SAE bullying the other fish - what can I do!

[Bloblob]

Hi all I'm new here and absolutely desperate for any advice. I have a true Siamese Algae Eater (100% confirmed) and quite literally have no idea what I should even do. He chases my gourami around at random but it's much worse when there's food about. He will relentlessly chase them around the tank and I'm scared the stress will make the gourami sick. He's a solid twice their size and he'll smack them into the glass or the substrate below. It's horrible, the gourami are so sweet and peaceful, the SAE feels like such a brute in comparison. He doesn't bother with the rasboras or the tetras. I had gotten him as I'd heard they were genuinely peaceful and good at algae eating (I was going through a bloom) and while he takes care of the algae no problem, I really think he's antagonising the poor fish. Is there any remedy to this?? Do I need to give him up?? I would appreciate any advice possible as am totally at a loss here. I can provide a video if needed.

 

[Shrimp42]

I had the same exact thing happen. Confirmed true SAE, ate BBA like I wanted it too, but it killed multiple of my platy fry and 2 adult platys. I had two, took one to a LFS, and tried just one. Same result. Here's what it looks like for confirmation.

 

[Bloblob]

I had the same exact thing happen. Confirmed true SAE, ate BBA like I wanted it too, but it killed multiple of my platy fry and 2 adult platys. I had two, took one to a LFS, and tried just one. Same result. Here's what it looks like for confirmation.

That's it! That's an exact twin of my fish. He's already managed to kill my shrimp (2 cherry, 1 amano) and left them beheaded for me to discover. I kept having people tell me that I can't have a real one as they're far too peaceful!! I'm really worried because he's quite a hefty little fish and the gourami are so, so sweet and the other fish all seem so afraid of him.

did you end up returning him to the LFS? Obviously I want the best life for him but it can't come as a sacrifice to the others. I also don't know what the LFS will even do with him.

 

[Shrimp42]

That's it! That's an exact twin of my fish. He's already managed to kill my shrimp (2 cherry, 1 amano) and left them beheaded for me to discover. I kept having people tell me that I can't have a real one as they're far too peaceful!! I'm really worried because he's quite a hefty little fish and the gourami are so, so sweet and the other fish all seem so afraid of him.

did you end up returning him to the LFS? Obviously I want the best life for him but it can't come as a sacrifice to the others. I also don't know what the LFS will even do with him.

I still currently have him in a 10 gallon quarantine, but that's not a good permanent home. I'll be rehoming him soon, probably to my LFS. Sucks because I really needed a way to control the BBA in my tanks, and they did a good job at it. Not worth the death of the fish though.

 

[Deku-Cory]

It's suggested to keep SAE's in groups for this very reason, when kept alone they can sometimes choose to be jerks to other fish. When kept in a group they bother each other instead.

But their temperaments seem to also just vary wildly. Some of them are mellow and peaceful, while others are hyper jerks.

 

[Pfrozen]

I don't know if this makes a difference but when I got mine it was smaller than my pencilfish... Its never been aggressive to any tank mates but I definitely notice some territorial behavior if my SAE is grazing on a nice patch of diatoms and the pencilfish want to spawn in that same spot or something lol. 99% of the time they just swim around together and chill

I do know they get aggressive if kept singly or in smaller tanks, maybe I had better luck because mine was basically a fry

 

[Basil]

How large is your tank? They are quite active swimmers and may feel cramped. If you tank is at least 55 g, it may be that he is just aggressive to the specific look of the gourami.