Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) questions
- Thread starter jaysen
- Start date
I have a couple of amanos and some cherries in the same tank as the SAE. The amanos are fine. But as you may recall my cherries have been slowly disappearing. There's still a couple in there. But I can't blame the SAE for that; it's probably the Boesemans taking care of the cherries.
I had a Indonesian Siamese Algae Eater. This fish was shy at first, but then became more comfortable after a few weeks.
Swims around grooming all the plants, I watch him get close to BBA and hope I will see it nibble a little, but it always passes it and goes to something else, not once have I seen it nibble on BBA unless it does it at night.
This fish was starting to get aggressive with the other fish in my tank, to the point where I was starting to get worried about my other fish.. Chases most all the fish, my little Cory's, Badis fish and my white tip tetra's.. I was hoping it was only chasing, but sometimes I see contact at the tail fins.. Seems a little too aggressive for my tank.
Maybe the Indonesian ones are more aggressive than some of the others?
I got my SAE at about 2" and it jumped out of the tank and dried up at about 3" I really don't want to get another one because of the aggression, but I would like to have something that will "maybe" eat BBA off my plants..
If they really do eat BBA, I think it's at night when no one is watching, but I think they sleep at night ,. I have no idea..
I think these fish are a little over rated when it comes to BBA.
Swims around grooming all the plants, I watch him get close to BBA and hope I will see it nibble a little, but it always passes it and goes to something else, not once have I seen it nibble on BBA unless it does it at night.
This fish was starting to get aggressive with the other fish in my tank, to the point where I was starting to get worried about my other fish.. Chases most all the fish, my little Cory's, Badis fish and my white tip tetra's.. I was hoping it was only chasing, but sometimes I see contact at the tail fins.. Seems a little too aggressive for my tank.
Maybe the Indonesian ones are more aggressive than some of the others?
I got my SAE at about 2" and it jumped out of the tank and dried up at about 3" I really don't want to get another one because of the aggression, but I would like to have something that will "maybe" eat BBA off my plants..
If they really do eat BBA, I think it's at night when no one is watching, but I think they sleep at night ,. I have no idea..
I think these fish are a little over rated when it comes to BBA.
i know im replying after a while but i have been so busy these past months. siamese algae eaters are schooling fish and i would not suggest keeping less than 5 in a tank. they also get pretty big, so the tank would have to be at least 75 gallons. because they are semi aggressive towards each other i feel that 75 gallons is the bare minimum and they should really be in a longer tank ( to escape the bullies). they need a densely planted aquarium as well. it helps them feel secure and also gives them more places to find algae to nibble on.
when kept alone or in pairs the sae's may become very shy. they arent as confident without a big group. also the dominant sae may kill the other since there is only one to fight with and wont disperse its aggression (much like african cichlids). they may also choose to bully other fish instead of their own kind since they are limitted.
my tank has 10 of these guys. the tank is 6 feet long and 125 gallons. they were bought when they were only an inch long. now i have most at 2.5 inches with the dominant sae at 3.5 inches. he pushes them away from any zucchini i leave in the tank, so i put in 2 pieces at opposite sides of the tank. some people say that in order to get them to start eating bba, you may have to starve them for a few days. this was not the case for me. within a day, they were nibling and violently tearing at my bba and staghorn algae. within a week my tank was free of all kinds of hair algae. they ate it at all times and i noticed that when i would spy on them at night with my red light ( they cant see it so it doesnt stress them out), they would be inside the plants sleeping (fish lay motionless to sleep) so i assume they are mostly diurnal. my tank has many types of catfish, rasboras, tetras and plecos. the sae's have never shown any aggression to any other fish but themselves. this is why a decent sized school is important and they must have space... the less space the more hostile they will be to tankmates ( people are the same way, just look at new york city). i received another sae from one of the ac members a while later. this one looks slightly different and is also 3.5 inches long. i can easily tell it apart but he gets along with the school i already had in the tank. i assume that there are many different color variations depending on where they come from. my original school grew nice yellow fins and are a light shade of olive. the new one i added has clear fins and is darker olive. they all get along though so mixing is never an issue.
