I have Cahaba Lily and Giant White Spider Lily if you're interested in them to trade for some of your unusual stuff like the one pictured with the purple looking flowers, crocosmia bulbs or rooted brug cuttings. Obviously plants that do well in the desert, indoors or out. Info on Cahaba can be found here: http://nativeplantsfromala.blogspot.com/2010/03/most-beloved-lily-in-alabama-cahaba.html\ They do grow in moving streams and rivers and I've also seen them in a very large pond in a greenhouse in San Francisco but I and others grown them here in the desert in the ground with average water. They usually bloom here in the late summer even in high temps well over 100 deg. The plants are very impressive even when not blooming. These are pretty large bulbs. The giant spider lily grows up to 5 or 6 ft. tall and produces 12 in. wide bloom clusters of 35 to 40 white 5in spider shaped blossoms which are very fragrant. I have rooted pups of these about 6 in. tall. These do best with afternoon shade if grown in high temp areas. Let me know here if you're interested and we'll communicate through e-mail.Thanks!

hi glen, and yes, that is exactly what i do--if i take a gallon out, i put in a TB of salt, i use pickling/canning salt as it has no additives (at least the kind i buy). i am going to start using a device though too called a hydrometer (i think thats what its called) to measure the salt, it measures the "thickness" of the water basically. if your teaspoon per gallon is working for you, then i wouldnt change it--dont fix what aint broke is how i feel about it. i keep mine at that because it works with my water and thats what they are used to, but not everyone has the same water types or the same philosophy--for years i used no salt at all and had mixed results. as far as the plants go--thats exactly what i do, put some on the bottom (regular type aquarium plants) and then i have some floating grass mats that cover about 1/2 of the top of the aquarium. babies tend to be born, fall to the bottom, open up from their round state, and then swim to the top for cover. i like to have enough regular plants so that they are hard to spot when they fall out, and then enough cover to hold lots of fry when they dart to the surface. with enough plants and not a terribly large number of adults in the tank, i have never had a problem with fry being eaten that i have seen. the natural birthing of fry puts less stress on the female too i think, they stay near the plants until they are ready and then when done, they are free to swim--dont have to be moved. anyhow, thats my opinion for what its worth. as far as your 30 gallon tank, i would keep about ten adults max in there if you are having fry in it too. that keeps them from becoming too predatory. more females than males--a one to two ratio, works best for me. good luck to you, i hope this helps. i have been raising these little guys for about 30 years now, i hope i know what i am doing. if not, then i guess i am just old. :)

If you have enough milkweed, there shouldn't be a problem. But if you have enough, you just as well seperate them just in case there is any kind of OE virus but I don't think they would have a problem getting along. It's more of a rearing container problem, actually... my other one's full of herbs and swallowtails (two or three kinds, on fennell, rue, and parsley; I'm hoping they get along, too!), so I've only got one available for milkweed right now. Here's a picture I took today, for anybody wanting to see the differences between a monarch (left) and a queen (right): No, that milkweed isn't the healthiest I've grown, but it looks worse in this shot than it is, and none of the cats seem to mind. Short of pesticides, I'm doing everything I can for that milkweed; the cats don't seem to mind, they chomp away obliviously.

Yes my cats look just like the gulf frits. I did see at least 2 more and I've been seeing lots of those types of butterfly near the buddleia/pentas. I'm so excited! My neighbor and dh thought I was nuts when I bought a passie for the butterflies to eat and even more nuts that I'm now excited they are eating it! This is so much fun... I now can not wait to put in more host plants. We get TONS of butterflies (we are backed to cow pastureland) and this is my motivation to keep gardening just when I needed it! Thanks for all tips/pics. I'm a novice at this. Rachel