# Best place to buy SAE online?



## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

I'm looking to buy some true SAE's and some low light plants for my aquarium online. Where is the best place to purchase online?? I've shopped at all my local fish stores and I'm now burned out searching for what I need. I've tried to get my LFS to order SAE but they came up with Chinese Algae Eaters and otos which I don't need. I need the SAE because of a BBA problem that I'm trying to take care of. Excel seems to be working but I need a little more help from the fish.


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## Ozone (Sep 30, 2009)

i don't think SAE will eat BBA


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

Ozone said:


> i don't think SAE will eat BBA


From what I read and from what I been told true Siamese Algae eaters will eat black beard algae. I've been using a syringe to put seachem excel directly on the BBA and it turns red then my ghost shrimp seem to eating it, but they don't put a big enough dent into it. I want to add more plants to try starving the algae out of it's nutrients. I've been watching my nitrate and trying to keep it at a decent level. I haven't checked my phosphates which could be a problem.


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## Piranha_Owns (Jan 13, 2009)

I wouldn't waste time or tank space on SAE's stick with otto's My SAE's spent more time chasing each other and my otto's, who were trying to eat the algae. Also you'll get way better deals in the swap and shop section than you will at some other web site. I have a bunch of Crypt's at the moment if your interested hit me up.


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## DarrylR (Dec 5, 2007)

How about amano shrimp, they pretty much eat most algae.


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

Piranha_Owns said:


> I wouldn't waste time or tank space on SAE's stick with otto's My SAE's spent more time chasing each other and my otto's, who were trying to eat the algae. Also you'll get way better deals in the swap and shop section than you will at some other web site. I have a bunch of Crypt's at the moment if your interested hit me up.


As much of a headache it is trying to get true SAE I've been about ready to give up on them anyway. I've looked at aquabid and there is some SAE's on there, but I've always been concerned about them surviving the trip since I live in Alabama and most shipments would be coming from the west coast. If I decide to get some more crypts I will let you know. I have one right now and it's doing better than most of my other plants, swords, Anubis, ect. Thanks for the info.


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

DarrylR said:


> How about amano shrimp, they pretty much eat most algae.


I've had someone else recommend those also. I'm not sure if any of my LFS sell them, but I will see. Are they fairly easy to care for?


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

All in all, I have been thinking about starting over one I move to another house here in the next few months (hopefully). I have a 29 gal right now and i'm thinking of stepping up to a 55gal. At least next time I will have learned from all my mistakes and I can start it right from the get go. I planning on a low light (2w per gal) planted fairly heavy with hard to kill plants and some colorful fish.


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

Another vote for saving your money and forgetting SAEs. One of the worse fish I ever got for my tank. People say they eat BBA my three barely if ever touched it (and yes, they were true ones). They go around looking busy but made nary a dent in any algae (and I did not have all that much either). When small they are kind of cute but then quickly discover other food (flake, pellet, bloodworms) and grow fast and become VERY aggressive. Then, when you decide you've had enough and want to remove them, they get smart. The first one I netted quickly during a feeding frenzy, after that the other two knew I was after them and would dive and hide any time I came near the tank. Took me almost two months and a huge WC to corner them and get them out. Never again. They are never an answer to algae issues, good tank maintenance and plant care is.


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

I appreciate the help and everyone's opinions. I think I'm going to hold off for now until I get another tank hopefully within the next few months. I plan on starting from fresh and doing it right.

Any suggestions on lighting, filter, substrate, ect. for a low light planted tank? I do plan on stocking with a small schooling fish like neons. I'm trying not to put too much money into it.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

The only fish that truly eats BBA and keeps even the fine moss leaves intact is a goby - *Stiphodon ornatus*.

These fish likes to stick to certain territory so don't expect one fish to clean the entire tank.

It also eats Cladophora just as well as BBA.

SAE area great sometimes. You will never know until you get them. They do not eat fully grown BBA. The goby does.

Also if you will be buying online make sure that:

1. The fish are quarantined.
If you just ask everybody will say "Yes, of course!". Look for a seller that guarantees they always quarantine.

