Marcelo Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Hi Everyone I bought both of them days ago as Chinese Algae Eater but they are so different that I am starting to thing I have an impostor 😀 Can you help me to identify them please ? I appreciate your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 they appear to be. would need a better pic of the gold/albino one to be 100% positive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 (edited) They both are, it looks like. Let me try to find the link with the detailed feature sketches. The biggest indicator is the way the band isn't a solid bar. The albino also has the silver line above the parallel line (that would be black). So on the albino you're deciphering between Garra Taeniata and the CAE. Final indicator is the mouth shape. CAEs have the different type of mouth. I hope that helps. Edited July 16, 2022 by nabokovfan87 Image broke? (link stopped working for some reason, didn't load the image itself just a link to it) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Both look like Chinese algae eaters to me 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Just as a general warning I like to give, CAE will get quite large and sometimes aggressive towards one another. They are slow growers but after about 5 years of age they grow very fast. Mine was ~8” long before I gave my whole tank load of critters to a very caring family to put in their 250g. Quite cute though and loads of personality, my CAE and my bristlenose pleco fought over algae wafer stashes like two clashing dragons. They never harmed one another, just a sibling rivalry. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcelo Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 On 7/16/2022 at 1:17 PM, Biotope Biologist said: Just as a general warning I like to give, CAE will get quite large and sometimes aggressive towards one another. They are slow growers but after about 5 years of age they grow very fast. Mine was ~8” long before I gave my whole tank load of critters to a very caring family to put in their 250g. Quite cute though and loads of personality, my CAE and my bristlenose pleco fought over algae wafer stashes like two clashing dragons. They never harmed one another, just a sibling rivalry. 🙂 @Biotope Biologist, are they aggressive between theirselves or with other fishes too? My soon has a small tank so I could move one … 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 From what I’ve observed it’s amongst each other and only when they’ve reached maturity. Which does take awhile. If they have enough room to establish their own territory and caves it shouldn’t be an issue. There are horror stories about them sucking scales off other fish, but I believe this to be unsubstantiated and baseless. And just like all fish personalities vary from fish to fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 On 7/16/2022 at 11:38 AM, Biotope Biologist said: From what I’ve observed it’s amongst each other and only when they’ve reached maturity. Which does take awhile. If they have enough room to establish their own territory and caves it shouldn’t be an issue. There are horror stories about them sucking scales off other fish, but I believe this to be unsubstantiated and baseless. And just like all fish personalities vary from fish to fish. I have the same observation with my SAEs and with my RTBS. Very misunderstood and they tell you want they want to be comfortable. I'm guessing it's very common for fish in this family of species. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprinidae Mine only ever had issues with eachother, and even then, "sibling rivalry" or just one fish simply saying that they want their hole back and to leave it alone. My RTBS had a cover, had a piece of wood that was hers. Only her corys were allowed in that spot. She protected them and their fry. She also did the same thing with my black cory fry. When the SAEs were added she was... annoyed.... with me, but she had her turf and she knew she was boss. They would literally lay on top of the piece of wood, lay on the plants, lay elsewhere 24/7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon p Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 I’m going to parrot a little they are bad age eating algae even even when young. As the start to grow they tend to kill fish one of there favor foods is the biofilm from the fish. Fish slime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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