Sae's - Do They Fight

[AlexAndCarmen]

I bought 2 from Trimar the other day, having looked for these for ages and not found any. Then went to my LFS only to find a tank full of them. So since I have 2 x 4 foot tanks, I got another 3 little ones. They're all in the most established 4 foot at the moment, since it's got loads of algae. I'll move 2 later to my other 4 foot.

The 2 from Trimar are bigger and just lovely temperament. But 2 of the little ones we got from the LFS have taken a dislike to each other. Well, I assume they're fighting. Jittering in front of each other, loose their colour and their stripe fades too. They're ok now, but they started this last night before we went to bed.

Are they fighting?? Should we separate them?? They still look small, so obviously not adults. Only a couple of inches long.

Otherwise they are ok. Not bothered with any of the other tank mates.

 

[severum boy]

What do you mean by Sae's? Sorry to be a nutiance.

 

[rixy]

siamese algae eater

 

[severum boy]

Lol sorry bout that! They probably are fighting, and Sae can be argessive. But they are inteligent, and with this comes a personality so this could be a personality clash. See how things go for a bit longer, then seperate them if a problem persists.

 

[Bignose]

Are you sure you are not thinking about chinese algae eaters (CAE), severum boy? SAEs don't really have a reputation for aggressiveness, though the point about individuals is a good one. CAEs usually start out as decent algae eaters, but then develop a taste for other fish's slime coat rather than algae -- this is when they can become aggressive.

It sounds to me like a dominance ritual -- once all the SAEs decide who will be number one, I suspect this behavior will disappear. If they aren't hurting each other or other tankmates, there probably isn't much of a reason to seprate them. Just keep an eye on them.

It probably wouldn't hurt to double and triple check that you have true SAEs there, not false SAEs or flying foxes or false flying foxes ; there are a lot of fish that look an awful lot alike.

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Thanks all for the replies

They look like true SAE's to me. They only really seem to eat algae, infact, you can see them graze it off the edges of leaves. They really are very cute and I've not see the two fighting today. They normally just swim together and eat a lot. The smallest one loves sleeping on leaves, which I think is too adorable.

Here is a pic of the two bigger one's we got, they all look just like these two.

They were only having it out with each other, and obviously if I see any worrying signs, they will be separated. Just hope it's only them two that have a problem with each other.

 

[severum boy]

Yeh i am, sorry again guys. Not my best thred this lol.

 

[ulster exile]

They are deffo true SAE's. I'd agree that it's a dominance thing - I bought 3 when they were pretty young and for a month or so 2 of them kept chasing off the littlest 1. There was no actual fighting, or damage and now there is no trouble at all with them - seemed like they were just making sure the little one knew his place.

Wouldn't worry unless there was something more serious going on, as these do not have a reputation for aggression (unless it's being reported by someone who probably has a CAE of false SAE )

 

[deni]

I have 2 SAEs, when they were babies they'd hang out together but later one got bigger (and fatter!) than the other and would chase it all over the tank. The smaller one hid in the plants and looked paler. I was going to return one of them to our lfs but they suddenly seemed to come round and now are best mates again and often rest on the same plant next to each other. Maybe it was a pecking order thing while they were maturing. A bit of chasing goes on at feed time occasionally but nothing serious and I always check the smaller one gets food. Sometimes times one or the other goes pale and their stripe looks kind of washed out, I don't know whether that's stress/mood or what.

Hope this helps

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Thanks all

They seem better now with each other, and now seem more interested in eating the JMC fish food when I drop it in for the top feeders than picking on each other.