Siamese Algae eaters.. Do they REALLY get 7 inches???

[Sandra the fish rookie]

I have been fighting algae on my plants for a while now (see post algae is becoming a drag). I feed my fish once a day and one day they don't get fed at all..hoping they will EAT stuff in the tank. 

Cory recommended a SAE .. so I made the mistake of researching them and per what I have read, they can get as large as 5-7 inches???? that is quite large for a 20G high..No?? its that hair algea ..it DRIVES ME NUTS!!!! I just remove leaves etc. to try to get it under control. I have decreased my light and it really does not change even if change my water every week or every 2 weeks. Whatever is there STAYS there unless I remove it..the new growth is clear of it..but the lower parts of the plants have it..so I would have to remove all of it..I am using easy carbon as well ..

Will panda garra eat that stuff? I want an excuse to get one of those too..because they are super cute. Shrimp are an option, but the molting is just creepy to me.. I always think I have a dead shrimp in the tank..

Any recommendations are welcomed and appreciated!

[lefty o]

pandagarra do eat some hair algae. yes, SAE's get a good 6", and at least the ones i had really didnt eat much if any algae once they were mature.

[NanoNano]

I've also read that as SAE mature, they show less interest in eating algae and more interest in being omnivorous and aggressive to other tank mates (e.g. sucking slime coat off other fish).  Can anyone confirm or deny?

[renatelynne]

Yep. SAE are less and less a good algae eater the older they get.  

[lefty o]

On 6/20/2021 at 11:48 AM, NanoNano said:

I've also read that as SAE mature, they show less interest in eating algae and more interest in being omnivorous and aggressive to other tank mates (e.g. sucking slime coat off other fish).  Can anyone confirm or deny?

mine were never aggressive towards others or sucked on other fish, but stranger things have happened i guess.

[GameCzar]

If I'm not mistaken (and I hope I'm not because I'm ordering some for this purpose) Nerite Snails are great at eating hair algae.   They are also really pretty. 🙂

[Alesha]

SAEs do get massive. Especially next to my guppies & sparkling gouramis. They look like Godzilla, even in my 55 gallon, I think. 😉

I believe it's the Chinese Algae Eaters that will suck on other fish. My LFS accidently gave me 1 Chinese with 2 Siamese. It was even "cleaning" my ramshorn snails to the point of removing the brown color! 

My LFS was kind enough to take back the ChineseAE.

I did 3 things to help remove hair algae: 

1. I limited my light hours for a few weeks. 

2. When I did a water change, I used Easy Carbon to douse the worst patches of it, then let it sit for a few minutes before refilling.

3. I moved my sponge filters as far away from the worst of the hair algae as I could. It always seemed to grow the worst where the bubbles moved passed the leaves of my sword plants.

I hope this helps a little, 

Alesha

[Streetwise]

I will may have to rehome two pairs of SAEs from 16 and 20 gallon tanks if they get much bigger. They didn’t do as much for hair algae as I had hoped, but they are really cool community fish. They eat the same food as the other inhabitants, and may pick at some algae.

I was able control the hair algae better with window curtains for ambient light, but I have actually been enjoying it in one tank as long as it is just attached to my Mopani wood.

[Biotope Biologist]

On 6/20/2021 at 1:22 PM, Alesha said:

SAEs do get massive. Especially next to my guppies & sparkling gouramis. They look like Godzilla, even in my 55 gallon, I think. 😉

I believe it's the Chinese Algae Eaters that will suck on other fish. My LFS accidently gave me 1 Chinese with 2 Siamese. It was even "cleaning" my ramshorn snails to the point of removing the brown color! 

 

Yes! Thank you, working at a national petstore chain we would get both of these mixed in with eachother in our shipments. I was lucky enough to adopt a chinese algae eater into my tank of rejects in college. He started with me at about 4" and quickly grew out to 7" before I graduated and gave all my tank of rejects to a wonderful family with a 250 gallon where they were likely able to live out the rest of their lives.