2. Make sure you get your money back if the fish arrive dead.
Including the shipping money.

3. Best way to ship is overnight so do spend the extra money.
Because most fish sellers have no clue how to package right. Especially in winter.

--Nikolay


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

niko said:


> The only fish that truly eats BBA and keeps even the fine moss leaves intact is a goby - *Stiphodon ornatus*.
> 
> If only I had more room in my tank!!! They are pretty sweet from what I've heard.


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

Where can you buy one of those Goby's? Sounds like a hard to find or expensive fish. Or is it not? What size are they? Gonna start researching it. Thanks for the info everyone.


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Quarantine means different things to different people so asking is usually in vain. Everyone will say yes and think they in fact QT. Maybe if you ask "have you kept those fish, and only those fish, in a tank for 4+ weeks with no disease issues the whole time? And the tank is not connected to any other aquarium or has had anything added from another tank, including siphon hoses?" you'll get a clear answer. I don't think anyone really QTs that well and frankly, that is pretty much the only method that ensures the fish are close to 100% disease free.
Plus, even if they are QT, once they're shipped they're open to get disease just from the stress of it. Better just to QT at home than rely on someone else.
Sorry to negate you Niko, but no store/online retailer does what you're telling people to look/ask for. If they did, they sure wouldn't be making money! LOL.


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

SemperFish said:


> Where can you buy one of those Goby's? Sounds like a hard to find or expensive fish. Or is it not? What size are they? Gonna start researching it. Thanks for the info everyone.


Anyone? I only found one place through searching on the internet and that was invertz factory. Anyone ordered from them? Good or Bad?


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Six said:


> ...
> Sorry to negate you Niko, but no store/online retailer does what you're telling people to look/ask for....LOL.


We do.

And we make a lot less money with a lot more effort.

Truth is no matter what a seller does or says about quarantine, how they ship and so on if your guarantee does not include a refundable shipping in case of trouble you are asking the customer to pay for the risk.

You are right about the shipping negating the QT - I've had cardinals in excellent shape for 3-4 months. Out of 200 not a single one died. One customer got some of them after 2 days in the mail, everybody alive but with Ich all over. The rest of the customers received them in perfect shape even after 3 days in the mail. That's why I agreed with you - no matter how you QT/ship etc. the money back guarantee better include the shipping price too.

That being said a seller could not normally afford to refund a $35-45 Overnight shipping charge. Unless the order was pretty big. Or if they really care about their reputation. We have actually done it on shipments that were delayed by USPS for much longer than expected.

Bottom line is - if you will be buying fish online ask around about the seller and their refund practices. Consider the "huge" Overnight shipping charge.

--Nikolay


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

1) true sae are my favorite fish, they DO eat algae very well, at the very least they are excellent scavengers that keep the plants/substrate free of leftover food/dirt. they are also very very hardy and cool fish.

2) to have good algae control from fish, you need a combination not just 1 type of fish. nerite snails + true sae + oto + amano / cherry red shrimps. 

3) you can buy true sae and oto from liveaquaria.com i just ordered from them 2 weeks ago and both fish are correct specie and relatively healthy (no true sae death, 1 out of 4 oto death). Just stay away from their cardinal tetra!! i had a 80% death rate on those...


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

newguy said:


> 1) true sae are my favorite fish, they DO eat algae very well, at the very least they are excellent scavengers that keep the plants/substrate free of leftover food/dirt. they are also very very hardy and cool fish.


Interesting. So they never grew big for you, and stopped eating algae, and harrassed other fish like so many other people report?


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

they do grew big fast (5-6 inches) but never harass other fish, they like to stay next to the oto sometimes but it wasnt any aggressive behavior as far as i could tell. And yes they do eat algae, i watched them many times sucking on the carpet/anubias leaves and also the substrate. They also love the algae wafer i put in for the oto since my tank is almost free of algae now.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

There is a local guy that has a few SAE's and moves them between tanks. It takes them a few days to eat all the BBA in each tank then he moves them.

But we all know these fish don't do that every time. That's why I said they eat BBA sometimes.

