SAE in Discus Tank

[JackBlasto]

I have a Discus tank with low ph and very soft water. Can I put Siamese Algae Eaters in there? Anyone have success with it?

 

[Berylla]

NOOOOO! They will kill your discus. They are highly aggressive and will attach to your discus and suck the life out of them. If you want a sucker fish, get an albino bristlenose pleco. They do not grow very big and "usually" leave the discus alone. I have 3 in my tank with not issues for over 2 years.

They will even attack your little fish. I'm not sure why anyone buys them.

 

[Dennisdiscus]

Ya go with albino bristle nose mine doesn't bother my discus either

 

[bettaowner]

Amano shrimp would eat black beard algae and not bother the discus

 

[JackBlasto]

I'd love to put amino shrimp in there but I thought the low ph 6.0 and soft water wouldn't be good for them?

 

[Berylla]

Discus will eat your Shrimp.

 

[DavidAl]

If you have a bare(ish) tank, then I would say no, you cannot mix SAEs with discus. However, if the SAE has lots of wood and other things it can graze on, I think it would be okay. I have not found my SAE to be aggressive at all. Make sure your setup can produce enough algae to support the SAE, and all will go well.

David

 

[Cactuspixie]

SAE don't have a sucker-mouth and don't normally harass other fish. It's the CAE that is the evil little blighter famed for its fondness for the taste of slime coat.

 

[Mebbid]

I've never heard of a sae attacking other fish... Ever. I have however heard of plecos sucking on slime coats.

 

[Joeysdiscus]

I think everyone's getting confused with Siamese algae eater and Chinese algae eater Chinese is a definite no go but Siamese will be absolutely fine!

 

[Berylla]

I think everyone's getting confused with Siamese algae eater and Chinese algae eater Chinese is a definite no go but Siamese will be absolutely fine!

Thanks for the clarification. I see the CAE's in the petstore all the time. They are nasty little fish.

I've never seen SAE's. Anyone have photos of them?

 

[Mebbid]

Thanks for the clarification. I see the CAE's in the petstore all the time. They are nasty little fish.

I've never seen SAE's. Anyone have photos of them?

One of mine is to the right on the piece of driftwood. They get pretty big, mine is probably 1/2 to 2/3 its full grown size. They can also be difficult to find since they are seasonal but aren't very expensive.

 

[JackBlasto]

Thanks for the feedback. Here is where I was scoping out sae the Siamese variety http://www.azgardens.com/p-163-siamese-algae-eaters-sae.aspx

 

[Joeysdiscus]

There is about her line of the sae breed which I once had called silver sae they're quite rare (apparently) but a really nice fish mine got to about 15 cm before they both died at the age of four my guess was just old age as nothing was wrong with tank parameters etc and no other fish had any symptoms, was quite weird though because they both died within a week of each other after four years! Silver flying fox is the common name or net fish as they're scales look like a net pattern.

 

[Mebbid]

There is about her line of the sae breed which I once had called silver sae they're quite rare (apparently) but a really nice fish mine got to about 15 cm before they both died at the age of four my guess was just old age as nothing was wrong with tank parameters etc and no other fish had any symptoms, was quite weird though because they both died within a week of each other after four years! Silver flying fox is the common name or net fish as they're scales look like a net pattern.

SAEs are commonly known BBA eaters. There is a minor visual difference between the true SAE and the flying fox but the flying fox doesn't eat the BBA. On the flying fox the black line doesn't extend all the way across their body to the end of their fin like the true SAE does.

 

[Cactuspixie]

The flying fox also has colour in its fins, while the true SAE has clear, colourless fins. The flying fox is supposed to be the more handsome of the two, but as the saying goes: 'handsome is, as handsome does' lol.

Btw. My first two SAEs set me back $50 for the pair (a discount from $30 each)

Mine are definitely fat and lazy as they are quick to gobble up the food I put in for the others!
I wouldn't swap them though

 

[Joeysdiscus]

SAEs are commonly known BBA eaters. There is a minor visual difference between the true SAE and the flying fox but the flying fox doesn't eat the BBA. On the flying fox the black line doesn't extend all the way across their body to the end of their fin like the true SAE does.

I'm not on about the flying fox you are on about in on about the silver flying fox/ net fish this is what I was saying they are rare and you haven't heard of them yet here's a pic

 

[Mebbid]

The flying fox also has colour in its fins, while the true SAE has clear, colourless fins. The flying fox is supposed to be the more handsome of the two, but as the saying goes: 'handsome is, as handsome does' lol.

Btw. My first two SAEs set me back $50 for the pair (a discount from $30 each)

Mine are definitely fat and lazy as they are quick to gobble up the food I put in for the others!
I wouldn't swap them though

50 for a pair?!? Sheesh mine were $5 each

 

[Cactuspixie]

50 for a pair?!? Sheesh mine were $5 each

Lol. I know! But they were about 3 1/2 inches when I got them, and true SAE are hard to find here. They are almost all flying foxes or false SAEs. In fact the distributor sold them to the LFS as FF!

 

[Mebbid]

Yeah, the sae are really hard to find. Apparently they are all wild caught.