April 1-10, 2011 questions you asked Aqualand

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

Judy Burr, Iowa, April 1, 2011
Where would I find a pair of adult three toed box turtles?

A: We had a slew of three-toed turtles last year. We have seen no new ones for at least half a year. LA

Sue Goodwin, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2, 2011
Just wanted to say I googled Ramshorn Snails and found your website,
which has great facts and info.
What you said about "flake food" seeming to cause Ramshorns to lay eggs
was especially interesting to me!
I'd been feeding a bunch of Ramshorns various foods and just started
feeding them flake food and noticed tons of eggs suddenly within days.
What you said is so true, and I've never read that fact anywhere else!
Great observation on your part!
Also you mentioned very pink Ramshorns with white shells. I found some
amazing ones on these Japanese links I'd like to share with you.
http://www.shopping-charm.jp/ItemDetail.aspx?itemId=22561
and this video is so beautiful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXTSjd-7eZs&feature=related
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXTSjd-7eZs&feature=related>
I used to live in Des Moines on 27th St. but now live in Pittsburgh.
Thanks for all the great info.
http://simplesnail.tumblr.com/

A: Thanks for the kudos. Pittsburgh is a very cool city. Any city that can afford three rivers is my type of city. LA

Hope Lynch, Iowa, April 3, 2011
I am looking to buy a long hair teddy bear hamster do you have any at the moment?

A: We were so busy Saturday, Sunday, and Monday ripping stands apart,, rehousing fish, and moving tanks that I have no clue whether we have any furry critters at all. Give us a call at 515 283-0300 and ask Cathy, Kellie, or Kathie. LA

Carol Di Pietrantonio, Melbourne, Australia, April 4, 2011
Hi, Just wondering if you could offer some advice about our mystery snail.
He's in a small tank on the bench in our kitchen. There are 3 goldfish
in the tank with him. We've had snails before and this is the only one
I've seen do this, which is why it's got me stumped.
The other night the snail was floating at the top of the tank, spinning
in circles from the current of the filter. It did this for over an hour
so I thought it was dead. I left it til morning and when I got up it was
on the bottom of the tank sitting normally; I still wasn't convinced it
was alive. But hours later I saw it crawling up the side of the tank and
I could see it eating (I saw its teeth).
It has done the same floating thing for the past few days, floating for
over an hour at a time, usually during the day.
Why would it do this? Is it sick? I'm going to check the water levels
and make sure they're all fine but the 3 fish are all happy. Not sure
what his problem is. The weather has cooled down lately, but not cold
yet. No heater on inside yet either. Thanks,

A: According to the book They're a Weird Mob, there's beaucoup Italians in OZ. I read this way back in my bookreading days, so things might have changed in the interim. Anyways (as we say on the internet) every time I've had a floating snail it was dead. The rotting escargot produced enough gas that his or her shell floated. I'm surprized as you that yours floated and lived to tell the tale, so to speak. So, no clues from me as to what's up. LA

Kathy Potts, Moultrie, GA, April 4, 2011
Larry, I have a question for you. Might not should ask it, but maybe it is
worth a shot.
I know that you do not ship fish. I am beginning to and was wondering
if you would run an ad on your site for my Angelfish? I would ship to
anywhere in the US. This could be a real game changer with me. I
love working with the angels, but I need an outlet real bad! I have
some drop dead gorgeous and healthy stock. All descendants from Romeo & Juliet. The next batch ready to go are already showing very
distinctive markings and nice color on some of them. Some are
blushing and all should carry the blushing gene.

youtube.com/watch?v=tWlpM12cSWU

liewcw_11, April 5, 2011
Hi Larry, I think the fellow who thinks that she's an Oscar is a Severum, not Green Terror. Anyway, is it possible for a Gar to eat pellets or flakes? What about frozen food?

