LA

A:  I think the roaches and millipedes are not very particular about their substrate, although I prefer aspen.  But that's just me.  If half of your 10 hissers are females, you should have an extra 150 to 300 baby roaches running around in that 10 gallon tank within the next two months.  I think your millipede would feel crowded in there.  LA

LA

A:  Thanks for your input.  When keeping fish in very small containers, you need to make daily water changes.  If you feed live foods you may change the water as seldom as every three or four days.  It helps to have a handy service cart (Rubbermaid makes a good one) and large reservoirs of aged water.  Keepers of large quantities of bettas also need to "card" them.  You put opaque sheets between the males and pull them a couple times a day.  Another suggestion is to rotate the jars so they have new neighbors to flare at every day.  There's no real betta housing war.  It just that keepers of two or three bettas will always keep them differently than people who keep 50 or 100 bettas.  LA
PS  I'll be doing a Betta Seminar over the web later this month.

A:  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 and cloudy water -- add a gallon of water siphoned from a crowded African cichlid under gravel filter.  Voila -- instant aged tank.  LA

A:  Probably, but I won't know for sure until I see your questions.  LA

Kat, Ontario, August 3, 2010
Ok thanks,  I found a few snails in the woods near my house that are about 1 cm in diameter.  I learned about the basic care of them on the internet and the two snails had a bunch of babies that I just noticed.  There are about 20 babies and they are about a millimeter long each.  The cage I have them in is 26 by 15 cm and 17 cm deep. It's one of those kritter keepers.  I don't want them to become overcrowded, so that's why I got snails that live here so that I can put them back in the forest if I have too many.  Should I put the baby snails back in the woods and keep the parent snails?  And I was also wondering if you could identify what species the snails are. I attached the pics of the two snails and a pic of the cage they live in.  The pics are not very good but my camera is a piece of junk.  lol    Thanks in advance for any info you can give me.

KA

A:  They look like Cepaea nemoralis or Cepaea hortensis.  However, I'm no muscologist, so you may want to investigate further.  At their size, they don't seem crowded yet.  LA

A1:  Probablt Geo. surinamensis.
A2 & A3:  Too young to tell.

Adult male firemouths look like this:

LA

A:  I think they should be neutered and confined to a well fenced backyard.  If you let them indoors, don't let them jump up onto your furniture.  LA

A:  You really need to call 283-0300 for your anwers.  LA

A:  I'll add your report to my Raphael page.  LA

A:  Dated or not, I really don't want to re-do the 700 pages in my web site -- way too much work.  However, since you're interested in breeding bettas, I have one opening in my Betta Breeding Webinar (seminar over the web).  It will take place this coming Friday at 5 pm Central Standard Time (11 pm London time).  Email me back if you're interested.  I'll send your email address a reminder before the Webinar.  LA
 

A:  Thanks for your report on your experience.  I couldn't get mine to eat flakes.  Maybe I was spoiling them on fancier foods.  I've noticed that many picky fish will eat the Tetra Crisps also.  I'm adding your info to my dwarf frog page.  LA

A:  Just add two tokays when you put your goldens in their new longer and taller tank.  LA

A:  Both those geckos fare just fine at 75 F.  Since they're both nocturnal, they probably will stay away from any basking bulb area.  The plant lights should suffice -- maybe even brighter than they prefer.  LA

A:  I'm out of the loop on parrot free flight training.  I've never heard of it and wouldn't try it in our neck of the woods.  We have peregrine falcons that swoop down and grab parrots off their keeper's back deck.  I suppose you could do the same thing indoors with ringneck doves if I knew what the training involved.  Ringnecks are not the brightest bulbs on the string of lights.  LA

A:  Sounds like a good tip.  I'm adding it to my newt page.  LA
 

A:  You need to call 283-0300 for details.  LA

A:  I didn't remember you, but my computer did.  I did remember your newt question tho.  There's not much that will eat a newt.  Anyway, to research a critter you can usually sort for it's name plus origin, e.g., "eastern newt" + Florida.  The sixth source down -- The Animal Files.com -- spells out the breeding cycle very well.  LA

A:  No, but if it's acting normal, I wouldn't worry about it.  LA

A:  We're probably the only place that does.  But don't just suddenly bring them in.  Call 283-0300 to let us know first.  LA
 

A:  It stands to reason that people who keep Siamese fighting fish might be a bit belligerent themselves.  Bettas are really flexible.  There are few absolute standards in the hobby.  No need to thank me for the amount of work -- it's a compulsion.  LA

LA

A:  Yes we sell pla kats.  We call them roundtails.  We get different colors but not different types.  We stopped carrying the super fighters.  We do not ship fish.  LA
PS   Go to our home page to see the series of betta seminars we're hosting over the web.

A:  Sorry.  I haven't owned enough aba knives over the decades to write an informative page about them.  LA

A:  No.  You could be watching too much TV.  Anyway, I looked on the web and saw some of their trailers.  I'm pretty sure I saw this movie before starring Komodo dragons, snakeheads, alligators, crocodiles, crocogators, giant mantids, tarantulas, giant rabbits, and even giant ticks.  I also saw some places you could download Piranhas 3D  free and never pay for the movie or the popcorn.  Anyway, it seems that an earthquake opened a rift below Lake Havasu and unleashed beau coup prehistoric piranhas which, as everyone knows, are much more voracious than our more sensible and sophisticated modern day piranhas.
As for your substrate, avoid sand.  Few plants will grow in it.  Use a small grained natural gravel for best results.  LA

LA

A:  Sorry I skipped that question earlier.  Several species of nematodes live in the soil.  Adult microworms measure 1/10th to 1/8th inch -- very hard to see in the soil.  It's easier to buy a live culture and work from there.  I don't think I could tell one species from another, even if I could spot them.  Go to my microworm page and look for an ad that sells microworm cultures.  LA

A1:  It is very difficult to tell the species apart in juvenile Central and South American cichlids.  They look different over different colored substrates, in different temperature, under different lights, in planted tanks, and in the presence of bullies.  You will just have to be patient.  Many of the species will hybridize which further complicates the situation.

A2:  If the tail fin is eaten down to the meat of the body, it will probably never grow back  Piranhas may be an exception.  Damage to the tail fins of most fish will usually grow back -- often with disfiguring scars, especially in goldfish.  LA

LA

A:  I guess I did not include tank cooling info in my cold water fish page.  First, I would not worry about any sunfish getting too hot.  They rarely die from the heat.  Obviously the "chillers" made for lobster and trout tanks are too expensive and really too cold (usually 45 to 55 F) for a 10 gallon tank.  The fan method you're using is good.  Forget the ice cubes.  Ice cubes bounce your temperature up and down like a yo-yo and encourage ich infestations.  In bait shops, they will trickle in continuous cold tap water or more likely use spargers for their minnow and crayfish tanks -- not really practical for civilians.  Numerous airstones would function similar to a sparger.  Or you could position your tank above your central air conditioner outlet.  But the most practical solution for most people is to just move your tank into the basement.  LA