On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 20:22:05 -0600, "Eric Schreiber" eric at
ericschreiber dot com wrote:

Some time ago I'd bought three nice, small, SAEs for my plated 20
gallon, to help keep the algea I was battling at the time under control.

They didn't stay small for long. Within a year they were each five
inches long, very robust (fat, even), highly energetic, and constantly
banging into the walls of the tank. No way was 20 gallons big enough
for three of those things. What they really needed was a quarter mile
or so of running room.

My LFS let me donate them today, so I no longer have those oversize
beasties in my tank. I figure I reduced the bio load by at least 50%,
probably more.

Now the other fish should be able to relax without having to constantly
be on guard lest they get run over or smooshed against the glass.

There must be more to the story. I have one 4 inch SAE in a 10 gallon
tank along with 2 three inch Clown Loaches and 4 platties. I have 6
more SAEs in a 29 gallon tank, and 11 in a 75 gallon tank. I see no
difference in their behavior patterns.

I do feel sorry that I have the one in the 10 because the larger
groupings stay together much of the time, just as Clown Loaches do,
but it has been there for months and seems very content with it room
mates.

dick