SAE plant appetite

Tonina sp. Belem and Rotala wallichii are two that I have seen them eat.

I would never keep these fish again. IMO they are ugly too big and not worth the trouble. They are hogs too.

Robert. (bobo31)

Mine did wonderful when it was small on algae but it grew and quit. Ate both my milfoils, rotala wallachi and flake food. I suspect it was eating guppy fry too. I was kind of glad when the last one disappeared.

SAEs

I GOTTA TELL YA. I had one for nine years. No BBA. Recently the BBA started coming back- and I thought- well he's old & not doing his job any more. He just died the day after I bought 2 new babies who are swimming in a Quarantine tank.

As soon as he got old ( I mean really old), I got BBA growing again! My point being, evidently he did a great job for over 8 years.

Never ate any plants. But I don't have anything really delicate.

Can't wait to get the new guys in my main tank.

My 2 have never eaten Tonina. In fact, I think as fish (forget the algae eating part) they are rather elegant swimmers and a beautiful aquarium inhabitant, in their way.

Andrew Cribb

I've never had trouble with mine eating any plants, and some of them are over 5 years old.
If they are out of algae in the tank, the simple solution is to give them some sort of supplimental feedings (algae wafers, etc.) and they won't have to turn to your plants for the greens they need in their diet.

whenever people would look in my tank, it's the first fish they asked about. (granted he DWARFED all my cardinals, rummys, and apistos).

He was very graceful. The new baby SAEs are quite fun to watch.

Well, I don't know if it is because of the sae's or not, but I don't have any bba I can see. And I do feed them pellets (spirullina) which sink and all the fish, actually, seem to enjoy. But they are pigs as far as eating goes. Thankfully, I have never seen them go after my guppy fry, but I have so many, I would never miss a few.

I have one that I've had now for about 7 years. He's gotten over 10cm long (over 4") and aggressive. He's constantly chasing my two Rams and I find him to also be a distraction in the tank. He does not fit into the aquascape anymore...

Anyway, I will be moving him out of the tank if I can figure out a way of catching him without ripping up all my plants! :shock:

Oh god- i did have to catch one once and i had to practically drain the tank.

why did you have to remind me?

I'd have to agree that they do a good job on algae, but they definitely will develop a fondness for fish food. To top it off, they recently decided to eat my moss, leaving only the ratty stems. :evil: Arg...

-Jeremiah

Mine seem to like Myriophyllum mattogrossense, rotala wallichii and mosses. I keep Myriophyllum mattogrossense greeen in the tank still and problems are only evident when there's just a stem or two, once the plant bushes out you can't even tell they are eating some of the fresh new growth. Rotala wallichii on the other hand simply had to go to another tank. No big deal on the moss, they help keep it under control, there is still more there than they could eat so they are not really creating any problems with it.

Giancarlo Podio

I too really like SAe's, only positive things to say about them. Just buy them younge. Only problem with that is you have to be positive they are SAE's I recently got duped into buying some Flying Fox that looked just like SAE's until they got comfortable at my house... and i noticed the off white Stripe. It is hard to tell when they are younge.

SAE ID

anyone who hasn't already needs to read this, if unsure of SAE ID:

http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/

you'll immediately be an expert! or probably at least know more than the LFS...

PS: I fid the biggest tipoff to be the "zigzagged" stripe.

I also have a group of the false Siamensis in one of my tanks. They seem to eat even brush algae as well as the true SAE's, even though they say they won't. Those are easy to tell apart because of the stripe stopping at the base of the tail.
That was my first attempt at getting true SAE's. I brought the scientific name in to the LFS and had them order them, but they still got the False ones in and told me I was flat out wrong and that Flying foxes, SAE's and False Siamensis are all the same thing.....
Then I brought the article from the Krib in and they just gave me a huh and tossed it aside..... :x

working hard to get your business, i see.... haha

For me the key is the stripe. An SAE is a pretty uniform tan/gold with a black stripe that extend through the tail. It's hard to see the reticulated scales on the small ones when they're steressed out in an LFS tank.

What give away the Flying Fox and False SAE is the additional dark band at the top of its back, so it looks more like three stripes (dark-light-dark)