A: Whoops. Typological error on my part. Good catch. Thanks.
She died yesterday.
If you're talking about regular gars, I've never seen them eat flakes or pellets (ditto on the needlenose and rocket gars). Regular gars will eat deceased goldfish so they would most likely eat frozen krill and freeze-dried krill. LA

Michael Voumard, April 5, 2011
Need your input on my ich problem in my tank. I have a 36 gal tank with a few clown loach, hatchet fish, and some fancy fan tail fish, and 2 cory catfish. I bought some Ich meds for it and it almost killed my loach and it killed off my glass cats. I'm now going with the higher temps and salt route, This problem started on Friday and it's now Tuesday and I have noticed that the fish have more spots. I'm doing daily water changes and I have two Marineland bio wheel filters going no under gravel but will have one soon. Any other advise on things I can do I'm really trying to avoid the meds because of what happened before.

A: Nearly all the ich remedies -- especially those with malachite green -- say on the label "use with caution on loaches, tetras, and scaless fish." Some say use at half strength but it really stresses those particular species. The salt and higher temps sometimes work but there are other meds out there without malachite green. They work better than the olde salt and high temp method. LA

John Jaffe, Tacoma, WA, April 6, 2011
RE Electric Catfish
Hello, I just bought a pair of these funny looking fish (both 4" long)yesterday in a local petshop. Your online article stated that these fish are illegal in most states. If you know, can you tell me if it is a crime to possess such interesting fish inWashington state. Thanks,

A: You made me go back and re-read my page. I said "many" not most. They are probably not illegal in Washington or your shop would only sell them "under the counter." I can't give you any legal advice on Washington law because I don't want to practice law without a license. But you can probably relax -- the electric catfish rarely visit private homes. LA

Sarah Gaston, April 6, 2011
I have a community tank full of fish. Just over this past weekend I actually found my angelfish had laid eggs. This was a complete surprise to me because I was told at the pet store that the angelfish I have are all males. After reading your pages on angelfish I can now see I have (at least I think) two females and one male. The same day I noticed the eggs (which were on the filter tube) I noticed the 'pair' were protecting their eggs furiously from the other fish. I left to go to the store to see what I could get for the babies if they hatched. When I returned from the store all the eggs were gone. I'm assuming the angelfish or the other fish ate them. For the past couple of days after the incident I have noticed the female is starting to clean the tube again. Does this indicate she is ready to lay eggs again so soon? Also would it be a good idea to get a separator for inside the tank to separate the male and female angelfish from the other fish to get them to lay eggs again? Thank you,

A: Good idea to give your pair their own quarters, especially if you have a plecostomus in your tank. Plecos love angel eggs. Usually a breeding pair can protect their eggs from the other fish (all except plecos). One other thought: If the eggs hatched, the parents like to move their helpless fry to a hidden location. Scenario three: They ate the eggs themselves.
Now I want you to read Kathy Potts Angelfish Spawning. The Q&As at the end of the article will answer more questions than you asked. Then, if you have additional Qs, email me again. LA
PS New angel pairs commonly lose their first three spawns.

