Kat55

Hello all, as you may read in my aquarium info, we have three clown loaches in our 55gallon planted community tank. We have always planned to take them back when they get a little bigger, and we feel the time has come. So, we are getting them ready for their trip back to the LFS. What does this have to do with Cyprinids? Well, we have somehow acquired the curse, yup thats right..black beard has struck again. We have had a small amount for a while that was kept in check by our Amanos and our Mollies...but it has overcome. It was recommended that we use the credit from our loaches (lil piggies we will miss them, but our amazon sword sure won't) to add a few Siamese Algae Eaters. Not knowing too much about these guys I looked them up and they seem to have the potentiality to be our saviors! The questions then: Are they a good idea for our tank? Will they disagree with our danios? How do we make sure we are getting a true SAE (I have seen a few pictures but am not sure in the tank that I will be able to tell by just the stripe)? How many-will three be enough so they don't get lonely? We appreciate this forum and any feedback!

aquarist48

Hello Kat. Hopefully someone with more personal experience on SAE's will be able to help you today. I had them years ago with Discus and it was a trauma to say the least. They kept attaching themselves to the sides of the Discus removing the body slime.
Best wishes.
Ken

Red1313

Were those SAE's or CAE's? SAE's are supposed to be totally herbivourus while CAE's tend to become more of a pictivour as they mature...

Slug

All sucker fish have the potential to attach themselves to other fish. I've even seen Otos do it.

jgon_

I have a SAE and it is a wonderful, active and peaceful fish. Just be sure to do your research to make sure what you're actually buying a SAE. I don't believe SAE's even have a suckermouth Ken, so looks like from your story, you got duped.

eiginh

Sorry to say Ken but you may have gotten a false SAE... I could be wrong.

Here's a link for more info on False/True SAE's found on aquascapingworld.

http://www.aquascapingworld.com/foru...ae-eaters.html

Regal

I had a bad case of BBA recently. I think that's what it was anyway. I had Staghorn algae too. I added two SAEs and it seems to be gone now. They pick at it constantly. I also reduced the time my lights were on each day and started feeding only once per day. I have large Angelfish and the SAEs have not bothered them or any of my other fish at all. The SAEs are very peaceful.