# SAE's !



## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

The rave of SAE's, just made me had to get one! Then, finally my LFS had some, and I bought some and took them home into my 15G. The problems with algae would be somewhat solved, but the solution shouldn't be these fish, its what has to be done with the nutrients in the water column and how the plants compete them VS the algae. Well, for a month I had obseved these cool fish, don't get me wrong, but I have made a wrong idea about these SAE's. They don't eat algae, they ate my plants. Even though they are good cleaners for other people, they just don't work in my tank. And don't say I overfeed my fish and feed them also. Actually I starve them to eat algae, but they ate my plants. I have ID them and got alot of info of what true SAE's are, and they are genuine SAE's, but not the type to eat algae in my tank. IMHO, they suck at their job, no offense, just had to vent. Now, back to the drawing board. And they are damn smart in not being caught. Thanks for understanding.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Sorry to hear that... If their not getting caught_, are you sure that it is the SAE's? _

I have had nothing but good experience with my SAE's, never a problem with eating plants only algae.


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

I never had any eat plants before. As they get older they seem to get lazy and lay around till feeding time and go nuts on the flake!


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

Same here- my SAE's very delicately nibble algae off of the plants without hurting them.

When they get old & fat they don't do anything but eat fish food...it took one of mine like 8 years before he got to that point. When I got the 2 young ones I have now, it took them a few weeks to get rid of all the horrible BBA that had started to accumulate when the old one retired. They were extremely helpful. Sorry about yours!

You have read this? 
http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/


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## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

Yes, as I have previously wrote. Black line from mouth to the end of the or into the tail. Black line jagged looking on the top, because it is colored on the scales. Two whiskers, and not a sucker looking mouth. Trust me, I had to compare it with the flying fox. Also, it loves to stay still or float on things, and won't dart away when looking at it.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Erirku said:


> Actually I starve them to eat algae, but they ate my plants.


Sorry you're having problems with them. 
Your above quoted statement caught my eye. If you're starving them to eat algae and they're eating your plants instead, my assumption is that the type of algae you have in the tank is possibly one of the types they don't eat, so they had to resort to the plants to get something to eat.

I agree, they are no fun to try to catch....


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

If you want to catch and remove them from the tank try this trap.


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## christanto (Dec 23, 2004)

yeah, i have the same problem, the SAE and Ottos love eating the Blyxa in my tank. Mostly the tips are eaten, looks pretty ugly. Jus deciding what plant I wanna replace it with =) where are you from in Hawaii? I'm located in Hilo, do you know Dennis(flowerhorn)?

-Chris


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## Jason Baliban (Feb 21, 2005)

I have heard mixed things about SAE's. One thing is common about what i hear.....when they get older they eat less algae and more flake. I have heard that black mollies do a better job with algae if you feed them less.....and they are cheaper and easier to find.
jB


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

Note about mollies: don't buy a M & a F, or soon you will have 10,000 mollies!
(sounds elementary, but it's only cool for a little while. The LFS doesn't exactly want bags of mollies).


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Even though I've never tried them, I've heard Florida Flagfish are excellent algae eaters (of all kinds of algae), and they're pretty reasonably priced to boot.
They are pretty, stay fairly small and they say if you keep just one sex, peaceful.

Has anyone here ever tried them?


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

I was tempted, but was scared away by the reports of them being "aggressive". 

(this from the instigator of the notorious pencilfish incident)


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I've had the same experiences with my sae's. I can't keep moss, because they strip it bare. I planted some hc in 2 different 10 gal's. It is being slowly eaten away in one of them, not on the second one. Fauna is same in both, so it has to be the sae in one of them is using it as a snack. Caviar tastes, don't you know.


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