# American Flagfish are Angels?



## andy485 (Aug 19, 2005)

I have been battling algae for the past year and was almost ready to buy a Oscar for my 90 gallon tank and let him rip it to shreds. I bought into the whole get your plants right before you get any fish. So I watched a tankful of algae grow for a year. I would but new plants they would be consumed by algae I would buy more. So about a month ago I gave a last ditch effort and got 12 SAE, 12 Ottos, and 12 American Flagfish. I lost alot of the SAE for some reason only 3 made it. My ottos went to town on the brown algae after a week adjustment. My flagfish were the grand champions. It was a matter of seconds before they went to work. You know how most fish you drop in your tank for the first time go into a corner and looked like they have done to many tequila shots not the flag fish they dropped in and immediatly started eating big long strands of algae. It was awesome. They had my tank totally clean in two weeks. Anybody know the negatives of this fish?


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

Rowdy when they get ready to spawn. My pair owns a 4-foot tank and I don't think they would tolerate any other similar-looking fish. Other than that, yep, the typical big killifish energy. As with lots of of our natives, an underrated and too rarely kept species. Good luck with your aquarium.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Glad they're working out for you. 

As stated above, the biggest problem with them is when it's breeding time. For that reason, many people just keep one sex and they don't have any problems.


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## 247Plants (Mar 23, 2006)

I keep a pair(m&f) in my 60 gallon community and they have been nothing but excellent fish.....Ive never had them in the spawning mood so I cant comment on that but I love the little guys.

I have yet to see another male and female same species be as lovey dovey and connected to each other....and this is my second pair!

Yes they decimate algae....At our last meet I actually had someone bring some bba and thread algae for my flags since i cant grow any in my tank and they love it.....

They get two thumbs up from me.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Some are "angels" and some are not. The definitely have their own personalities. Some will devour plants too... You never really know what you'll get.

Of course, proper fertilization goes much further towards an algae free tank. We can always help you with that.


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## ADeWilde (Jun 20, 2006)

My Bacopa australis has recently been added to th menu of my flagfish. I got 4 of them because I thought they were cool fish and only heard good things about them. At the same time I had been battling hair algae. The flagfish come out of the bag and IMMEDIATELY started eating the stuff, with their help and keeping to a fert regime I have removed the hair algae completely. I never had any problems with the flagfish eating plants until one day I came home and saw all of my Bacopa australis was chewed almost to the stem. This was more than a snack as I was developing a foreground of Bacopa and their was quite a lot of it in a 75g. The flagfish still don't touch any other plant *yet* and I'm going to keep them instead of the Bacopa because I enjoy them. 

So I second Caven's opinoin that these fish will eat plants and did so very suddenly and without much reason (they are well fed), although I'm going to try and some spinach or something else to satiate their desire for plant material.


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## Monatobias (May 9, 2006)

I have had great luck with flagfish. I had hair algae come in on some java moss and it started to take over the moss and driftwood. No one around here had carried flagfish in years until a month ago when I happened to stop in a LFS. I grabbed a nice looking pair and they immediately went to work. It has been a month now and they are always nibbling on something, be it any tiny remnants of the algae, the surface scum, or any extra food that may have reached the bottom. The pair I bought get along well and tonight I saw my first spawning action. They did swim around the tank a little nuts but the other fish (red-tailed rasboras) are bigger and didn't mind at all. 

My mom (who conveniently lives in Florida where flagfish are found) didn't have great luck with her pair. The male was too aggressive for the female and other tankmates, so she moved him outside to their pond to eat algae. They did a lot of work on the algae and she plans on getting 1 or 2 more, one perhaps being a small male.

I like the little guys and wish you well on your algae battle.


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## kotoeloncat (Mar 17, 2006)

had terrible luck with them, of all the fish I have ever kept, these are probably the one fish that I can from the bottom of my heart say I hate

mowed down my blyxa aubertii, nipped my discus fins into nothingness, eating the slime off their bodies and extremely aggresive towards any other small tetras that are in my tank


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

Funny how different peope have such different experiences with the same fish. My four came in as hitchhikers on a plant order and they are the sweetest fish I have ever had. Other than eating some lilygrass they have been awesome fish who devour hair algae like there is no tomorrow. You can buy them online (at your own risk) at the "aquaculturestore.com".

Bill


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

stcyrwm said:


> Funny how different peope have such different experiences with the same fish. My four came in as hitchhikers on a plant order and they are the sweetest fish I have ever had. Other than eating some lilygrass they have been awesome fish who devour hair algae like there is no tomorrow. You can buy them online (at your own risk) at the "aquaculturestore.com".
> 
> Bill


You might have a group of all females. IME, these guys really need to be kept with fish of similar energy level and a ton of plants to keep them busy. My pair is in a heavily planted tank with Cardinals, Rummynose, Espie's Rasboras, and some other tetras. They are the most energetic fish in the tank, but there are no single, bigger fish for them to single out and plenty of plants to explore, so that disspiates any such energy. A great fish if they work in you tank. Good luck to all.


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

erik Loza said:


> You might have a group of all females.


It's pretty easy to sex them and I had 2 males and 2 females. Why I had no problems I can't explain except like I said different folks have very different experiences. Mine are in with rasboras, rainbow fish and bluefin killies and I have never seen them do anything the least bit aggressive. I guess I'll consider myself lucky that they never spawned which seems like a serious trigger for aggression. I've always wondered if the fact that they were together from birth could have influenced them but it doesn't seem likely.

By the way 2 of them have died and I am down to 1 male and 1 female. The male has gotten huge over time and has really beautiful coloration.


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