Siamese Algae Eater Aggression

[zayackylepga]

Had anyone experienced aggression with SAE’s? He’s well feed and bullying all the otos that get remotely near the algae wafers at the bottom corner of the tank. Tank is well planted and plenty of spots to hide/hangout. Probably going to have to re-home him at some point just because he’ll get too big for that tank, but curious if anyone who’s kept them found them to be territorial or aggressive. 
 

Thanks!

[Taco Playz]

Mine is very mean too. Do you have any other tank that you could put him in?Mine is about 3 inches and he bullies the Cories over food. 

[Taco Playz]

Sorry for not being any help

[lefty o]

SAE's dont tend to back away when there is food. about the only way to avoid it is to put in enough food to keep the SAE's busy, and let the other fish eat. 

[tolstoy21]

I’ve also seen that but never really had problems with the otos getting food as well. I tend to drop food in numerous spots to make sure everyone has access to some. 

[Gator]

Tolstoy21;

Your SAE is not a true algae eater, they'll eat algae when they're young and small, but as they get older and larger, they'll eat the Oto's and any other fish they can swallow. I had a couple back in the '80's, never again.

[lefty o]

wow, ive had, and have never seen SAE's eat other fish. maybe knock off a small fry here and there, but no where near the aggressiveness of a chinese algae eater.

[Streetwise]

With my SAEs in a couple of community tanks, I try to feed multiple types of food at once, so there are options for everyone, and the SAEs don’t have to compete.

[CorydorasEthan]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:10 PM, zayackylepga said:

Had anyone experienced aggression with SAE’s? He’s well feed and bullying all the otos that get remotely near the algae wafers at the bottom corner of the tank. Tank is well planted and plenty of spots to hide/hangout. Probably going to have to re-home him at some point just because he’ll get too big for that tank, but curious if anyone who’s kept them found them to be territorial or aggressive. 
 

Thanks!

I've had this experience with my SAE's too. They always nip and chase my cories away. I've found that just time, patience, and feeding plenty of food at once helps. I would recommend feeding when the lights are out if you had cories, but I don't think this will work for otos, since they are also daytime feeders.