i have many shrimp (caridina and neocaridina) in my tank as well. i have seen baby and adolescent cherry shrimp get swallowed by my rummynose tetras so they do make tasty snacks to most fish but the sae's never even showed a slight interest in them from what i have seen. i have actually heard of amanos eating smaller shrimp so i would check closely into the matter. the sae's are also good jumpers. i have my tank covered as well as i can but still had 2 manage to escape through a small hole for the filter intake to go through. its a bad feeling to see a 2 inch sae dried on the top of your hood. overall, i dont know how i ever managed without them. i used to be so badly plagued by bba and i would bleach my tank but it always came back. now i havent seen any since the first month i got them, a year ago. they also decided that the new buds on my java moss are tasty as well so my tank doesnt have any new moss growth. this is good if you have the moss at the size you want it. moss does get out of control and clog filters easily. i did add some flame moss and they enjoyed that too so my tank will be moss free for a while... not a bad thing after going through as much as i have but they still eat it even though i feed them a lot of food regularly. for those that do want to grow moss, you may want to have a second grow tank ready or just take the chance (i find that in most cases the sae wont touch the moss).
i heard nerite snails will also eat bba as well as flagfish. the snails will eat it slowly in comparison and the flagfish are truely one of the most aggressive fish i ever had in my community tank (but will eat bba ... and your cherry shrimp). i got rid of my flagfish soon after buying them. in my experience this fish, to the contrary, is underrated and unfortunately very hard to find in the USA. jag, i wish you luck if you try them again but the key is to add a few.
when kept alone or in pairs the sae's may become very shy. they arent as confident without a big group. also the dominant sae may kill the other since there is only one to fight with and wont disperse its aggression (much like african cichlids). they may also choose to bully other fish instead of their own kind since they are limitted.
my tank has 10 of these guys. the tank is 6 feet long and 125 gallons. they were bought when they were only an inch long. now i have most at 2.5 inches with the dominant sae at 3.5 inches. he pushes them away from any zucchini i leave in the tank, so i put in 2 pieces at opposite sides of the tank. some people say that in order to get them to start eating bba, you may have to starve them for a few days. this was not the case for me. within a day, they were nibling and violently tearing at my bba and staghorn algae. within a week my tank was free of all kinds of hair algae. they ate it at all times and i noticed that when i would spy on them at night with my red light ( they cant see it so it doesnt stress them out), they would be inside the plants sleeping (fish lay motionless to sleep) so i assume they are mostly diurnal. my tank has many types of catfish, rasboras, tetras and plecos. the sae's have never shown any aggression to any other fish but themselves. this is why a decent sized school is important and they must have space... the less space the more hostile they will be to tankmates ( people are the same way, just look at new york city). i received another sae from one of the ac members a while later. this one looks slightly different and is also 3.5 inches long. i can easily tell it apart but he gets along with the school i already had in the tank. i assume that there are many different color variations depending on where they come from. my original school grew nice yellow fins and are a light shade of olive. the new one i added has clear fins and is darker olive. they all get along though so mixing is never an issue.
i have many shrimp (caridina and neocaridina) in my tank as well. i have seen baby and adolescent cherry shrimp get swallowed by my rummynose tetras so they do make tasty snacks to most fish but the sae's never even showed a slight interest in them from what i have seen. i have actually heard of amanos eating smaller shrimp so i would check closely into the matter. the sae's are also good jumpers. i have my tank covered as well as i can but still had 2 manage to escape through a small hole for the filter intake to go through. its a bad feeling to see a 2 inch sae dried on the top of your hood. overall, i dont know how i ever managed without them. i used to be so badly plagued by bba and i would bleach my tank but it always came back. now i havent seen any since the first month i got them, a year ago. they also decided that the new buds on my java moss are tasty as well so my tank doesnt have any new moss growth. this is good if you have the moss at the size you want it. moss does get out of control and clog filters easily. i did add some flame moss and they enjoyed that too so my tank will be moss free for a while... not a bad thing after going through as much as i have but they still eat it even though i feed them a lot of food regularly. for those that do want to grow moss, you may want to have a second grow tank ready or just take the chance (i find that in most cases the sae wont touch the moss).
i heard nerite snails will also eat bba as well as flagfish. the snails will eat it slowly in comparison and the flagfish are truely one of the most aggressive fish i ever had in my community tank (but will eat bba ... and your cherry shrimp). i got rid of my flagfish soon after buying them. in my experience this fish, to the contrary, is underrated and unfortunately very hard to find in the USA. jag, i wish you luck if you try them again but the key is to add a few.
