Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) questions

[jaysen]

i was told by two seperate sources today that siamese algae eaters will eat java moss and that they are highly aggressive. has anyone experienced this or know anything about it?

More details on ID can be found here.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums...d.php?t=192330

[Lupin]

Which one are you talking about?

True Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis) is not aggressive and will eat BBA.


Flying Fox (Epalzeorhynchus kallopterus) is slightly aggressive towards other species but more aggressive towards members of their own species.


False Siamese Algae Eater (Garra taeniata) like other Garra species have a similar behavior with the flying foxes.


On another note, we'll need a sticky thread for this to squash any possible misconceptions.

[jaysen]

true siamese

[Dangerdoll]

Good point on making this a sticky. I would like to also add in that these are often confused with Chinese Algae Eaters, often selling to newbies claiming they are the docile of the two (SAE vs CAE) which is incorrect. In fact, as these CAE's mature, they grow more and more aggressive.


golden


As for your question, I have 3 SAE's and they have never bothered any of my plants, if not only to eat the algae off them and that includes java ferns and moss. They are considered one of the only fish to successfully clean a tank of Black brush algae... and to this I am a witness. My tank was pretty bad off and when I added them, it took them a month to become interested in it and when they did... it was gone virtually overnight. They do need to be supplemented without algae present though.

[jaysen]

me fear is an outbreack of the black beard algae again. i struggled with that plague for years. i have flagfish, shrimp, and bn plecos but im not sure if they will do it. i was just curious after the warnings i received today.

[Lupin]

me fear is an outbreack of the black beard algae again. i struggled with that plague for years. i have flagfish, shrimp, and bn plecos but im not sure if they will do it. i was just curious after the warnings i received today.

Rosy barbs, true SAE's and American flagfish (Jordanella floridae) will eat BBA.

In my experience, none of the true SAE's I kept are aggressive. Anyone who says they suck slime coat or harass owns not a true SAE's but possibly the false ones. Someone in another forum asked me if SAE's suck slime coat because his does. It eventually turned out to be the Garra species because I pointed out the mouth structure of the true SAE does not enable it to actually suck.

This is a good topic to squash more misconceptions.

[Lupin]

I keep forgetting to add that my SAE's have never eaten Java moss nor any plants other than the BBA and green filamentous algae.

Thank you for making this a sticky, DD. It will really help especially those who are not familiar with the differences among the four well-known cyprinids.

[Nolapete]

My SAEs eat the new growth on my java moss. They won't eat the old parts, but they mow down the new stuff like someone trimming a bonzai plant.

[jaysen]

so then i take it that means they will eat java moss. that is too bad. ill stick with the shrimp and flagfish and hope for the best.

[Lupin]

Last time I had Java moss, my SAE never even touch the Java moss.