Ryan, April 7,2011
As you may already know the Electric Blue Jack Dempseys are a color variety of the regular dempsey (not a hybrid). They grow slower than the regular dempseys but when they grow full size they are equal in size to an adult regular Dempsey. They are prone to internal parasites (well in my opinion no fish is immune to them)....Edit: They are more suseptable to internal parasites than most fish and careful observation should be taken. If the fish seems letharigic, has white stringy feces or is not eating, treat for parasites immedeatly. Even though Electric Blue Jack Dempseys will breed with eachother, the fry will not survive. This is why breeding is so unsuccesful. You must breed the Blue Dempsey with a regular Dempsey or a blue gene Jack Dempsey. A blue gene Jack Dempsey looks like a regular dempsey but carries the blue gene. Crossing a Blue Dempsey with a regular Dempsey produces a blue gene dempsey plus regular dempseys. Crossing an Electric blue Jack dempsey with a regular dempsey, yields blue gene jack dempseys. Crossing those fish will give you 50% Blue Genes, 25% Electric Blues and 25% Regular Dempseys. If you choose to cross the blue gene with an electric blue you get 25% Regular Jack Dempseys, and 75% Electric Blue Dempseys. Though it gives more blue offspring it is more dangerous to the BLue Dempsey. To help keep your Electric Blue alive, use an Electric BLue male and a regular or blue gene female that is smaller in size. If you use a Electric BLue female the chances of her surviving is very little, because the males are naturally more aggressive.
Earlier this year I purchased 4 electric blue jack dempseys. They are all growing, feeding and living well. I think I found a trick to fast growth and parasite free fish. The two siuations kind of intersect. 3-4 small feedings a day; with a marine flake or a flake that contains garlic, this strengthens the immune system. Feeding tropical flake for essentail nutrients, feeding spirulina flake for steady growth and to also help strengthen the immune system. Feeding frozen brine shrimp 3-4 days a week (stay away from tubifex, bloodworms, mosquito larvae, daphina, to help prevent parasites). Frozen beefheart and frozen discus cubes would also be good options. Limit the beefheart once a week to help with digestion. I do keep my fish in planted aquaria with gravel so they feel more at home. To feed this much and have this many fish, you need to let the biological filter catch up. Since I had 4 dempseys and 1 Keyhole (to help socialize) in my quarantine tank, I was doing 1-2 water changes every day --siphoning the gravel for feces and excess food. Though frequent water changes may be stressful, ammonia and nitrite poisoning is much more streesful and deadly. Once I moved them into my 50 gallon, there was not a need for such frequent water changes. I would still recommend 1-2 times a week 25% water changes to promote growth and to minimize the chance of internal parasites.
Note: I am 15 years old. Don't let my age fool you, I have done a lot of research on these magnificant fish

KP
Kathy Potts.

A: I think the explanations is a bit more complicated (sex-linked alleles and recessive traits for weaknes, but not bad for 15 years old. Better than I could have done at 15. I'll work your info into my EBJD page later (after I write it). LA

Laura Eagle, Brooklyn, NY, April 7, 2011
Hi! I'm a big fan of your site and as a pet store employee I send customers to it all the time for info! I just wanted to say something about African butterfly fish. I have one and she is wonderful. Easy to feed, charismatic, and I have never once seen her try to jump out (the tank is well-covered anyway). She's in a planted 29-gallon with an elephant nose fish, cories, white clouds, glass catfish, galaxy rasboras, nerite snails, and various shrimp. I do believe she may have eaten a couple of my rasboras and one of my white clouds during her first week in the tank but I am not sure. I hand-feed her frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, and brine shrimp by holding the cube at the water's surface and letting her pick bits off of it. When I get live bloodworms I target feed her at the surface holding them between my fingers or letting her get them from a small net. She also eats dried bloodworms, floating pellets, micro floating pellets, flakes, and baby crickets. Surprisingly, my other fish like baby crickets too. I have seen white clouds and glass catfish steal them away from her, so I make sure to get a good amount of them so she gets a fair share. She likes to hang around the filter intake so I tied some water sprite to suction cups and positioned them around the filter to make a nicely covered area for her. I would say she is nocturnal as she does most of her swimming around at night. That's it! Sorry I wrote so much! Keep up the good work!

A: I'm surprised she didn't snack on all your little galaxy rasboras and shrimp. Sounds like you're keeping her very well fed now. I'll add your report to my butterfly page. LA

Elaine Gibson, Santa Barbara, CA, April 8, 2011
I am with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. In an effort to get kids outdoors again, we are producing guides for kids to the natural world of their own backyards. These guides are free, downloadable pdf documents available from our website. http://www.sbnature.org/exhibitions/556.html
The latest one is on the "bugs" of Santa Barbara. I found the image of the Oriental Preying Mantis on line and would appreciate your permission to use it in the guide, with credit noted. Thank you for your help,

A: Sure just credit aqualandpetsplus.com. LA

fishy2578, April 8, 2011
Hello,

I enjoyed your site and pictures of the gold ancistrus:

I call them "gold" ancistrus because my red-eyed pair, a short-fin male and a long-fin female, have one brown one with each spawn, one long- and one short-finned. They don't look exactly like the other brown ancistrus I've seen, but are definitely not albino.

