Aggressive True Sae - Help!

[Ganovord]

HI everyone,

First post here but I have kept my aquarium for about 6 months and read a fair bit into the basics. Ran into a major problem recently with an aggressive SAE.

2 months ago I got a tiny Siamese Algae Eater to help control the green spot algae on my Anubis leaves. I did some piror reading and took care to get only "true" SAE. My LFS labelled the fish as as Crossocheilus siamenis. I am quite sure he's a true SAE with the zig zag black stripe running to tail and the single pair of barbells. Will attach some photos.

Almost straight away I started noticing that during feeding time it was chasing around swordtails up to 3 times it's size. Now that its grown a fair bit after 2 months I have noticed it nipping and chasing the Corys and Swordtails every feed. I have lost a Cory already from stress and the remaining 3 others all have some damaged fins. There is also a large female swordtail that's so stressed she's spending all day at the corner with clamped fins. The SAE seems to only target larger fish and leaves my swordtail fry, Harlequin Rasboras completely undisturbed.

It's well fed with algae wafers and bullies the Corys off their shrimp pellets all the time. It does a reasonable job in algae control and java moss mowing but the aggression is getting insane!

I have tried to get that thing out of the tank a few times but it's so agile that it's impossible to net. A bit lost on what to do here and would appreciate some advice.

My tank is a 45 usg size, stocked with the following:
7 Swordtails, 1 male who will bully any other male swords to death, now bullied by SAE. 6 female.
10 Harlequin Rasboras
1 Small Bristlenose
3 peppered Corydoras
1 SAE
Swordtail fry of various sizes
Plants: 3 medium sized anubias on 3 pieces of driftwood, small growth of Java moss, a few small stem plants.
Water tests PH 7.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20

Would appreciate any help!

 

[goldface]

Drain most of the water out, so the SAE will have less space to escape. Then try two nets, using one to lead it into the other, or use a large fish bag and have it swim into that.

 

[Tsin21]

Since it's a lone SAE, how about the possibility that it's trying to school or shoal with other fishes with the same body shape instead of bullying?

 

[Ganovord]

Thanks scarface, will try that trick tomorrow, my biggest issue with catching that thing is that he's fast and likes to hide in the plants and driftwood which usually means a lot of up rooting and mess, but if he has to come out I'll just re plant afterwards.

Not sure if it's trying to school with the others since it goes psycho mostly at feed time, there are times it seems content nibbling leaves and moss. It doesn't just get close to the other fish, it usually nips another fish's fins or body until it runs away, then chases it like crazy until the fish goes into a corner. One plus of this is that my Rasboras are schooling super tight from seeing all this.