Fish ID

[Mr Burns]

just picked this little guy/girl up today to clean up some red algae on my java fern and anubias. i wanted a true SAE, and the store had it labeled as a "true siamese algae eater". great. or so i thought...

upon closer inspection, i started telling the owner of the shop (cousin's husband) that these did not appear to be "true" SAEs for several reasons. granted, their small size made it hard to pick up on an SAEs features, but here are some things i noticed: first, there seems to be a lack of the barbels near the mouth. this could be due to the fish still being young, but i would think something like that would be visible. second, there is some coloring in the dorsal fin where there should not be. third, fourth and fifth, the black stripe doesn't look right. the SAE has the stripe going from nose all the way through the body right through the tail. the stripe should also be somewhat ragged looking. on the 'XAE' as i call it, the stripe is clean, goes from it's eye and stops at the tail, and has a pronounced gold/tan stripe above the black stripe.

so, like 'ask this old house', what is it??

 

[Mr Burns]

btw, my guess is "false siamensis" and hopefully it'll get a taste for the red algae...

 

[Endgame319]

yup, looks like false siamensis check out
http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/
to be sure

 

[Mr Burns]

yep, that's definitely false siamensis. dang..i hate taking fish back. i don't know of any other local shops that sell the REAL siamensis. ordering them online seems a bit of a gamble too, and those shipping costs? ouch...

 

[Mr Burns]

it's good to do business with family...i just talked to my cousin and explained to him the difference between the true and false siamensis. he said that with any "siamensis" order he'll get the true siamensis, but they have false siamensis mixed in and vice versa. when he get's some of the true siamensis in and verifies them, he'll call me i can bring the false back.

 

[TankGirl]

I had a run of bad luck with an online purchase of true SAE, though they were indeed the real deal. I lost every single one of 7, and I have not lost any shipped fish in forever

My LFS won't order them for me because they say they "can't tell the difference between the SAE, flying fox, false, etc." and if they order what they think is what the customer wants, the customer always says no, it's the wrong one.

You have inside connections, and that must rock, Mr. Burns -

 

[Mr Burns]

oh man, i would be totally bummed out if i lost 7 SAEs! that's extremely unfortunate. i haven't lost a single fish for about 9 months. which online retailer did you use?

 

[TankGirl]

I used AZGardens.com, from whom I have gotten fish and shrimp before (ancistrus and amanos) as well as plants, and have always been pleased. It was a true bummer because I'm not used to losing fish!