anyone know

[laboul]

What the heck are SAEs? I keep seeing it in all the forums

 

[Raechal]

Siamese algae eater I believe.

 

[F 1]

Siamese Algae Eater. A less aggressive and harder to find alternative to the CAE (Chinese algae Eater).

F1

 

[pahansen]

"Less aggressive" is an understatement. They're very passive fish. Mine spends his time swimming around with two swordtails (they're like the Three Musketeers) and nibbling on algae (the glass, the gravel, the plants, the heater, the bogwood...) with his little "nose" twitching all the time.

The reason you see SAEs mentioned so much (aside from the fact that it's a pain to type Siamese Algae Eater three thousand times!) is that they actually do eat algae, they stay passive, and they are frequently difficult to find. All of this as opposed to the CAEs (as F1 said), which are friendly while young, but grow to be aggressive with other community fish; which tend to stop eating algae as they get older; and which are frequently mislabeled as SAEs. The two look very similar, but there are some good web pages which show the differences. True SAEs should have a black stripe which runs the length of their bodies, from head to the fork in their tail.

http/www.petresources.net/fish/article/sae.html
http/www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html

Apparently SAEs can get slightly territorial with others of their own species, so you should either keep only 1 SAE or 5-6+ in a tank. Since these fish are workhorses, grow up to 6", and are not the prettiest fish around (sorry!), I think that most people tend to only keep one at a time.

-- Pamela

 

[F 1]

One of the ways I've been able to tell the difference between SAE's and CAE's (besides the stripe on the side (is there s correct term for this?)) is that the SAE has a slightly stubbier "nose".

F1

 

[Zeb]

Lol... you can tell I'm a newbie

I thought a S.A.E was a Self Adressed Envelope

 

[sylvia]

LOL!

To add to the confusion - SAE is the same as SFF (siamese flying fox).

There's also FSAE (false siamese algae eate) also called a FFF (false flying fox).

Then there's the FF (flying fox).

Plus crossocheilus oblongus, often mis-labelled as a FSAE and mixed in with them.

All these are pretty good algae eaters but are also very easy to confuse. Flying foxes are the most colorful, with colored fins and a stripe extending into the tail. The stripes are clearly defined with a light stripe passing over the dark middle one and then another dark one on top. SAEs have colorless fins and no light stripe above the dark one. The stripe reaches the fork of the tail. And false siamese algae eaters have the a dark stripe with a lighter stripe above like the flying fox but the pattern does not extend into the fins. There's one last one c. oblongus, which is sometimes seen. They have transparent fins with the stripe not extending into the tail and look almost identical to the FSAE. All these are relatively peaceful and get to about 6" maximum. They are realy just a type of barb and all are quite good algae eaters though the SAE is the best.

On the other hand, CAEs, also often called 'golden algae eaters' and 'sucking loaches' are much more aggressive as they get older and can reach 10". They are realy very badly named - they don't eat algae as they mature for one, they also aren't chinese (originating in Thailand I believe) and they aren't loaches either, belonging in a genus of their own (which I think is comprised of 3 or 4 more species)... Anyway, they are the least difficult to differentiate from SAEs because they have very different patterning. The band is jagged and has a zig-zag outline. They also have small speckles on the caudal fin which are the easiest difference to spot IMO. They also lack barbels which all the others have.