 

Anyway, Chinese algae eaters can be quite aggressive around feeding and especially towards same species. While my tank of rejects were quite good at holding their own fights broke out often between my CAE and full grown gold bristlenose pleco. I can confirm that CAE prefer eating live worms and prepared vegetables and wafers over algae. But he did munch on beard algae every once in awhile. Although I believe they only exhibit fish sucking behavior when not fed enough meaty foods. Could be wrong on this, but mine only chased fish off his grazing spots. He never attempted to latch onto my fish.

 

Siamese Algae eaters that Cory recommended while they can and do reach 6" just prefer having a heavily planted/hardscaped tank and will use all 20 gallons of your tank.

[Sandra the fish rookie]

Thanks everyone! I was walking around my LFS this afternoon... and they had a TON of otto's.. healthy ones too! Sooooooo I bought them.. ALL OF THEM (15 of them). I have 5 in the 40 gallon. I think I will add some more to the 40 and add some to the 20. My 40 is way cleaner than the 20 and I think that the Ottos help quite a bit. There was 1 panda corydora that was all alone so I brought him home too and will add him to my panda cory pack in the 40. I just couldn't leave him there 🙂  all alone..no other corydoras with him.. no other panda friends.. so he is in the QT tank with the ottos.

Anyone have experience the Panda Garra? they look like really neat little fish too. I am afraid to have to many catfish.. is that even possible? 

[lefty o]

On 6/20/2021 at 4:35 PM, Sandra the fish rookie said:

Thanks everyone! I was walking around my LFS this afternoon... and they had a TON of otto's.. healthy ones too! Sooooooo I bought them.. ALL OF THEM (15 of them). I have 5 in the 40 gallon. I think I will add some more to the 40 and add some to the 20. My 40 is way cleaner than the 20 and I think that the Ottos help quite a bit. There was 1 panda corydora that was all alone so I brought him home too and will add him to my panda cory pack in the 40. I just couldn't leave him there 🙂  all alone..no other corydoras with him.. no other panda friends.. so he is in the QT tank with the ottos.

Anyone have experience the Panda Garra? they look like really neat little fish too. I am afraid to have to many catfish.. is that even possible? 

pandagarra's are cool little buggers. peaceful, nibble on all algaes, get to about 3-3.5". im a big fan, rather have them than pleco's at this point.

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@lefty o Cool! do they need to be in groups? if so  how many for a 40 gallon?

I agree with you about the plecos. I only see the super red pleco at this point.. the clown he is beginning to come out a little more now that I am adding more fish..

I would probably have to order the panda garra's online. So once the otto's and corydora are out of QT the panda garra will be the next ones I purchase. 

 

[lefty o]

On 6/20/2021 at 4:46 PM, Sandra the fish rookie said:

@lefty o Cool! do they need to be in groups? if so  how many for a 40 gallon?

I agree with you about the plecos. I only see the super red pleco at this point.. the clown he is beginning to come out a little more now that I am adding more fish..

I would probably have to order the panda garra's online. So once the otto's and corydora are out of QT the panda garra will be the next ones I purchase. 

 

they seem to do akay singly, or in pairs. ive not kept them in more than two's, but i bet they would do just fine in larger groups. imo with the otto's, id probably do a pair of pandagarras in a 40. they are pretty mellow, and will also eat other foods, so wont totally compete with your otto's for algae.

[Sandra the fish rookie]

Thank you so much @lefty o my otto's are super easy to feed. They eat all veggies, wafers and I will put some bug bites in there and they seem to really like that as well. 

[Dirtydave]

On 6/20/2021 at 12:48 PM, NanoNano said:

I've also read that as SAE mature, they show less interest in eating algae and more interest in being omnivorous and aggressive to other tank mates (e.g. sucking slime coat off other fish).  Can anyone confirm or deny?

I believe it's the Chinese algea eater that feeds on slime coat