It's not necessary for the zucchini to be blanched; I spear it raw on cocktail forks. The parents eat the whole veggie, including the stem, while the fry eat pulp only when tiny, but when they get a little larger, they eat the skin and stem as well as the pulp. The tiny fry also eat algae tablets. Each of the two large spawns mine have had has been around a hundred and most, if not all, survive, except for the one that got caught in the sponge filter. The first spawn only produced 15, but I had some gold tetras in there and didn't know they'd spawned until the little suckers hit the glass. The second large one came before the first was ready to go and all were in a 20 gallon with black sand substrate. A fourth spawn has come along, but daddy didn't mind the eggs very well and only a few survived. One fish store pays a small bit more for the long fins, the other doesn't, and I didn't pay any extra for her. (I bought them as babies at two different stores a while apart and am just lucky to have a pair.)

Also, I don't have pipes or pottery; mine breed in their wood caves and it's true that they need the wood to survive; it's necessary for them to digest their food properly.

A: Good info. I'll add it to my bristlenose page.. LA

Kyle Burke, April 9, 2011
RE Firebelly Toads
how did you get yours to breed? did you lower the water level?

do they always put out eggs as soon as a male grabs a female?

A: First make sure you have an adult male and an adult female. Feed them well. Then your best bet is to put them thru a cooler couple months. Then warm them up. They do the rest. She'll decide when to release her eggs -- usually during their amplexus. LA

Sarah Gaston, Sarah Gaston, April 9, 2011
Thank you very much! All your answers were helpful and the site that you directed me to also helps a lot.
I was looking through your site again and I noticed your puffer page. I have two figure 8 puffers and two Leopard puffers (green spotted puffers sold to me as leopard puffers pretty sure they are the same considering your images). I wanted to clear some stuff up that some people posted on your page. Fresh water puffers DO NOT get bigger than three inches. All of my guys are just barely hitting the inch and a half mark and I've had them for a year now. Saltwater puffers do get bigger and if that's what you got than good for you! I noticed in the first few images you have LA that the puffers have shredded tails. When I first got mine they had that too and I am guessing it was from the stress of moving from the pet store to my tank. Their tails are all full and better now. I've never tried feeding them other fish and haven't really (in my research) seen any one suggest you should. Though they do take chunks out of other fish. I do feed them live ghost shrimp, the packaged krill, and snails, lots and lots of snails. All of these they love! These are voracious little guys so if you want to add fish in after them I would suggest tiger bards that are nearly the same size as them. They are fast enough to get away from the puffers if the puffers try to go after them. My puffers are slow and don't really bug them or the other fish in my tank (convinced I have the nice puffers). I absolutely love puffer fish. They are very cute and are fun to watch when they eat.
I don't claim to be an expert in puffer fish but I have done my research which included talking to specialists BEFORE i got them. I don't just get fish to get them, I do research on all my fish which I suggest that everyone do. If you aren't sure don't get!
P.S. Puffers aren't for beginners either. Its good to know what fish are easy to take care of and what fish you're going to have trouble with.

A: Good info. We have customers all the time that want to add puffers to their goldfish tank "because they're so cute." I just drop a recently deceased feeder goldfish in our puffer tank and let the customers make their own decision -- much better than personal opinion. They're still cute (the puffers, that is). LA
PS I'm adding your info to my puffer page.

