# Fin nipper!



## snuffy (Oct 19, 2007)

Hi Guys,

Two of my Rasbora Espei's fins have been nipped pretty bad. I'm trying to figure out who's the culprit. Only things in my 40 gallon tank is the Rasbora Espeis, 1 SAE, and 2 cories. I'm leaning towards the SAE. What do you guys think?


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Are you sure it's a Siamese Algae Eater and not a Chinese Algae Eater? The CAE's can get aggressive and nips fins when they are in small quarters (the only time I've seen one act nice and gentle was whe it was moved from a 20 gal to a 125...then it was the most calm fish you'd ever seen... ).


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Dave's question makes sense. Make sure they are not flying fox too (not referring to the flying creature but the fish species..haha). Any photo of the SAE? Also make sure that the tail issue is not caused by fin rot.

I have never seen my SAEs attacking other species but I have seen them chasing among themselves. If SAE attacks other species, maybe it's lonely and needs a few of its own species to accompany it (provided your tank is large enough to house them).


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## snuffy (Oct 19, 2007)

Yeah it's a true SAE. Maybe it is lonely. I took out the other 3 cuz they would out grow my 40 gallon tank. Maybe I'll take him out too. Poor espei, it's tail is almost a nub now =(


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

probably the algea eater...what a name, it doesn't even eat algea......they get as bad as they can be and chase fish all over and stress everyone out and they are so fast! i once teared my 125 completely out, caught them both, put everything back together and the fish in a bucket. went out, when i came back to take them to the pet store only one was in the bucket, i asked my sis if she saw anything and she replyed "the fish jumped out of your tank! i put it back though..." yeah, the darn fish is there, but one is not as bad as two..lol

logsuckers are much better!!! garra pinga -panda garra


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

i am pretty sure it's not the SAE because mines doesn't do much, the most aggression i've seen from it was it chasing away my pygmy cories because he wanted to eat. it may be the Rasboras themselves, you never know... i had fish that weren't supposed to mess with each other nip the other's fin even though it was the same species and it was not a fish listed as a fin nipper. sometimes you just find a bully fish.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

i doubt it was the SAE.


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## snuffy (Oct 19, 2007)

I'll keep another eye on them then. Because I can assume I can cross out the cories as the culprits. So it has to be the SAE or one of his fellow Espeis.


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## snuffy (Oct 19, 2007)

Ok so after a month of observation, I learned two things... my Espeis were really Hengli rasboras and that they were kinda aggressive to one another. The one with no tail is actually chasing some of the other rasboras now. Thank goodness no other fins have been damaged.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Funny! I have never heard of Espei Rasboras or Hengeli Rasboras being so aggressive until they can tear down the fin of another fish. They do chase one another but not until they start losing a tail or a fin. Are you sure that it's not caused by fin rot? I would remove the affected fish if I were you just in case it's due to disease. How many rasboras do you have? Usually they do better in a larger group (the more the better). Minimum 6 of them.


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## snuffy (Oct 19, 2007)

I have 16 of them. They do chase each other around so I assumed that it was them. Unless it's feeding time and the SAE kinda just chases them away from the wafer.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Keep observing. Maybe none of them is the culprit. If possible, remove the injured ones to ensure that it's not caused by disease that spreads around.


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## Reamer (Mar 3, 2010)

hmm my money is on a Rasbora is you man, dont know much about Rasbora espei, but from what i under stand swim around alot, so they need a bigger tank then most ppl might think(easily over populated), this might be stressing them out making them fight eatch other.

i could be wrong but maybe


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