# Sae?



## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

i have one Siamese algae eater in my tank and i recently heard that some people had trouble with them once they got bigger... what did they do specifically? i have mines in a 20 long and its currently about 3-4 inches long. i only kept it in there because if any weird algae popped up i'd be ready, i've been thinking about rehoming it but they're so fast and i have lots of plants in the way... advice?


----------



## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

A lot of people keep SAEs to remove algae but as they grow up, they tend to prefer fish food. They also eat moss. Some claim they grow too big to fit into their tanks. Those are the three major issues leading me to adopt some unwanted SAEs from friends.

I have no issue with them because I purposely want them to eat the moss - I don't fancy moss these days.


----------



## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

Love my SAEs, they keep away the bba. Maybe not so much when they get bigger, but still interesting fish!

You may be sorry if you get rid of them. Also, not so easy to catch!


----------



## James0816 (Oct 9, 2008)

I loved mine too. He was a peaceful guy living in a heavy community tank.

My only problem was ... well ... he thought he was superman (or superfish) one day. Found him on the floor. 

I do keep open top tanks but didn't know SAE's could be considered jumpers.


----------



## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

that's funny- one of mine jumped out once too. I mentioned that on the forum and others didn't seem to know about it either. I had a closed top tank then and I can't remember the circumstances but I remember finding it on the floor.

Right now I have an open-topped and no one has tried to fly!


----------



## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

huh... well taking him out isn't worth the hours of tracking that fish around. my brothers SAE also jumped out. i like my SAE but i'm concerned about my other inhabitants. i find there mouth and how they eat the funniest thing ever.


----------



## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

I lost a few SEAs jumping out of the tank too. All of my tanks are opened top except the one with lemon tetras that I have to cover it with something - lemon tetras are nasty jumpers. My SAEs usually jumped out when they're new in the tank. Once they're established in the tank, they are less likely to jump especially in a heavily planted tank. They also jumped out when something frightened them - mine jumped out when I was trying to remove a sick fish with a net. 

Similar to neilshieh, I also have a question on whether SAEs eat fry or small fishes. They seem to be ok with my baby endlers and baby platies in a heavily planted tank but I cannot be sure whether any of the fry got eaten up. I don't really mind the fry being eaten up to keep the population in control but I am curious.


----------



## Reamer (Mar 3, 2010)

i have a false SAE so i dont realy now if my case realy counts....

i still love mine but when i first got him he was awasome at cleaning everything bot now he just cleans the glass and eats fish food that my other fish are to slow to get to(he is fast)

my fear now is that he is growing to fast and soon i might need to...

... get a bigger tank for him


----------



## huaidan (Mar 6, 2010)

About a month ago I got 12 of them for my 100 g. They were so small, barely bigger than the neon tetras I have, maybe 3 cm. A month later, now they're about 7-8 cm. They constantly graze, and when they swim up against the glass I can see their little bellies full of green algae. I'm not sure if my tank can hold all of them when they get bigger, but they're really a great fish to have, very interesting to watch.


----------



## Dave Kotschi (Dec 16, 2007)

Huaidan, where did you get the sae's?


----------



## huaidan (Mar 6, 2010)

In Georgia, you're out of luck. I live in China, and order them from the taobao.com shopping network. Other fish I can get from the local "bird and flower" markets. Of course, if you can read and type Chinese, you could always go on taobao and pay the international shipping fee  I'm sure there would be no guarantee of live delivery though.
Mine only cost a dollar each, and they were 3-4 cm when I got them a month ago. I've been to Thailand, their place of origin, and found they are quite common there. One public aquarium there has some nice large specimens there.
But, yeah, you might try to fedex an Asian delivery if you're feeling adventurous.


----------



## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

huaidan- how big were the large specimens?


----------



## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Huaidan, you have a funny name. It sounds like "naughty" in Mandarin. So, how naughty are you? 

I doubt you can send fish or plants via Fedex. I believe the moment they detect water, your parcel will be rejected. If not, you may be lucky if the receiver receives it. It's actually illegal to import and export fishes and plants without a permit. I am not sure what will happen if you get caught. Someone from Singapore wanted to send me some plants but we decided against it due to the risk of maybe getting arrested. Even though our countries are so near and we are permitted to bring small amount of fishes and plants into each other's countries, sending them by post is a different story.


