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R/O or DI water would work, but you would need to replace some of the minerals and ions. There are various products available for this.

A suggestion for Martha: you might like to try dwarf shrimps such as Cherry Red shrimp in your riparium. They are colorful and active, easy to take care of, and have a low bioload.

I did collect them myself, except for the Lobelia and Pontaderia, which I nabbed from a nursery clearance sale. I don't have any pictures yet; my setups are not yet close to looking the way I want them too. The main tank I'm working on is a 120 gallon curved-front corner tank; I also have some...

Did it have purple leaves then change to green? The purple-leaved variety usually stays purple whether grown submersed, emersed, or terrestrially, at least in my experience.

Fantastic tanks! The plants look great, the arrangements are nice, and the overall effect is very clean. I've been working on some similar setups myself. I have found that mud plantains (Heteranthera sp.), lizardtail (Saururus cernuus) and swamp dock (Rumex verticillatus) do very well with...

Frogs go through a non-feeding phase during metamorphosis. Keep offering him small insects, he'll take one sooner or later. Any chance of a photo?

Any of the mid-sized American cyprinids will work with comets, commons, and the less-delicate fancy varieties. I have kept goldies with adult Pimephales (fathead minnows/rosy reds), Nocomis (river chubs), Notemigonus (golden shiners), and Semotilus (creek chubs). These minnows are rambunctious...

Looking good! Jonah's Aquarium also carries some native stream fish. Their stocklist changes all the time, so if there's a particular species you want, just let them know and they might be able to get it for you. Looks like they have some Lythrurus shiners and some madtoms right now, any...

I'm afraid I have to disagree. That is a young male, too young to have developed the long claws yet. The important character is the position of the cloaca: a female's cloaca will be very close to where the tail joins the body, while the male's is separated from the body by a thick tail base...

What kind of turtle? I think a basking platform is better than a built-up land area in most cases, as it leaves more open water and is easier to move. You can build one easily with a 1/2" PVC pipe frame and insulation foam platform. Paint the whole thing with black, brown, or other...

I just thought I would point out that "langostino" or squat lobsters are strictly saltwater species. Petstore "freshwater lobsters" are always crayfish.

Quoting my own post from another forum: I had a longer list but can't find it. Propagating your own wild-collected plants is fun too, and gives you greater variety. By the way, be sure to check out http://forum.nanfa.org; it is the best place on the web for info on keeping North American...

Sweet! Lots of native plants are available in the trade, actually; I had a list typed up at some point, I'll see if I can find it. Are you still doing a stream setup?

I suspect Soilmaster would blow around in the current; you might want to put some gravel on top of it to keep it in place. If you're going that route, you could also use some good old topsoil and fallen leaves as your planting medium. Vals do fine in current too. In fact they look rather...

The horsehair worms which affect ghost shrimp are Nectonema sp.; they can also infect various other decapods such as crabs, other shrimp, and possibly crayfish (not sure this has been documented), so if you have any of those in your tank you should be careful. Other inverts are safe...

I've been wanting to try a hillstream loach/darter/dace setup myself. They should all do well together. As far as plants go, rushing waters tend not to have much submerged flora, but moderate current areas of my local streams often have Ludwigia palustris, Podostemum ceratophyllum, and various...

Have you considered atyid (filter) shrimp? They're big and chunky like crays, but more fish friendly.

If the fish are scratching themselves and jumping, then something's wrong with them, but it's hard to say what without seeing the fish. The worms behind the fountain almost certainly have nothing to do with it.

I don't know if they'll work on that filter, but I've extended the intake on some of my Aquaclears with old UGF lift tubes. It requires a little finesse to avoid cracking, but once on they work great.

Nice! That black stripe on the edge of the chela really seems like it should be diagnostic; I've never seen a cray with that marking. If you ever do get them ID'ed please let us know. I'm really curious now myself.