With mine I thought they were regular Jackson's until I was told they weren't. I probably wouldn't have gotten them if I had known they were more difficult. I had experience with veileds but wanted something different this time around. I agree I will probably never know for sure what...
That is one reason I was considering plumbing my misting system directly into the water line. The only disadvantage I could think of was the temperature of the water directly out of the well.
I had a male die this week too. Mine was fine that morning and I got home from work early at about 11 and he was on the bottom. I picked him up and he started thrashing around and in about 5 min. he was dead. I also got a female and am keeping a very close eye on her.
Well water varies from area to area. I should know, I drill them.:) In some areas, like here, it can vary from one house to the next. I am using my well water for mine. I wouldn't think if yours is hard that would be a problem. If you have something like sulfur or iron I don't really know...
I did think of that but filling it up really wouldn't be too much of a problem. I could run it into a resevoir with a float switch and put an aquarium heater in it and then pump out of it. If I did do that it would use quite a bit more electricity and be much more complicated.