* and am getting really nervous that I soon won't have any. I had blind cave fish in the first batch of fish I ever bought, back in '88 or so, and have had some ever since. Is there a reason that they are "unfindable"-- legal or otherwise.
Another aside, are head-tail lights out of style at the moment or am I just not looking at the right places?
Again, do you know where I can get blind cave fish? Help!!!!!

A: I'm adding your longevity report to our Raphael page. Blind cave fish and head and tail lites have always been available at Aqualand. We occasionally run out for two or three weeks (but only because I forget to re-order them). Are you just looking in one of those chain stores? LA

Megan Hartson, Bay City, MI, March 17, 2010
We have a community tank with mollies, platies, and guppies One of our mollies is spinning round and round. We thought he was dieing but he has been like this for a week. Is there something wrong with him? Can it be helped? Should I take him out of the tank and put him by himself in another tank? I attached a QuickTime video of him since I can't really explain it. The rest of the fish are fine. The pet store here is clueless to what's going on with him.

A: Livebearers live fewer years than egglayers -- maybe two years. His prognosis is not good. You can't pin his problem on a specific internal or external pathogen. Because your other fish are doing fine, it's not a water problem He has CTD syndrome (Circling the Drain syndrome). I would feed him to one of our non-fish critters. However, if you want to try to save him by quarantining him, add two teaspoons of salt per gallon and set his heater at 80F. LA

Jordan Varner, March 19, 2010
Hi I e-mailed you in january and I have got guppies and platy babies coming out of my ears. I recently cought two gambusia and I was wondering how they would do in one of my empty four gallon fish bowls if they are half filled to provide optimum surface area? I know that they are hardy fish and survive the heat of the summer and the cold of the winter, so I am not at all worried about temp. I read that they are hardy fish that breed fast, so I just wanted your input on this. Thanks for your time.

A: Gambusia breed easily but eat their fry almost as fast as they see them. You won't have any surviving fry in the small bowl. They'll mutiply outside fairly well in one of those cheapie kids' wading pools. Just toss in a few bunches of hornwort and feed them daily. LA

Jordan Varner, March 19, 2010
Would a few still survive inside in the fish bowls? My parents said I can't get another big tank, but they would let me use my empty bowls.

A: Yes. LA

Ben Ward, March 19, 2010
Dear Larry, I was wondering how big your patriot crab set-ups are, because my 10 gallon tank for the one patriot I have seems small for him. I just recently got a 75 gallon tank, but at the moment I am keeping a green anole in it. I hope to get some other animals for it eventually. I have a 35 gallon tank but I can only put about 3 inches of water in it; it's one of those exo-terra models with the ventilation grid about 3-4 inches up. If it's possible could you send me some pictures of the tanks you have for your crabs? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. Sincerely,

LA
10-gallon tank. Filter is under the large flower pot.

A: They don't need tons of room. I ususally house three in this setup. Make sure that eachcrab has his own cave. LA

Alex Gueco, The Valley, Texas, March 19, 2010

As it's warming up here in Texas, I was planning to buy a couple of Green and Brown anoles from the local Petsmart. I was wondering if they could live peacefully with my Leopard Gecko, Chester. He's currently in a 20 gal that's both a long and high tank (could be a 40 gal then). Chester's a regular male gecko and around 8-9 in long, I've had him for a little over a year. I bought him as a hatchling last year in febuary exactly 7 days before my b-day. I was wondering if he's fully grown yet? How long will he get if he's not? I was also wondering if he's old enough to breed? I have a spare 10 gal for a new female or the Anoles if they can't live w/ him. Thanks for the help.

A: I don't like mixing different species of lizards because the big ones eat the little ones. Your gecko will keep growing for a while. He's probably old enough to breed. I can never tell how large a specific lizard will grow. A female gecko will mix with him better than an anole. LA

Dean Davis, Gainesville, FL, March 20, 2010
Hello, First let me start out by telling you my story. My 15 year old daughter recently discovered axolotls. We called all of the pet stores nearby and finally were told that the only breeder in our state was a teacher at a local high school. We contacted him and he compassionately parted with one of his older, 8 inch long axolotls. My daughter was ecstatic and everything was going well. We had him for about three weeks and the entire family loved him. This weekend my wife and daughter went out of town and left me in charge. Before my daughter left she put a bag of ice in his aquarium to lower the temperature a little. Being the protective axolotl mother she is, she called this morning and asked me to go check on him. When I went into her room the tank had overflowed from the melting ice and the axolotl was lying on the floor. I didn't tell my daughter and quickly put him in his tank. He seemed just fine and was swimming around so I thought I had found him in time. However, I went to check on him later and found him dead on the bottom of the tank. I quickly put him in the refrigerator in a last effort to save him. However, I am fairly certain he is dead and I am feeling incredibly guilty. I know my daughter is going to blame me as nothing like this would happen on her watch.
We cannot ask the teacher again as he had a very small stock and uses them to teach. I have spent the last few hours on the Internet trying to find a way to make this up to my daughter. I found a forum in which someone mentioned that you had taken the time to ship them an axolotl in Florida. So as my last effort I am asking if you could help me? It would mean a lot to me as well as my family. I realize that your website says you do not ship critters or live fish, but I was hoping you could break this rule once again to help me out. Thank you so much,

A: As you've found out by now, axolotls are not common. I don't have any at the present time. I'm forwarding your request to Michael Shrom who breeds them. LA

Alexander Brewington, March 20, 2010
What is the largest size a longnose gar can get?

Texas

50 lbs 5 oz

Trinity River

Townsend Miller

1954

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