The Caymans or Caimans. Description: This species is similar in looks to the smooth-fronted caimans of the New World. The snout is smooth, the dorsal amour heavy, the iris dark and body size very small for a crocodilian. The bony eyelids and ventral platelets of the Dwarf Crocodile also recalls the smooth-fronted caimans, but the Dwarf Crocodile has the "crocodyline notch" of the upper jaw, exposing the fourth lower tooth, a characteristic which distinguishes crocodiles from caimans and alligators. Well, the one that got dropped in the boat (and he didn't jump in, we caught him, and someone let him go by mistake) was probably not more than 2 feet long. But they still have mighty sharp teeth, and a less than sunny disposition. I missed seeing the big guy, as the Olsons and I had headed off for a little more dip netting while the others visited the floating store where the big caiman and some other critters were being kept. Our other funny caiman incident was one day early in the trip when we were collecting in a stream leading into an absolutely idyllic little pond in a cow pasture. The "lily people" were getting Victoria tissue samples, and Dave, the Olsens, Mary McCaw and I were thigh deep in the stream catching Apistos and Hoopla cats. We were in 7th heaven, everyone was laughing and fooling around. This lady came out of the nearby farm house and came running over yelling at us in Portuguese. When one of the guides finally was able to translate what she was telling us, it turned out that there was a VERY large caiman in the pond with us. So large that the lady wouldn't let her children go outdoors. Did that stop us? Not a chance.<g> We decided that we'd probably been making so much noise we'd scared him into hiding anyway. Still, I'm glad it was broad daylight I don't think I would have wanted to wade around in there with him at night.<g> (although we did do a lot of wading around at night in a couple of other places)

In the West African Dwarf Crocodile, the tip of the snout is upturned, strongly so in the adults. The snout is conspicuously short. The upper eyelid is almost entirely ossified (hardened), with a smooth surface. The enlarged supracaudal scales, anterior to the point where the tail crest becomes single, number eleven pairs. Length: 150 to 180 cm.

Hello, Well, I am really considering getting the zebra pleco... Here is my only remaining concern: I have a few corys and I feed them sinking pellets and they also collect whatever they can find on the bottom, blood worms, flake, brine shrimp, etc. Despite all the food that is potentially available to the corys, they are practically starving. Why? Because the Yamato numa-ebi are complete and total PIGS! They snatch everything from all the other fish - even the angels! The shrimp don't seem to get the brine shrimp as well as the pellets, probably because they spread out a lot more. Does anyone else have this problem? So, I am afraid that this timid little pleco would never get anything to eat because the shrimp would devour it before he found it. And, I don't want to totally cover the bottom with food because my SAE's and shrimp would never eat algae (which there is plenty of in my tank right now). Any thoughts would be wonderful.