Last edited:
Thanks jaysen for the SAE update; I don't feel like I'm reviving a dead thread LOL. Just purchased a pair of SAE's (along with 6 more mixed danio sp.) from DFS for my 125 gallon SE Asian biotope. They ashould arrive around 1.5-2 inches each. My dwarf hair grass is getting just a bit of hair algae growth and I like the idea of adding these Asian natives to the community. I may have to supplement their diet, but it looks like a zucchini slice etc. can be effective. I'll post updates.
I've considered one for my 30 gallon tank because BBA is spreading more rapidly. Plus, I think they would be neat to have!
Yeah, not the sexiest looking specimen but they seem to have a reputation for a laid-back peaceful attitude and for their unique way of fin-point resting.
I've just put a couple of SAE into a small tank in which I am growing out some Bolivian Ram fry. I'm hoping they will make a bit of an impact on a few different types of algae that have appeared. But so far, they are being totally outstripped by a few pond snails that I removed from another tank they had invaded, and also added.
i have seen alot of good info on sea's so far... i have 2 in my tank... they are not aggressive at all and i agree cannot sufficiently suck slime so that's out... when i'm doing maintenance they sometimes try to feed off the hairs on my hand... they suck pretty good and with a tank with small strings of java moss i can say that it is evident that the pieces grazed most often usually have the leaves shorter where they graze the most... in a better setup i would assume this amount would promote growth of the plant whereas my tank is not the best for plants atm... they don't eat java moss, i just think sometimes they can tear the leaves... but it's no reason to get rid of them at all cause it isn't enough to stunt anything... i do that well enough myself 
...
as for aggression... no way... but as with any animal there are circumstances... i had an albino redtail shark for a while... in the q tank he started showing better colors in a couple days... when he was switched to the community he got bright!!!... i redid the tank and one of the sae's jumped out of the holding tub and was injured... this is when the redtail started really showing signs of aggression and staking his claim by the veggie clip... he harassed them to no avail but the little one started taking some of the heat for the injured one... after a lil while the injured one started recouping and they ganged up on the redtail... i went to bed one day and woke up to a pail redtail... in a couple hours i found him acting like he had swim bladder disorder and the sae's taking turns chasing him... they stressed him to death... it was his fault, but they do attempt to defend themselves if necessary... they can't really hurt anything, just stress it to death... the redtail was the instigator and they were all together for a few months b4 any signs showed... (once the redtail felt big enough i guess)... i have quite a few things in that tank to this day and the sae's are at least twice the size of everything else and they are cool as a cucumber... i love em, but they do need a break from feeding to be efficient cause they will refuse any bba otherwise... unless you're just feeding cucumbers... they will eat them but not usually... more like a quick graze b4 they turn their proverbial noses up and move on.
... as for aggression... no way... but as with any animal there are circumstances... i had an albino redtail shark for a while... in the q tank he started showing better colors in a couple days... when he was switched to the community he got bright!!!... i redid the tank and one of the sae's jumped out of the holding tub and was injured... this is when the redtail started really showing signs of aggression and staking his claim by the veggie clip... he harassed them to no avail but the little one started taking some of the heat for the injured one... after a lil while the injured one started recouping and they ganged up on the redtail... i went to bed one day and woke up to a pail redtail... in a couple hours i found him acting like he had swim bladder disorder and the sae's taking turns chasing him... they stressed him to death... it was his fault, but they do attempt to defend themselves if necessary... they can't really hurt anything, just stress it to death... the redtail was the instigator and they were all together for a few months b4 any signs showed... (once the redtail felt big enough i guess)... i have quite a few things in that tank to this day and the sae's are at least twice the size of everything else and they are cool as a cucumber... i love em, but they do need a break from feeding to be efficient cause they will refuse any bba otherwise... unless you're just feeding cucumbers... they will eat them but not usually... more like a quick graze b4 they turn their proverbial noses up and move on.
Last edited:
