SAE behaviour

[Sorry for the double post, I originally posted to the wrong group.]

I just added a new batch of SAEs to my office tank. I'll move some off to
the Plant tank in a few weeks and leave a few behind. I can't seem to keep
Otos in the Plant tank, they just seem to disappear. Likely the Barbs are
the problem, but they don't seem to bother the Tetras.

The new SAEs seem to be doing a lot of "tail standing", swimming vertically
up and down the glass. I gather this is some kind of food search? But they
are ignoring the Green Dust Algae on the front glass, swimming right by it.

Also how few SAEs can I leave in a group. The office tank is only ten
gallons, so I did not want to leave more than 1 or 2 SAEs. Maybe I'll move
all the SAEs and leave the Otos behind, but that would give me six SAEs in
the 55 gallon. I KNOW, a BIGGER office tank. LOL.

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
[Sorry for the double post, I originally posted to the wrong group.]

I just added a new batch of SAEs to my office tank. I'll move some off
to
the Plant tank in a few weeks and leave a few behind. I can't seem to
keep
Otos in the Plant tank, they just seem to disappear. Likely the Barbs
are
the problem, but they don't seem to bother the Tetras.

The new SAEs seem to be doing a lot of "tail standing", swimming
vertically
up and down the glass. I gather this is some kind of food search? But
they
are ignoring the Green Dust Algae on the front glass, swimming right by
it.

Just some personal observation, but bottom dwellers behave in a somewhat
unique way when acclimating from being moved (also from large water
changes). I attribute it from their coming from a riverine environment,
where the water was faster, fresher and more oxygenated than typically
found in an aquarium. In a water change, I suspect it is the gaseous
imbalance for a day or two. For moves, it might be the nitrates and
other DOCs.

Corys go into cruise mode, back & forth. CAEs, SAEs, Otos, Plecs,
Butterfly loaches etc get very restless, repeating a dart & park routine,
often vertically on the glass. Botia either get into a cruise mode
across the glass, or pile into a small spot and try to disappear.
Non-botia loaches (ie: Kuhlis, Dojos etc) find a corner and 'dance' up &
down the glass. Typically they will not search for food during this
acclimation period, but may eat if something crosses their path.

Some other fish will do something similar, such as Platys dancing the
corner glass. I suspect they are using physical activity to force their
metabolism to increase, to more quickly adapt to whatever it is that they
need to adapt to.

To make a long story short (definitely not one of my talents ;~), their
behaviour for the first 2 days is not representative of how they will be
after the have settled in.

Also how few SAEs can I leave in a group. The office tank is only ten
gallons, so I did not want to leave more than 1 or 2 SAEs. Maybe I'll
move
all the SAEs and leave the Otos behind, but that would give me six SAEs
in
the 55 gallon. I KNOW, a BIGGER office tank. LOL.

I could be mistaken, but I've never considered it desirable to shoal the
larger cyprinides SAEs , CAEs, Redtail sharks, Rainbow sharks etc, as
they can be territorial, and don't seem to suffer being alone. Having
said that, if you raise a bunch of SAEs together, they will probably get
along fine, but that's a lot of fish-inches and algae-eating horsepower
in a single tank. The smaller algae eaters like Otos need to be kept in
groups as they are invisible and ineffective otherwise ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

On Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:41:10 -0500, "Bill Stock"
wrote:

[Sorry for the double post, I originally posted to the wrong group.]

I just added a new batch of SAEs to my office tank. I'll move some off to
the Plant tank in a few weeks and leave a few behind. I can't seem to keep
Otos in the Plant tank, they just seem to disappear. Likely the Barbs are
the problem, but they don't seem to bother the Tetras.

The new SAEs seem to be doing a lot of "tail standing", swimming vertically
up and down the glass. I gather this is some kind of food search? But they
are ignoring the Green Dust Algae on the front glass, swimming right by it.

Also how few SAEs can I leave in a group. The office tank is only ten
gallons, so I did not want to leave more than 1 or 2 SAEs. Maybe I'll move
all the SAEs and leave the Otos behind, but that would give me six SAEs in
the 55 gallon. I KNOW, a BIGGER office tank. LOL.


For those of us who might be new he

SAE = ?

Sorry haven't a clue.

wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:41:10 -0500, "Bill Stock"
wrote:


[Sorry for the double post, I originally posted to the wrong group.]

I just added a new batch of SAEs to my office tank. I'll move some off to
the Plant tank in a few weeks and leave a few behind. I can't seem to keep
Otos in the Plant tank, they just seem to disappear. Likely the Barbs are
the problem, but they don't seem to bother the Tetras.

