# Siamese Algae Eater (SAE)



## Nick72 (7 Jun 2020)

There was a SAE in the LFS’s display tank yesterday.

Great looking fish with lots of personality, how did I overlook theses before.

So having failed to get Otocinclus beyond 5 months, these may be a good replacement.

I've read up on them and think I could do 3 in my 50 Gallon, but it's hard to find any images of mature SAE to be sure.

Anyone here have photos or video of 4+ inch SAE?


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## Onoma1 (7 Jun 2020)

I would go for as small as possible. My experience was that the more mature ones can become quite aggressive and may start to prefer fish food to algae.  The other bit of knowledge I picked up on the forum is that other fish are often mislabelled as SAEs. Lovely looking fish and brilliant algae eaters though!


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## Nick72 (7 Jun 2020)

Onoma1 said:


> I would go for as small as possible. My experience was that the more mature ones can become quite aggressive and may start to prefer fish food to algae.  The other bit of knowledge I picked up on the forum is that other fish are often mislabelled as SAEs. Lovely looking fish and brilliant algae eaters though!




Yes, I'm aware that Flying Foxes are often mis-sold as SAE, and I also know the differences between Chinese Algae Eaters (CAE) and SAE.

Most report that Flying Foxes become aggressive, while SAE only become mildly territorial, and only with other SAE.

Did you have a different experience?

But what I was looking for was just some pictures of larger (mature 4-6 inch) SAE, because I want to see what they grow into.


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## Onoma1 (7 Jun 2020)

Nick72 said:


> Yes, I'm aware that Flying Foxes are often mis-sold as SAE, and I also know the differences between Chinese Algae Eaters (CAE) and SAE.
> 
> Most report that Flying Foxes become aggressive, while SAE only become mildly territorial, and only with other SAE.
> 
> ...



Sorry, I wasn't sure of your level of knowledge. 

My experience of an older SAE was that it was quite territorial ...which didn't go down well with my Ottos and smaller fish. It may be better behaved if in a tank with larger fish (mine were green neons and ember tetras).


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## hypnogogia (7 Jun 2020)

They also get lazy at grazing algae. Mine are just in the process of eating blood worm.


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## Nick72 (7 Jun 2020)

hypnogogia said:


> They also get lazy at grazing algae. Mine are just in the process of eating blood worm.



Do you think this is dependent on how much you feed them, or will they just mature out of algae?


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## hypnogogia (7 Jun 2020)

Nick72 said:


> Do you think this is dependent on how much you feed them, or will they just mature out of algae?


Not sure.  I’ve seen a few people on here mention that as they age they become lazier at eating algae.


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## Conort2 (7 Jun 2020)

They don’t completely grow out of it but will certainly eat a lot less algae when adult. As mentioned they also become quite territorial. I’d recommend them only if you are keeping them with larger more robust fish like barbs and rainbow fish.

Cheers

Conor


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## Nick72 (7 Jun 2020)

Conort2 said:


> They don’t completely grow out of it but will certainly eat a lot less algae when adult. As mentioned they also become quite territorial. I’d recommend them only if you are keeping them with larger more robust fish like barbs and rainbow fish.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Conor




Thanks.

My current stock is:

1x Pearl Gourami 
1x Angelfish 
8x Red Eye Tetra 

These are all fairly robust, so I think they will cope with 2x SAE 

Tank is 900x450x450


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## Conort2 (7 Jun 2020)

Nick72 said:


> Thanks.
> 
> My current stock is:
> 
> ...


Yeah they’re perfect tank mates. I’d recommend more than two SAE though. If you have two one will just constantly pick on the other. I’d say minimum of 4/5 really to spread the aggression amongst each other.

Cheers

Conor


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## Geoffrey Rea (7 Jun 2020)

Nick72 said:


> Anyone here have photos or video of 4+ inch SAE?



Two fully grown adult SAE’s in here. Four foot tank, see if you can spot them:






Mixed in with various species:


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## PARAGUAY (8 Jun 2020)

Amano would often have several juvenile SAEs in aquariums. IME it's a little optimistic to think they will keep tanks totally algae free but they will be taking the biofilm off plant leaves rocks etc and would in IME take newer BBA growth. They have a active nature rather than aggressive


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## jameson_uk (8 Jun 2020)

I got a tiny SAE for my tank (with black neon tetras, neon dwarf rainbows, sterbai cory, amanos and otos).   When he was small he used to school with the tetras and could be seen munching algae.   It didn't however take long for it to get 4" and he became quite a bully (only when food was on offer).   It would make sure it was first to the food (they are quite fast swimmers) and that others stayed away until he was done.   I ended up getting him rehomed as you could see the stress he was causing to the other occupants.

They are lovely fish though and if I was to restart with bigger occupants I would probably get a school (or more likely Denison Barbs which looks a bit nicer).


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## tiger15 (8 Jun 2020)

Good or bad depends on what other fish you keep with SAE.  I keep large fish that out bully SAE in size and aggressiveness for fish food.  SAE have to struggle to catch and nibble on the 1-2 mm pellet food I feed my fish, so they remain eager algae eater throughout their life.  If you keep SAE with small schooling tetra, SAE are bad choice as they will out grow and out bully little fish for food and soon will abandon algae eating altogether

SAE is the second best bba eater, the best belongs to a close cousin Reticulated Flying Fox as shown in the center of my 75 gal.  SAE and FF are browser that nib off bba and hair algae from leaf edges.  Otto and ancistrus are sucker mouth grazer that scrap off algae from surfaces but don’t touch bba.  You need to include browser and grazer in your algae eating crew.

Otto has the advantage over heavier ancistrus to rest feed on small leaf vegetation.  SAE and FF hang in water to feed, so work fine with small leaf delicate plants.  SAE look remarkably like B&W Denison barb in size, body shape and markings and the two often school together.

I also have Panda Gara, probably the best algae grazer with small fish as they are not bully and don’t get lazy with fish food.


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## Nick72 (9 Jun 2020)

Thank you @tiger15 - do you have a clearer photo of your Flying Fox?

I ordered a SAE yesterday, LFS says it should be here in a week.

The Panda Garra is a new to me.  I just did some reading - it comes from Myanmar, which is fairly close to here in Malaysia, so it should be available.  I'll look out for it.


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## tiger15 (9 Jun 2020)

Nick72 said:


> Thank you @tiger15 - do you have a clearer photo of your Flying Fox?
> 
> I ordered a SAE yesterday, LFS says it should be here in a week.
> 
> The Panda Garra is a new to me.  I just did some reading - it comes from Myanmar, which is fairly close to here in Malaysia, so it should be available.  I'll look out for it.


FF is a plain looking fish, not commonly available.  It‘s similar to SAE in size and bad behavior toward small tankmates.

https://aquaticarts.com/products/silver-flying-fox

Panda Gara is beautiful fish, but is pricy and hard to find.  There is another Gara called Dr. fish that are used for foot massage that will likely perform as good as Panda, but not as pretty.


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