Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) questions

maxthedog123 · Feb 7, 2008

A friend wants to give me a true SAE that is about 4 inches. I would love to have him for my 55g because I have a lingering touch of BBA. I've never purchased an SAE because the stores around here haven't gotten any recently. I am a little concerned about how my false SAE (false SAE, not FF) will react - he is a little bit agressive sometimes.

One note from this thread - I have a single female Flagfish. She ate every bit of hair in the tank in 24-48 hours when I got her, but I have never seen her touch BBA. I've read many times that they eat it, but I haven't seen mine do it.

Que · Feb 7, 2008

My SAEs don't touch BBA.

Q

fishorama · Feb 7, 2008

I have SAE & BBA. They seem to keep it from getting worse. I think the false will harass the true, it'll be in it's territory. It would probably help to add 2 SAE to spread out the aggression but that can add a lot of fish load. Mine all eat & poo all the time.

Lupin · Feb 7, 2008

maxthedog123 said:
One note from this thread - I have a single female Flagfish. She ate every bit of hair in the tank in 24-48 hours when I got her, but I have never seen her touch BBA. I've read many times that they eat it, but I haven't seen mine do it.

You need to try more flagfish. One alone can be different from the others. I fed them with hair algae when I had them.

Lupin · Feb 7, 2008

fishorama said:
I have SAE & BBA. They seem to keep it from getting worse. I think the false will harass the true, it'll be in it's territory. It would probably help to add 2 SAE to spread out the aggression but that can add a lot of fish load. Mine all eat & poo all the time.

I agree with you there, Fishorama.

maxthedog123 · Feb 8, 2008

Well, I don't really want to add 2 more fish. As you can see from my sig, my 55 is pretty robustly stocked. I stay at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 5-10 nitrate with lots of plants, a Fluval 305 and 404, and 30-40% water changes. That's one reason I don't understand the BBA, by the way. It came in with some plants I got and I've never quite eradicated it. I think my parameters and dosing would eventually see it go away, but that's probably another thread.

In any event. My friend wants to get rid of his SAE, so I'll probably give it a go. If my false SAE really gets on it, I can transfer one of them to one of my 30's.

kkifer · Feb 12, 2008

I have one 6 inch SAE in my 55 gal and I can't image having more than that. He's the dominator of the tank and sometimes chases the other fish around the tank at full speed. He's so possessive of food that he would rather chase everyone away from food than eat it. I was just watching him trying to keep everyone away from an algae wafer. Meanwhile, a little Amano shrimp started dragging it off. LOL The SAE annoys everyone but they don't seem to be afraid of him.

I remember now that I got him when I had BBA, and it did go away and hasn't come back. But I also started dosing Excel about then. Now I have to buy algae wafers to feed all the algae eating critters I bought!

jmhart · Feb 12, 2008

kkifer said:
I have one 6 inch SAE in my 55 gal and I can't image having more than that. He's the dominator of the tank and sometimes chases the other fish around the tank at full speed. He's so possessive of food that he would rather chase everyone away from food than eat it. I was just watching him trying to keep everyone away from an algae wafer. Meanwhile, a little Amano shrimp started dragging it off. LOL The SAE annoys everyone but they don't seem to be afraid of him.

I remember now that I got him when I had BBA, and it did go away and hasn't come back. But I also started dosing Excel about then. Now I have to buy algae wafers to feed all the algae eating critters I bought!

The aggressive nature of this fish sounds more like one of the imposters. In my experience, SAE's are quite friendly but most certainly hyperactive. The CAE and False SAE can be more aggressive. Also, in my experience, true SAE's rarely grow to 6 inches, and stay closer to 4-5" at full grown.

This may be the source of the problem.

kkifer · Feb 13, 2008

He's at least 5 inches, so I hope he has quit growing. Here's a bad pic.

Looks like an SAE to me.

Lupin · Feb 13, 2008

Yes, it's a true SAE.


zoomed.com	hikariusa.com		aqaimports.com	Store

Search

Search

Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) questions

maxthedog123

Can't have too many Tiger Barbs...

Que

I wish I was a fish I wish.

fishorama

AC Members

Lupin

Registered Member

Lupin

Registered Member

maxthedog123

Can't have too many Tiger Barbs...

kkifer

the one with the soggy cuffs

jmhart

Revolutionary

kkifer

the one with the soggy cuffs

Lupin

Registered Member