----------



## huaidan (Mar 6, 2010)

@van
Not sure if they were true C.Siamensis like I saw in Beijing (little ones), the ones in Thailand were about 6" I'd say. It's in one of the main malls in Bangkok, not the one that got torched.

@tot Not much these days. Good advice. The problem remains how to get real ones.


----------



## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

totziens said:


> Huaidan, you have a funny name. It sounds like "naughty" in Mandarin. So, how naughty are you?
> 
> I doubt you can send fish or plants via Fedex. I believe the moment they detect water, your parcel will be rejected. If not, you may be lucky if the receiver receives it. It's actually illegal to import and export fishes and plants without a permit. I am not sure what will happen if you get caught. Someone from Singapore wanted to send me some plants but we decided against it due to the risk of maybe getting arrested. Even though our countries are so near and we are permitted to bring small amount of fishes and plants into each other's countries, sending them by post is a different story.


ROFL i just made the connection after you mentioned it! literally translated into chinese it would be bad egg... but if you actually know chinese it means badass. its not worth buying from china... i get mines at varying sizes for 2 dollars each.


----------



## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

I thought SAEs should be a commonly available species. In Malaysia, they used to be very common but recently I heard from friends that they could not find any juvenile SAEs too. The only SAE I saw at an LFS was a large adult SAE that would not help in getting rid of algae.

I believe the main exporter is Thailand. Maybe the recent flood in Thailand (and Northern Malaysia) is impacting on their export.

Looks like there are a few Mandarin speaking persons here. The direct translation from Chinese to English is always very funny. I remember my late father (an English teacher) had some students trying to do direct translation from Chinese into English leading to laughter of everyone.


----------



## huaidan (Mar 6, 2010)

Huaidan was my nickname back in my Shanghai glory days. Now it's just an online nick I use. I have been noticing more and more awareness of Chinese culture going around, but sometimes I wonder if it's just because I live in China  You'd think for as long as I've lived here my Chinese would be better.


----------



## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

I'm a Chinese descendent. Unfortunately, I am the only person in my family that knows how to read and write Chinese although I am not very good in it. Used to study Chinese in school including those classic olden days Chinese that I could hardly understand a thing. That's why I failed all my Chinese exams in school :icon_hang. So, I know certain things about Chinese culture but I have been greatly influenced by my own country as well as the British and Americans over the years . Some of my Indian friends think that I know India better than China. Since my favourite food was Indian food, they jokingly said that I was an Indian


----------



## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

i've been taking chinese school for sometime now... the standards have really risen and the recent SAT 2 chinese i took pretty much slapped me in the face. I'm decent in chinese, as in i won't be screwed over if i was by myself in taiwan. however people in taiwan can tell right away i'm from America.
My view of India is that its sub-asian... hence it being a subcontinent. and i'm also a firm believer that taiwan is separate from china


----------



## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

I hope none of you will fight over Taiwan here...hahaha. I consider myself on the neutral ground but I do hope that no war will erupt. It will be very pitiful if well developed cities are destroyed in the process. It not good for either China or Taiwan. In fact it's not good for the entire East Asia. It may impact South-East Asia too because countries like Malaysia and Singapore have very close links with both Taiwan and China. I have friends at both sides and won't be looking forward to see anyone suffers in any war.


----------



## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

actually not much of a war... just a debate. Surely it won't get to the point where violence will be used. What surprises me is the competition in asian countries. Kids in taiwan and China are like geniuses compared to the schooling in the US. I tell them that i go to school at 7 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon and they're like WHAT??? they go from 7am to 1am. heavily weighed down by all the tutoring and what not.


----------



## Aquaticz (May 22, 2009)

I purchased about 30 true SAE about two years ago. Most shops do not know what an SAE is 
That my friend may be why you are worried. Other species that are look alikes ( flying fox for instance) do not have the black stripe all the way to the very end of the tail. Look alikes sold as SAE will have the black stripe but stops where the tail fin starts. Its been a while since I did my research on these guys but they most definetly are jumpers. I *think* the flying fox is the one that latches onto another fish & sucks till it dead. They also get quite large. The SAE on the other hand, at least mine are about 4" long as adults

HTH


----------



## huaidan (Mar 6, 2010)

Hard to take a good photo of one. Had to use flash at 1/3200.


----------



## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Huaidan, you have the true SAE.

I have found the following URL which shows the differences between SAE, false SAE and flying fox:

http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html


----------



## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

thats a true SAE  but my SAE has slightly clearer fins not as tan as yours


----------

