A:  I don't see any "biters" in your list unless your red tail shark is a big guy.   Large male blue gouramis will sometime chase, but you would have seen that.  Add one of the slime additive containing water conditioners to aid in healing.  The kissers are probably nipping each other.
Clown loaches love snails.  LA

A:  She might be much older than eight years old.  No good way I've ever found to definitely tell a tarantula's age unless she's been raised from a spiderling.  You can try misting her daily and raising her temperature a bit.  When spiders get cool, their metabloism slows.  LA

Reggie Nator, December 12, 2009
Hello, Let me first say, I love your web site and everything on it. You always have good info even if ignorant people don't always agree. I was looking at your tegu care page and some things seemed to be mixed up. The tegus you're talking about are Columbian tegus (Tupinambis teguixin) These guys are pretty tough to work with and only grow to about 3ft. The Argentine black and white tegu (Tupinambis merianae) grows to around 4-5ft and are much much tamer and much easier to work with. Those are the ones that can eat fruit and veggies although it isn't required. The Columbians are strictly carnivores. They can be hard to tell apart so I included some pics on how to tell. These pics are from Thetegu.com.

 

 

 

Again the Argentines are super calm and much easier to work with but they need a lot more room. Here is a pic of mine.

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr149/rrcoolj354/IMGP0561-1.jpg

Again love your web site. Keep up the good work!

A:  Alright.  That's good to know.  I just thought some were hard to get along with and some were easy to get along with (just like people).  When we order them, most suppliers just say B&W tegu, no country of origin.  We've got this really muscular guy that fits your Columbian profile.

LA
Got some nice teeth in there.

LA
Good looking.

LA
Handleable but very strong.

I hope that Thetegu.com doesn't mind us borrowing their pics.  I'm adding your input to our tegu page.  LA

A:  No prob.  Your last one was a correction -- no limit on those.  It will take a while to figure which one's bred for you, probably the regular cories plus the albinos.  LA

A:  We have to sweep under our ringneck dove cage every morning.  It seems to be typical.  They grow back.  You'll probably never see totally naked birds until you work on a chicken farm.   LA

A:  Mac users of Safari search have reported similar problems.  Since I don't have a Mac, I don't know if you have other search options.  It works fine on Google and Bing.  LA

A:  Sorry.  You can't stop them from shredding live plants.  Some they snack on.  The rest they like to shred.  Submerge a pint glass jar.  Turn it over and cover your moss ball with it.  If your severums can reach it, they will shred it.  LA

LA
This is the other one.

A:  Sounds like we'll soon be the co-owners of 1,000 white eggs.  The only large severum I have looks to be a female.  You can borrow her if you want, but I suspect you'd just have three females.  Keep in touch.  LA

A:  Good to hear.  The first batch is the hardest.  They'll have larger litters later.  LA

LA
Too small (nearly 1.25 inches) to see what they look like.  We'll try to find larger flying barbs.

A:  I haven't seen any of these that looked like anything but bait.  A red line would help them a lot.  Thanks.  LA

A:  Thanks, I think.  Didn't Gandhi die in '48.  Didn't you get the memo?  Or is this a different Mahatma?  And we don't get the El Gourmet franchise here in Des Moines.  LA

A:  We do but we don't ship.  We sell retail ouf our Des Moines, Iowa location.  LA

A:  We know the honey gourami couldn't kill anything.  I'd change as much of the water as possible.  LA

A:  Massive losses usually occur because of bad water quality.  Change it again.  LA

A:  Sorry, we don't stock those heatpacks.  Just one more reason we don't ship critters.  You might want to call around to some of the nearby hunting supply stores.  LA

A:  In any event, I have no idea how to correct the look of different browsers.  Thanks for the black paradise correction.  I'll add it to my paradise page.  LA

A:  I'm not sure which one you mean.  Anyway, it's too cold here to ship anything alive -- below zero F most nights.  Email me again in March if you're still interested.  And I'll try to figure out what you want.  LA

A:  Apologies accepted, but watch it.  Watersprite won't attach like the Java fern or African water fern.  I've never tried growing it in sand.  It grows fastest floating on the surface.  LA

LA
6-inch male dempsey looking very good.

A:  I really can't tell from your picture.  You tank lighting makes it appear pink.  And he/she's bleached out.  If it's five or six inches long, it's probably a female.  Males show twice the number of spangles.  LA

LA

A:  I pretty much covered one way to take care of them in Mantids, Newly Hatched.  What ever method you use, you'll want to thin your herd to five or ten.  LA

LA
Nerite snail, a snail that likes to eat algae.

A:  You can find Calcium Test Kits at your local fish store, but you probably don't need one -- especially as there's no specific Ca level you're shooting for.  And it sounds like you already enjoy more calcium than you need as evidenced by the white precipitate on your glassware and the very fast growth of your diatoms.  If you still think you need more, add a cup of crushed coral.  LA