Ihatemuduckz, December 20, 2005
I have 3 geckos that I want to feed to my corn snakes. Can I? I want to make sure they don’t have any toxins or anything of that nature that could harm my snake

Marcus Leong, December 21, 2005
Just wanted to let you know I finally got a corn snake!!  Anyways, I was reading the corn snake section, and you said not to handle your snake after it eats.  I would like to know how many days I should wait before handling it again? Thanks
P.S. I have included some pics of my snake, too. I think it’s a Colorado corn.

Steve Bell, December 21, 2005
I see you have a terrific page on breeding oscars. I have just finished making a double DVD on oscars -- one about keeping oscars (50 minutes) the other is all about breeding oscars (57 minutes). I have also made a DVD about breeding fighters. Both have some amazing footage of the fish spawning and the fry hatching. You can see some clips on my site at www.oscartropicalfish.com and www.siamesefighters.com. Perhaps you could put a link on the appropriate web pages of your site? Thanks

A:  Why not?  I hope you get filthy rich.  LA

Evan Rahmer, December 24, 2005
I am interested in starting a brackish tank but I already have some fish
and plants that might not do well in brackish water. Can Congo Tetras, Rosy Barbs, Otocinclus, Gouramis and Yo-Yo Loaches live with about 1 Tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons? Also can my myrio, Ludwigia, Java Lance Fern, and Corkscrew Val. live with these conditions? 
Finally, if all these could live in brackish water, what would be good tank mates. I really would like archer fish but they might eat the other fish or something. Thanks a lot.

A:  First off, one tablespoon (there are three teaspoons in a tablespoon) of salt per gallon is not brackish.  Most fishes, especially livebearers and cichlids prefer one teaspoon of salt per gallon.  Many brackish fish can survive at that salt level, but prefer two or three times that level.
Second, if you go brackish, your Java lance fern will be your only potential survivor.  Most plants hate salt.  Go to our brackish section to get some ideas for potential tank mates.  LA

Chuck & Tonja Osborn, Des Moines, IA, December 26, 2005
We wanted to thank you for sharing our Web Site information with your readers.  That was very kind of you.  We have had several inquiries from your viewers concerning dog training. Thanks for sharing our 2005 with us.  And, we wish you well for 2006.
iowadogtrainer.com

A:  No prob.  Remind me again in April and I’ll run it again.  I consider it a service to my Iowa readers.  LA

Chau Nguyen, Boston, MA, December 26, 2005
I have three 20-inch silver arowanas that I recently moved into a new bigger tank. Although my arowanas did eat a little on the first day in the new tank, they have now completely stopped eating for over 10 days. My arowanas used to have huge appetites but now all three of them refuse to eat. I tried feeding them everything (floating pellets, live feeder fishes, crickets, pieces of fish that they would usually gobble up) but they absolutely will not show any interest in eating. I checked the pH level, and the acidic level, and everything seems to be fine, I even tried raising the temperature a little to get their metabolism up. Nothing seems to work. My fish show no sign of disease, in fact they are swimming along fine in their new roomier tank. I thought it might be because they are still getting used to their new tank, but it has been over 10 days. Do you have any suggestions to encourage them to eat? Thanks so much. You have a great site.

A:  This is a toughie.  Luckily they are large and therefore capable of going without food for a long period.  Little ones would be dead by now.  Do you still have access to the tank they came from?  You could try putting them back into their original tank and see what happens.  Another tasty food to try is ghost shrimp.  Another possibility is adding a couple of too large to swallow goldfish.  When the arowanas see them eating, their competitive instincts could kick in.  Try reducing their light intensity.  Try adding a large portion of water from their old tank.  And since it has been 10 days, check their ammonia level.  Three big guys could have added enough waste to overwhelm your newly functioning biological filtration system.  Adding AmQuel will neutralize your ammonia problem.  Let me know in a week or so if they start eating again.  LA

Claire Duffy, December 27, 2005
I just found your page dedicated to lungfish and wanted to thank you.
I have been worried about the water condition/ temperature and even feeding of a lungfish for the last 3 years.
I acquired a tiny baby lungfish about 3 years ago, he is now about 3 foot long. He grows faster than me!
The store I bought him from couldn’t tell me anything about his feeding habits or anything really, but he looked in very bad condition, so I took him home. (I had been keeping aquariums for about 10 years at this point and had never seen a lungfish in real-life)
I fed him on fish, prawns and anything really. just guessing about what his feeding habits would be, or what food would be best for him.
Nowadays (I am slightly embarrassed to say) I feed him on beef and chicken along with the algae wafers I buy for my plecos. He has most definitely thrived on this trial-and-error diet. (He eats better than I do!)
I really appreciate your page being there as it is very difficult to find care information for lungfish online at all. Thanks!
Claire and Captain the lungfish

A:  You probably noticed a long time ago that they are not picky eaters.  But it does not bother them to miss a meal or two.  LA

Tom Whitmore, University of Florida, December 26, 2005
The geckos shown on your website at:
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Lizard,%20House%20Gecko.htm
appear to be a combination of two species, Hemidactylus frenatus
and H. garnotii.  H. garnotii (Indo-Pacific gecko) is distinct
from H. frenatus because it has a yellow ventral side grading to
an orange tail, as shown in the third photo down on this web page.
The distinction between the two species is significant because
H. garnotii is parthenogenetic -- there are no known males,
so a single female is capable of colonization, which is why
garnotii has spread throughout Florida whereas frenatus is
still restricted only to four counties.  If some or all of these
geckos in your shop are garnotii, it might account for why
you have so many of them running around the shop.

