Young SAE or FSAE w/ black to tail?

[John Pelura, III]

I've been to this site http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html
in an attempt to distinguish between the SAE and FSAE. I had a SAE for
about 5 years and he or she just died. I went to my LFS and they had
three, what they were advertising as, SAE. They are very small and I
noticed that the black stripe does not go to the fork of the tail. I
believe that they may be FSAE. I got them anyway.

I was wondering if the stripe goes to the tail from birth(hatching) or
does it get there with a little bit of age?

I'm color blind so the yellow fins doesn't do me any good. The black
stripe to the fork of the tail is what I rely on, without black on the
other fins.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

John

[Dick]

On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 20:13:38 GMT, "John Pelura, III"
> wrote:

>I've been to this site http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html
>in an attempt to distinguish between the SAE and FSAE. I had a SAE for
>about 5 years and he or she just died. I went to my LFS and they had
>three, what they were advertising as, SAE. They are very small and I
>noticed that the black stripe does not go to the fork of the tail. I
>believe that they may be FSAE. I got them anyway.
>
>I was wondering if the stripe goes to the tail from birth(hatching) or
>does it get there with a little bit of age?
>
>I'm color blind so the yellow fins doesn't do me any good. The black
>stripe to the fork of the tail is what I rely on, without black on the
>other fins.
>
>Any guidance would be appreciated.
>
>John

Sounds like you were sold FSAEs. What are your options? You have the
fish home. Can you return them?

I have 17 SAEs in 3 tanks. They have lived there over 2 years. I
don't recall their size when I got them, but they are a joy to have in
any tank. I see no yellow on fins nor body. I understand they have
long lives. I did have one die. No symptoms, just swam less and one
morning it was dead.

I have the impression that FSAEs are not good community fish, too
aggressive. Adult size would worry me also. While I did worry the
first year about the growth of my SAEs, they did grow to 5 inches, I
have heard they can grow much bigger.

Good luck

dick

[Dick]

On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 20:13:38 GMT, "John Pelura, III"
> wrote:

>I've been to this site http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html
>in an attempt to distinguish between the SAE and FSAE. I had a SAE for
>about 5 years and he or she just died. I went to my LFS and they had
>three, what they were advertising as, SAE. They are very small and I
>noticed that the black stripe does not go to the fork of the tail. I
>believe that they may be FSAE. I got them anyway.
>
>I was wondering if the stripe goes to the tail from birth(hatching) or
>does it get there with a little bit of age?
>
>I'm color blind so the yellow fins doesn't do me any good. The black
>stripe to the fork of the tail is what I rely on, without black on the
>other fins.
>
>Any guidance would be appreciated.
>
>John

John,

I was sitting down when I looked at the SAEs, however, I just went
over to feed the fish and looking down on the SAEs, I would say the
top down view of the upper 1/3 could be seen as yellow with a black
latice. Also the fins do have a faint trace of yellow.

Hmm, not very observant am I.

dick

[Liisa Sarakontu]

"John Pelura, III" > wrote in
:

> I was wondering if the stripe goes to the tail from birth(hatching) or
> does it get there with a little bit of age?

You left out some important info. First, what size are your fish? And
second, does the black line go at all to the tail fin or does it stop
exactly where the fin begins?

Baby SAEs don't always have the line to the fork, but even then it goes at
least 2/3 through the tail.

Liisa

[Liisa Sarakontu]

Dick > wrote in
:

> I have the impression that FSAEs are not good community fish, too
> aggressive.

They are aggressive just to real SAEs and other relatives, not to other
fish species. They are also aggressive to their own species, so they
shouldn't be kept in groups. (Dick, you are thinking of CAE now.)

> Adult size would worry me also. While I did worry the
> first year about the growth of my SAEs, they did grow to 5 inches, I
> have heard they can grow much bigger.

Not true. They don't get as big as SAEs. (Dick, you are again thinking of
CAE.)

Liisa

[John Pelura, III]

> Sounds like you were sold FSAEs. What are your options? You have the
> fish home. Can you return them?

I have them home and in the tank. Return policy is 24 hours. Too late
now. They are active little fish and have been all over tank and appear
to be "eating". I have not seen any aggressive behavior, but they are
in a tank with 11 small tiger barbs. I think the little guys are out
numbered if they try to start anything.


>
> I have 17 SAEs in 3 tanks. They have lived there over 2 years. I
> don't recall their size when I got them, but they are a joy to have in
> any tank. I see no yellow on fins nor body. I understand they have
> long lives. I did have one die. No symptoms, just swam less and one
> morning it was dead.
>
> I have the impression that FSAEs are not good community fish, too
> aggressive. Adult size would worry me also. While I did worry the
> first year about the growth of my SAEs, they did grow to 5 inches, I
> have heard they can grow much bigger.
>
> Good luck
>
> dick

[John Pelura, III]

In article >, Liisa
Sarakontu > wrote:

> "John Pelura, III" > wrote in
> :
>
> > I was wondering if the stripe goes to the tail from birth(hatching) or
> > does it get there with a little bit of age?
>
> You left out some important info. First, what size are your fish? And
> second, does the black line go at all to the tail fin or does it stop
> exactly where the fin begins?

They are small, I would say they are babies, maybe 1.25 inches long.
The black line goes to the where the fin begins, but it looks like it
fades about 1/2 way to the tip of the fin. We're only talking like 1 or
2 cm's here.

I'll see if I can snap a photo and post it to the web.


>
> Baby SAEs don't always have the line to the fork, but even then it goes at
> least 2/3 through the tail.
>
> Liisa

[js1]

On 2005-12-03, John Pelura, III > wrote:
>
> Any guidance would be appreciated.
>

http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

Scroll down to the "Siamese Algae Eater" section.

http://www.plantgeek.net/articles/gg_algae_faq/SAE_ID.jpg


--
"I have to decide between two equally frightening options.
If I wanted to do that, I'd vote." --Duckman