What species is this

Bruce Leyland-Jones said:

Can you define 'true SAE@?
The so-called Siamese Algae Eater only eats algae as its main diet when it's young, before turning to other foods...such as the slime coats of other fish.
I concur with both yourself and Byron about identification. We used to call these a Flying Fox.

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Bruce Leyland-Jones said:

Can you define 'true SAE@?
The so-called Siamese Algae Eater only eats algae as its main diet when it's young, before turning to other foods...such as the slime coats of other fish.
I concur with both yourself and Byron about identification. We used to call these a Flying Fox.

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Byron said:

Flying Fox is yet another distinct species, Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus. And yes I can define and sort these species out. The following excerpts from my online profile of the fish should cover it, but don't hesitate to ask. First I agree that none of these are really suitable as "algae eaters; and, they are shoaling fish which means a group of five or six minimum, and given their sdize and disposition this may be problematic too. Now to the species.

Discussion​

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The common name Siamese Algae Eater is regularly applied to several related but distinct species. The subject species Crossocheilus langei is the one most often encountered in the hobby as the Siamese Algae Eater [SAE] and is the best at eating black brush [aka red beard] algae. The "true" SAE is actually Crossocheilus siamensis, a species initially described by H.M. Smith in 1931 as Epalzeorhynchus siamensis and moved by Banarescu (1986) into the genus Crossocheilus, and which has probably never been seen by hobbyists since the holotype [the specimen collected and used for the description] is the only one known. To further confuse, the fish described as C. siamensis by Smith was subsequently determined to be conspecific with a prior described species, Crossocheilus oblongus, so in fact there never was a C. siamensis as a distinct species, and the name now is a synonym for C. oblongus.​

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Confusion abounds with this fish, beyond the fore-going. There are several near-identical species within Crossocheilus, and they are occasionally seen in the hobby. Their usefulness as "algae eaters" is variable, depending upon the species. Then there are two other fish often confused with the SAE, known as the False Siamese Algae Eater, Garra cambodgiensis, and the Flying Fox, Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus. Both of these regularly appear in the hobby, but neither will handle brush/beard algae like the common SAE. The False SAE can be distinguished by the dark lateral band that ends at the caudal peduncle whereas on the subject fish (Crossocheilus langei) this band continues into the caudal fin. The Flying Fox (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus) has white-edged red and black coloured fins, not clear fins as in the afore-mentioned species.​

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Then there is the Chinese Algae Eater, a fish that is sometimes offered as a SAE. It is much less desirable for several reasons as outlined in the Profile of that species, Gyrinocheilus aymonieri.​

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Bruce Leyland-Jones said:

I hear you and, nevertheless, these were called Flying Foxes back in my area, during the mid-80s. (Probably to separate them from SAE and CAE).
Just to confuse matters, there were also the real Flying Fox, Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus, around.

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Stan510 said:

Flying Fox is visibly different..does not have the big sucker mouth. The other way to tell from Siamese and Chinese is price. Siamese are expensive and the Chinese much less.

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