# SAE & Flying Fox



## lildark185 (Jul 7, 2006)

Can SAEs and Flying Foxes live together in the same tank?


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## Quetzalcoatl (Feb 13, 2009)

They both get pretty big (5-6 inches) and get slightly territorial (Flying Fox more so I heard). I think it will be fine if you have big enough tank with enough plants so they can have their own space.


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## Do78521 (Dec 15, 2006)

they are the same thing isnt? flying fox is just another name for siamese algae eater (SAE), are you thinking of Chinese algae eater which are more agressive or suck, in my opinion


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

nonononono
they are not the same.
http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I personally wouldn't mix them. As stated the FF's do get more rowdy (even amongst themselves), so you'd probably have problems if you put them together. If you want to choose between the two, the SAE's would be a much better choice.


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## lildark185 (Jul 7, 2006)

I intended to buy SAEs and bought them only Aquabid only to discover they were flying foxes. I just bought true SAEs at a LFS and put them in too. The flying foxes swim up to my hands and nibble away when I change the water. Do they eat any algae?


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## Fishtory (Jan 21, 2009)

I have three flying foxes in one tank and yes, they are terrific at eating algae. I am wondering whether anyone who says they are aggressive has actually had that happen? The reason I'm asking is that mine are totally non-aggressive. They are constantly together, schooling much like a band of corydoras would. A friend of mine said hers are the same way.

I know fish can have different personalities. Could be attributed to one gender of the species, or tank size, or something.


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## lildark185 (Jul 7, 2006)

Are you sure you don't have the SAE? What types of algae do flying foxes eat?


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

The differences between the species while at a small size can be confusing, but a seller should know what fish they are selling- make sure you let him know of his mistake. Sellers in LFS or online pretty much caused the confusion by misIDing fish regularly.

As for algae eating, flying fox eat it well while small and not so much as they grow. I don't know how anyone could really gauge this well, tank conditions and algae growth aren't 100% stable all the time. Anyways, SAEs are usually better for hair algae and will be more likely to consume it their whole life.

Personally, my SAE follow this pretty well although I have one full sized specimen in a 30g and he looks as though he eats more fish food than algae, but I only watch him when I feed the tank. Who can blame him for a free handout? 

GL!


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## Quetzalcoatl (Feb 13, 2009)

Fishtory said:


> I have three flying foxes in one tank and yes, they are terrific at eating algae. I am wondering whether anyone who says they are aggressive has actually had that happen? The reason I'm asking is that mine are totally non-aggressive. They are constantly together, schooling much like a band of corydoras would. A friend of mine said hers are the same way.
> 
> I know fish can have different personalities. Could be attributed to one gender of the species, or tank size, or something.


Chances are you have SAE, not Flying Fox, or your Flying Fox is still very young. It is quite common for people to miss identify SAE and Flying Fox. It gets even more confusing since some people refer to SAE as Siamese Flying Fox.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

this link explains it all.
http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/


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## customdrumfinishes (Apr 1, 2008)

flying foxes eat algae when there young and small, after that they wont eat it unless there starving. best to use ottocinclus and sae for algae.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Flying fox are also more mellow when they're young, but as the age they start becoming more of a problem. I've never owned any personally, but I keep hearing the same story about them over and over again, so there must be something to it.


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## Bettatail (Jan 14, 2009)

For flying fox, you need to have at least 3 in a small tank, in a big tank you need to have less than 15G per flying fox, minimum 3. 
They eat algae, but not as good as a colorful flying fox(False SAE), of course, True SAE do even better on the algae.
If you have a school of small flying fox don't touch algae, you need to introduce a large size False SAE or true SAE, let the big fish take the lead(might see some fight), you will see the flying fox follow what SAE does--eating algae.

Flying fox
False SAE(colorful flying fox)
True SAE(crossocheilus siamensis is actually different species: crossocheilus langei, corssocheilus atrilimes, and two more types)
CAE
The names list above are all different fish similar in appearence.


Now I have 2 false SAE(colorful flying fox, ), 3 true SAE(crossocheiles langei) in my tank, True SAE are peaceful. The dominated False SAE is peaceful outside of its "cave", but exclude fish of any kind within its "cave".


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## Fishtory (Jan 21, 2009)

False. True. True. False. These fish will make your head spin! 

Mine are flying fox. I didn't mis-identify; these were what I wanted and what I got. (Thank goodness)

I think you're right, they are still young. Mine are only about 3.5 inches long so far.

@ lildark_ What kind of algae do they eat?_ I have hair algae and brush algae, and I scooted up with my nose against the glass and watched them carefully cleaning the leaves and stems of a bacopa. But then I watched an oto doing the same thing....where the ff is intent on cleaning the whole leaf, the oto goes right for the algae, if that makes any sense. Both got the algae off but in different ways.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I have 4 flying foxes in my 125. They don't bother anybody but each other. They only chase each other around and then no more than my blue congos chase each other. I have a thickly planted tank with lots of hiding place. I see them rasping the plants and the rocks and such. They are doing something to those surfaces.


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## lildark185 (Jul 7, 2006)

The SAEs and Flying Foxes seem to be doing well together. There is occasional chasing amongst the FF that spill over into the SAEs. My single male cherry barb does the most chasing of all fish, he chases everyone except for the angels.


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## edlut67 (Feb 26, 2007)

Once started off with 4 x Flying foxes in a 30 Gallon.(they were sold as SAE's) They were small, were eating algae, but were really, really mean among each other. I removed 3 off them and was left with 1. 

Mr Flying Fox left, was growing rapidly. I then eventually found true SAE's, of which I bought 6. They were very, very small(2 cm) and when in the tank Mr. Flying Fox(who reached the length of 8 cm by then) started to chase eg. attacking them. 
OUT he went Mr. Flying Fox. 

Still have the 6 SAE's. They are always hanging out together, are good at eating algae and fun to watch. 

SAE & Flying Fox together, for the SAE yes, Flying Fox a definite NO.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

I wonder if Flying Foxes fly (jump) out of the tank as readily as SAEs do.


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