I hear that the S. ornatus doesn't eat BBA as well as I've seen it. I've seen one of these fish do crazy things - keep a football size Java Moss bush completely clean form BBA and Cladophora. The rest of the tank was covered in 3/4" long BBA! When the fish died (some new fish brought disease) the Java Moss got covered with Cladophora in about 5 days and BBA in about 10. That's my experience but it appears that just like SAE the S. ornatus is also a fish that eats BBA sometimes.

To me the bottom line is - fighting any algae with fish or invertebrates should be secondary. There are other things that keep algae in check.

--Nikolay


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

i still think people who complain about true sae aggressive behavior / lack of algae eating got some type of flying fox or other similar species. I bought true sae twice (3 years part) from aquariumfish.net and now liveaquaria, before i bought i called and confirmed the specie and both times they are true.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

i too got the so called "true SAE" and hate it then i managed to take my tank apart, yes! take it apart, and caught one (the other one managed to dissapear...) and things changed some...no more aggresive behavior towards other fish or themselves. but, i have lots of brown algea and they do nothing...

recently i started using phos-sorb to help remove phosporus from the aquarium and got to say, the 125 is pretty clean. in the other hand the 75 that doesn't have it has that brown algea...maybe it works, maybe it helps...i also have alot of floating plants, if interested pm me


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

Once again I appreciate all the help from everyone. I'm still somewhat of a noob when it comes to planted tanks. I've been dosing excel which has been doing a great job at killing of the BBA, but I know it will come back if I stop. Just was looking for a fish as an alternative to dosing excel. I'm most likely going to try one of the Stiphodon ornatus goby's. May be next month before I order, but I will let everyone know how he does whenever I get it. Thanks again.


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## MoonFish (Feb 12, 2006)

If you don't have shrimp or moss, florida flag fish really attacked bba when I tried them. They are kind of boisterous for a small fish but it's cool to put something in the tank and watch them attack the evil algae.


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

MoonFish said:


> If you don't have shrimp or moss, florida flag fish really attacked bba when I tried them. They are kind of boisterous for a small fish but it's cool to put something in the tank and watch them attack the evil algae.


I do have moss, shrimp, and tetras. I've heard of the flag fish and that it was good for algae, however I thought it would get to big for my tank (29 gal).


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

Well I ended up finding a True SAE for $3.00 at my LFS. I've been in this store many times and have asked about them and he tried ordering some, but they always came in as otos or CAE. I was looking through the store and found a lonely one in a tank of guppys and neons and he called it a flying fox, but it was a SAE. So far he's been munching on BBA and seems very peaceful with the other fish. He worried me when I first put him in the tank because he darted around a lot, but he seems to acting fine now.


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## Bettatail (Jan 14, 2009)

SAE can do, but only to an extend, they clean the surface of the !clean! plants, to prevent nasty algaes taking root.
and don't depend on any fish if there is a certain kind of algae outbreak.
but if you have a whole tank of SAE, feed them nothing, BBA will be gone, they do eat BBA if there is NOTHING ELSE TO EAT.

increase CO2 injection and wait..
that is the right way to get rid of BBA, takes time to reach the new blance, dont' forget algae is part of the nature.

sempershrimp!


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## Aquaticz (May 22, 2009)

Many diffrent experiences with SAE. I happen to like them & they do best in groupsof 4 or more They are not aggressive at all. I purchased 2 dozen& put a group of 12 in a 75 & a 55 gal. I still have BBA but about a month ago started CO2 injection. I managed to kill a few with a PH swing :-( 
From what I have read I suspect a few are talking about the "flying fox". Just remember how to ID them, at the tail the black lines should go all the way to the END of the tail. 
HTH


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## SemperFish (Oct 24, 2009)

I have a true SAE. I've done so much web research on one I could probably spot it a mile away!! LOL!! I have some ghost shrimp in the tank also and they seem to be eating the BBA as well. 

So far the BBA has been diminishing, but I believe that is do to the excel dosing I have been doing. I have low light plants and I don't want to get into CO2 dosing. I have tried the DIY CO2, but it was more trouble than what it was worth.

It's all been a learning experience and it will help for my future project. As soon as I move into a new house I plan to do a 55 to 75 gal low light planted aquarium. As always I appreciate any ideas or helpful hints from anyone as to how I should do this.


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