A:  Thanks for the cool info Tom.  I’ll add it to the gecko page.  Send me a paragraph about yourself and I’ll put you on our Board of Correctors.  We used to see their tiny eggs, but we probably had both species running around.  For the last year or so, we’ve had a loose tokay so we don’t see the little house geckos as much.  LA

Tom Whitmore, UFL, December 27, 2005
You’re right to guess about my Univ. of Florida affiliation.  I’m presently at Univ. of South Florida -- St. Petersburg Environmental Sciences and Policy.  My field is the history of lakes, however, not herpetology.  There’s a biography blurb at
http://www.stpt.usf.edu/coas/espg/whitmoret.asp
but don't feel obliged to acknowledge me unless you care to because
I'm not a herp specialist.
The reason I found your website is because I found two Hemidactylus geckos during the last week and am trying to get a
correct identification.  I’m housing them in separate enclosures in a large, tall herp terrarium. They each have about 18 gallons space
at 24-inches tall with cardboard tubes to hide in as well as a heat lamp, UV, and moon light.  I’m watching the temp and humidity. 
I picked up on the coloration of your geckos because I’m struggling with the identification of the ones I have -- their ventral sides are very pale yellow or white, which makes them look like frenatus.  Frenatus is only reported 250 miles south of here, however, whereas garnotii, the yellow-bellied female parthenogenetic ones, cover 30 counties
in Florida.  I’d like to breed these, then release the adults and raise the offspring.
These two are finicky about eating, maybe a couple of small crickets once or twice a week despite their adult size, and they spend a lot of time hiding out and thermoregulating, foraging briefly if at all only
around dawn or dusk.  They’re in a separate room with lights on timers so not affected by house lights.
Does this activity sound normal to you?  Do you have any recommendations that might help them adapt better for the time I keep and observe them?  I have stool samples from both and have a scope, but I’m not quite sure what to look for, and a local vet is likely to think I’m a nut -- these things are everywhere in this climate.  I found one in the medicine cabinet.  

A:  Ditch the UV light.  It could be bugging their always open eyeballs.  Also, I find house geckos are better eaters when they compete with each other for food -- sorta like siblings at the dinner table.  Vets that work with lizards won’t think you’re a nut.  You will be validating their career choice and helping them pay off their college loans.  Actually, I think you’ll find that most lizards and other living organisms have all kinds of worms, flagellates, bacteria, and other micro-life forms in their guts.  LA
PS  Sounds like you have a good start on a Chinese apothecary medicine cabinet.

12.28.05. Found this guy today in our fish food cabinet.

Crazy Clive, Southern England, December 28, 2005
Hey there. clive here, writing from a small village in the forest in southern england...
i’m writing in reference to a feature on your web site about black ghost
knife fish, but in particular, a mention that they have been bred in
australia once before.
i am desperate to get in contact with this person in australia, or anyone
who has any advice on the  breeding of these fish -- in captivity OR in the wild!
i have four nearly-fully grown ones in a purpose-built 600l setup in my
living room, and have managed to get them to live very peacefully indeed with 3 elephant-noses, fire- and tyre track eels and other asian spiny eels, brazilian plecs and even some Polypterus sp. with no trouble at all.
this setup is working extremely well but there will come a time when the tank will become too small, at which point i’d like to move the others out and use the 600l for my best shot at a knife fish breeding attempt.
any advice from anywhere would be good! many thanks

A:  I’m not going to correct the spelling of someone writing from England, but why would you capitalize only Polypterus?  As for the Australian breeding report, I do not at this time recall the specific details. (Do I sound like a hostile government witness?)  My English teachers instructed me to record all the specifics on 3 X 5 cards when writing a “paper.”  I have to confess I stopped doing that long before Kennedy was shot.  I just saw the movie Wolf Creek where they said 50,000 Australian disappear every year.  The alleged spawner could have been on that list.  Chances are he spawned them in a billabong since parts of Australia are similar in temperature to South America.  I hope this helps.  LA

Darthbob, December 28, 2005
Hey, I have a ten gallon with one 3” green frog and a 2” shrimp, Cardina japonica, I was wondering if I can put like 2 convicts in
there? It’s a little more than half way full of water. I have a whisper
10-20 and an air pump and several live plants and a couple fake. I have a really big clump of hair grass and 2 hybrid aponogeton plants that I grew from a Wal-Mart Wonder Bulb set. Should I just buy a couple of white clouds or zebra danios and buy a couple more shrimp instead?

A:  You really like convicts, don’t you? They will eat your shrimp but will ignore your green tree frog.  Add the white clouds, danios, and Amano shrimp.  LA

A:  We’ve had good success destroying external parasites with a product called Lifebearer.  It’s economical, effective, easy to use and harmless to plants and fishes.  I could not see your photo well enough to take a stab at IDing the "worm" in question.  LA
PS  I’d remove the dead worm manually.  My hours are 9 am to noon and 3 pm till 5 pm.  I do not work on Tuesdays (or at other times according to Mike). 

A:  Any of the danios would be zippy enough to ignore gross gourami aggression.  Ditto most of the barbs.  And the armored catfishes.  And swordtails.  I’m surprised the corys are bothered.  Several of the larger tetras will also work just fine.
I do not recommend putting peat moss in your tank for any reason.  It colors your water brown and trashes up your tank.  Do not obsess or dink around with the chemical makeup of your water.  The fish available in most fish stores will do fine at your current hardness and pH levels.  Put away your beakers, test tubes, retorts, and lab coat.  Just relax and enjoy your fish.  LA
PS  I said they are sometimes shy.  This means they are sometimes NOT shy -- especially adult males in the mood.