How blind can ifs be?

[Dragon Queen]

Went into Petsmart yesterday looking at fish, they had SAE's marked as oto cats! I had pictures and info on both with me to show the gal and she walks up and down the tanks looking for a mixed up tag and fish. I don't think she believed me, but their loss, my gain.
So question, do I need 2 or 3 SAE's for a 29 gal planted tank?

 

[Blinky]

They get quite big, around 4", and they're very active fish. How many you get really depends on your present stocking level. I've got two in a well-planted 65g. They're extremely active fish, very hard working and always hungry.

 

[cdawson]

Just make sure they're actually SAE's and not one of 3 look alikes. Only the true SAE will keep your tank clean of algae. Flying foxes will do the job, but will turn aggressive with age and stop eating algae. The false siamensis the same, and the chinese algae eater is just plain aggressive and won't tolerate many tankmates, they hardly eat any algae at all and would prefer flakes over algae.

 

[Dragon Queen]

Don't SAE's do better in a group than alone with other species?

 

[Dragon Queen]

cdawson, I stared at those fish for a good five minutes for the little differences in SAE's, fakes, and oto cats. I had three pictures of SAE's plus a page long description. The black stripe has a jagged edge, the stripe went to the tail and the fins were almost clear. False SAE's don't have the stripe into the tail and flying foxes have a dark band on their fins.

 

[beviking]

Sounds like true SAEs. I had one in my 90 and it did the job. As Blinky said, depends on your situation, how much algae grows in your tank etc....

 

[Dragon Queen]

But how will they do as the only SAE in the tank?

 

[swany]

SAE's really really like to have at least one friend. Even though they get up to 5", they like to hang out on big broad leaves like Amazon Swordplant. I think a 29 can handle 2 of them. I have two of them and I had to separate them once. They immediatly got depressed and wouldn't swim around. Then when they were reunited, they were like dogs. They were so happy to see each other, swimming all around together. Yup, they definately need a buddy.

A true SAE only has the black stripe. No gold stripe or red stripes, just a single black stripe.

Enjoy.

 

[Dragon Queen]

The Sae's also have a jagged edge to their black stripe the falsie's have smooth edges.

 

[reiverix]

hmmm I've only got one SAE in my tank. I hear they can get a bit more territorial to each other and different species as they age. Mine is about 3.5 inches and is showing signs of intolerance to my otos if they go near it when I give them zucchini.