These are sinking tablets.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Sarah, have you tried searching the libraries online journals for some papers?

I just scholar.google.com'd siren food and found some good stuff. That is where I start when researching habitats and husbandry.

Here is the abstract from "Food of Siren intermedia nettingi in a Spring-fed Swamp in Southern Illinois " by Ronald Altig

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=000...2-R&size=LARGE

I would start researching the **** out of online and the library but I tend to over do it sometimes. HTH

My goodness Cody... I had just looked at people's websites that have kept them, and I also made inquiries at caudata.org... Scholarly papers? Oye.. Though someone did mention on another board that the greater sirens may eat live plants, that's why I opted to get live plants rather than fake, just in case it wants to take a little nibble...

So I guess it's whatever gets near it's face, eh?

Maybe I should get some tiny crustaceans...

I think it would like a bit more plant life in there, either way. Java moss should make it happier, I think. You find anything on oxigenation of the water or if it likes current? I think you find them in rivers or streams, so a current would probably be more natural.. Hrm.

Nate keeps teasing me and telling me it's gonna end up being a greater, and that it's gonna get huge, blah...

And I guess it doesn't really matter, he's eating the brine shrimp, hooray! He's just not actively seeking them out.. I'll try and get a video of it.

I couldn't catch him eating.. But I got two vids.. One of him just moving along the bottom, and another one where he is digging... I'm assuming this is because he didn't like the light I put over the tank so the camera could actually video him.. This is the first time I've seen him try and dig under the sand.. I'll try again when he's being a bit more cooperative...

Sorry it keeps going in and out of focus, I don't have very steady hands. Good thing I'm not pre-med....

Swimming along the bottom: http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...t=MOV03020.flv

Digging: http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...t=MOV03023.flv

Hopefully the links work..

Nice vids! I love photobucket! I saw him react to that one brine shrimp, he's active so he is probably eating more than you know.

Sometimes you have to do the work yourself. I'm not saying that a lot of people are wrong, it's just I see a lot of people taking the easy way out and kind of finding something that works and not really doing what is needed. I read an article last night about oxygen content and water and now I can't find it, sirens are found in a very wide range of places; ditches, streams, lakes, ponds, swamps... Each is different, some having literraly no oxygen while others have tons.

If you go the library website and search the webluis database especially 'web of science' you will find tons of papers, not just abstracts, sirens have a ton of publications and papers.

Hmm.. Well, the other problem, I don't know exactly what kind of siren it is. I don't know if it is a lesser or a greater, and then after that, I don't know the subspecies, so I don't know how to go about where it would be found. I was told I either have to try and count how many costal grooves it has, which has proven difficult since it's pretty squirmy, or wait till it gets bigger and see if it gets 2 feet or over 3 feet, haha.

I did see him come up to the top and gulp some air. So perhaps he would like some oxygenated water. I mean, he has gills, but he must be coming up because he isn't getting enough oxygen through them, right? Or am I completely off?

I'll go look up what I can when I get back from school from all those journals we have access to through the library's website.

Another thing, I have to figure out how often I'm supposed to fed it. Now that I see it is actually eating brine shrimp.. I don't know how much of that he's eating, first of all, and second, I just don't know how often they normally feed. Hrm.

The feeding is a tough one, feed too much and your water quality goes out the window, although it seems like these guys can handle a range of water quality. On the other hand, don't feed enough and the guy starves.

The gulping could be anything, experiment a little. I got some airpumps and lights over here if you want them, maybe we can barter for some plants

Haha, Cody, what do you want from me? I can give you clippings.. I think I'm going to take apart the terrarium and repot all the plants, but I'd like to keep some of them. Wanna buy a 20 gal high? =P

If you find someone to buy my 37g and stand I'll take the 20g off you hands.

If you don't want to trade for plants I'll sell you this ****...err...stuff. Clippings are good too.