Darren S, South Padre Island, TX, April 9, 2011
I really enjoyed your clawed frog article -- it provided a lot of the information I was looking for. I didn't actually see a picture of them mating so I thought you would like to include a picture of my frogs. I took this three nights ago (4-6-11). The female is between 5-6 inches and I've had them for a year and nine months. I don't care to go through the trouble of raising the babies so I also have a plecostomus (7 inches long) in the tank. I assume he will eat the eggs. These frogs live in a 40 gallon tank.

A: Excellent as Mr. Burns would say. Thanks for the pics. I'm adding them to my clawed frog page. By the way, lots of their eggs will fall down in between the rocks where the pleco can't reach them.. Get ready for some interesting tadpoles. They will eat small pellets. LA

Dawn Dube-King, April 10, 2011
I inherited some fish from my aunt when she passed away last week. I would like to add more fish to what she has but I have no idea what I have in the tank. If I sent you pictures would you be able to identify them for me? Thanks,

A: I shall try. LA

Bonnie Rector, April 10, 2011
I happened on to your site yesterday and was wondering if you could tell me what causes the neon green spots on a whites tree frog. I think he is not as healthy as before but the spots seem to move around on him. I would like to find out if he can be treated, we live in a remote area where there are no vets that treat frogs. I would appreciate your input, he is my 10 yr. old daughter's pet. Thanks!

A: Regardless of your location, you probably won't find many frog vets open for business. I'm not sure I've ever seen the symptoms you describe, so I'm not sure it's even a disease. What I would recommend is that you clean his terrarium, add aged water, make sure he eats a healthy diet (more than 100% crickets), and make sure his temperature and humidity are in the recommended ranges. LA
PS Sometimes it helps to add UV lighting and/or a calcium/vitamin D supplement to your crickets' diet.

Bonnie Rector, April 11, 2011
I have already done these things on a regular basis. I appreciate your help though, and if you think of anything else, please let me know.

A: Okay, here's an additional comment for you from BOB. LA

Bob, Virginia, April 11, 2011
Hi Larry, I think that the frog just picked up some algae somewhere that rubbed off on it. Some algae is like a "neon green" under the right lighting conditions.

Bruce Nay, Manhattan, IL, April 10, 2011
Hello, I have 2-18 inch Red Belly Pacu's in a 125 gallon tank. In looking for a larger tank to comfortably house these guys, I stumbled upon a 240 gallon tank with stand, 2 FX5 filters, lighting, air pumps, etc for $400. Upon arriving to pick up the tank, I quickly discovered it was full (including a 23 inch Red-Tail catfish). I have temporarily moved Mr. Red to the 125, who is playing well with the Red Belly's (maybe it's the "red" thing).

The Pacu's have been eating broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, spinach, grapes, and occasional fish food (they like the algae wafers and shrimp pellets). The Red-tail is eating algae wafers and raw frozen shrimp (dethawed before putting it in the tank). I have purchased Massivore Delight for the catfish, but wondering what else I can safely feed these gentle giants.

LA
At 30 inches, he eats out of Randy Davison's hand -- Wet Pet Outlet, Eldora, Iowa.

A: The redtail above ate two 18-inch iridescent sharks. They pretty much eat any fish they can swallow. Massivore Delight's a great food but too expensive to feeb one of these behemoths.

LA
4-foot red-tail catfish at our Des Moines Blank Park Zoo.

Any fish 1/3 their size is lunch. They are not gentle giants. However, they get along with pacús in the zoo specimens I've seen. The pacú above is three-feet long. LA

Bruce Nay, Manhattan, IL, April 13, 2011
Larry, I was really inquiring about their diet. Is there anything I should not feed either the Pacus or the Red-tail? I try to mix up the food, expecially go a day or two between the real shrimp. The Red-tail also seems to enjoy frozen corn.

A: Your pacús can eat anything and thrive. I'm not certain how well redtail catfish digest vegetables (like corn), but I doubt it will harm yours except for making his tank a bit messier. LA

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LA_Aqualand@msn.com