SAE Tankmates...

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BeerBotia

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2005
Messages
27
Location
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Doe SAE's make good tankmates for a fish+planted tank? I've read several times in here that they are good for algae control, but I don't want them to get munched by my other fishes. My tank is a planted community tank with Clown Loaches, Gourami, Rainbowfish, and a couple of Dojo's.

Thanks.
 
They would be fine. They are great planted tank residents. Just be sure they are true SAE's - don't go by what the LFS tells you, as unfortunately they are often mislabeled, and their lookalikes are not such good planted tank residents. :?
 
Exactly like the CAE's at Walmart, and also the Flying Fox is often label'd as an SAE, but it won't touch the Beard algae that true SAE's are known to munch on...not to mention SAE's are very calm fish, while CAE's and foxes can get a little aggressive as adults.

One down side to SAE's...they'll damage any plant with fine, needle like leaves: mayaca, foxtail, rotala wallichi...so simply avoid those kinds of plants unless you thrive on frustration :)
 
I ended up printing out that website that had the key identifiers to distinguish the different SAE/flying fox/etc confusions and ended up finding them at the Petsmart in Shawnessy. Had him for over a year but he recently passed away. Its hard to tell, but I think it got in a fourway fight between a bala, an angel and a african butterfly. As all three were dead one morning with the butterfly and angel looking like they took the brunt of it. Bruce (the Bala) has some nifty scars on his head now.
 
Whoops...just saw I can't spell the word Do...hmmm. :oops:

Very cool link Chille...exactly what I needed! :D

So are SAE's OK with Anacharis...kinda needle like, but kinda leafy too...hmmm again. I also have Amazon Sword, Ludwigia Ovalis, Crypt - red lookin' leaves. See any issues?

Thanks for the replies!!!

<edit> I'm just starting to see some hair/beard lookin' algae show up. I need to get my H2O chemistry evaluated to see what's going on (never been an issue with my polyethylene plant breeds I had before!!!).
 
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