Arklier said:
No, it's not pearlite. Perlite doesn't float. I've used it as medium for incubating reptile eggs before, so I know the difference. These are tiny styrofoam balls. If you look at styrofoam closely, you'll notice that it is made up of tiny little balls packed together. This is the individual balls they add to some potting soil mixes for some reason.
Please forgive me for continuing this and PLEASE know that I am not posting with the intention of being argumentative. I have come to this board with the intent of learning as much as is possible about darts in the hopes of attaining some and offering them the best possible care that I can. It is very difficult to learn something new, particularly so the older that you get

, as not only do you not know where to begin you often do not even know what questions you should be asking.
I also would like it to be clearly understood that I am not now/nor was I in my original post attempting to say that you did not know the difference between perlite and styrofoam. I was suggesting that it might be Perlite. I have used Scott's brand of Perlite for the last ten years as a soil amendment for many of my plants, particularly my african violets. It does indeed float and is a pain after recently transplanting or when propagating and setting up new pots. I used to end up with pieces of it all stuck to the sides of the pot and often onto leaf cuttings as it floated up through the medium. I now mix two mediums to minimize this, using the perlite prn through the base medium and then add an inch of amended soil w/o perlite for the top inch to stop it from floating to the surface.
I do know that there is another substance which I believe is also called Perlite, (at least it looks virtually identical), which is used in furnaces, (and probably a whole lot of other things), which is incapable of burning and does not float. It has been two years since my furnace repair man and I had this discussion so I do not remember all of the details... only my amusement when he placed it in the furnace. I do remember that he told me the perlite I used in the plants was not a suitable substitute.
I think that we can agree that we don't want it popping up in a vivarium and/or water feature. I will apologize one last time if in reading my post you felt that I was correcting you or implying anything else. At this point I am truly sorry that I even wrote that paragraph as I feel that you may have gotten the wrong impression of who I am or why I am here. I have learned so much from everyone here in the last week since being referred to this site from KS and have a million questions pertaining to getting started. The absolute last thing that I wish to do is to offend anyone!
Respectfully yours