The new SAEs seem to be doing a lot of "tail standing", swimming vertically
up and down the glass. I gather this is some kind of food search? But they
are ignoring the Green Dust Algae on the front glass, swimming right by it.

Also how few SAEs can I leave in a group. The office tank is only ten
gallons, so I did not want to leave more than 1 or 2 SAEs. Maybe I'll move
all the SAEs and leave the Otos behind, but that would give me six SAEs in
the 55 gallon. I KNOW, a BIGGER office tank. LOL.



For those of us who might be new he

SAE = ?

Sorry haven't a clue.

Siamese Algae Eater.....for more info check out:-

http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/

Gill

"NetMax" wrote in message
...
"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
[Sorry for the double post, I originally posted to the wrong group.]

I just added a new batch of SAEs to my office tank. I'll move some off to
the Plant tank in a few weeks and leave a few behind. I can't seem to
keep
Otos in the Plant tank, they just seem to disappear. Likely the Barbs are
the problem, but they don't seem to bother the Tetras.

The new SAEs seem to be doing a lot of "tail standing", swimming
vertically
up and down the glass. I gather this is some kind of food search? But
they
are ignoring the Green Dust Algae on the front glass, swimming right by
it.

Just some personal observation, but bottom dwellers behave in a somewhat
unique way when acclimating from being moved (also from large water
changes). I attribute it from their coming from a riverine environment,
where the water was faster, fresher and more oxygenated than typically
found in an aquarium. In a water change, I suspect it is the gaseous
imbalance for a day or two. For moves, it might be the nitrates and other
DOCs.

Silly question, how does the LFS keep the Nitrates down. Since they must
have over 100 hundred ?AEs in a 25 gallon tank. I gather they don't feed
much, but do they use any resins? OR is it all in the turn over?


Corys go into cruise mode, back & forth. CAEs, SAEs, Otos, Plecs,
Butterfly loaches etc get very restless, repeating a dart & park routine,
often vertically on the glass. Botia either get into a cruise mode across
the glass, or pile into a small spot and try to disappear. Non-botia
loaches (ie: Kuhlis, Dojos etc) find a corner and 'dance' up & down the
glass. Typically they will not search for food during this acclimation
period, but may eat if something crosses their path.

This sounds like it, but the last batch didn't go through this. Although I
only had two last time, which are now in the bigger tank.

Some other fish will do something similar, such as Platys dancing the
corner glass. I suspect they are using physical activity to force their
metabolism to increase, to more quickly adapt to whatever it is that they
need to adapt to.

To make a long story short (definitely not one of my talents ;~), their
behaviour for the first 2 days is not representative of how they will be
after the have settled in.

Also how few SAEs can I leave in a group. The office tank is only ten
gallons, so I did not want to leave more than 1 or 2 SAEs. Maybe I'll
move
all the SAEs and leave the Otos behind, but that would give me six SAEs
in
the 55 gallon. I KNOW, a BIGGER office tank. LOL.

I could be mistaken, but I've never considered it desirable to shoal the
larger cyprinides SAEs , CAEs, Redtail sharks, Rainbow sharks etc, as they
can be territorial, and don't seem to suffer being alone. Having said
that, if you raise a bunch of SAEs together, they will probably get along
fine, but that's a lot of fish-inches and algae-eating horsepower in a
single tank. The smaller algae eaters like Otos need to be kept in groups
as they are invisible and ineffective otherwise ;~).

The SAEs seem to be hanging out fine now, but they're only about 2.5". I
think I'll have to see if the LFS will do a trade in for some smaller fish
in a year or so. The Tiger Barbs are getting quite deep bodied.

I had nine Otos in my 10 gallon, while I was quarantining them. It was
spotless! Sadly, most have gone AWOL since moving to the larger tank.


--
www.NetMax.tk

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...

"NetMax" wrote in message
...
"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
[Sorry for the double post, I originally posted to the wrong group.]

I just added a new batch of SAEs to my office tank. I'll move some
off to
the Plant tank in a few weeks and leave a few behind. I can't seem to
keep
Otos in the Plant tank, they just seem to disappear. Likely the Barbs
are
the problem, but they don't seem to bother the Tetras.

The new SAEs seem to be doing a lot of "tail standing", swimming
vertically
up and down the glass. I gather this is some kind of food search? But
they
are ignoring the Green Dust Algae on the front glass, swimming right
by it.

Just some personal observation, but bottom dwellers behave in a
somewhat unique way when acclimating from being moved (also from large
water changes). I attribute it from their coming from a riverine
environment, where the water was faster, fresher and more oxygenated
than typically found in an aquarium. In a water change, I suspect it
is the gaseous imbalance for a day or two. For moves, it might be the
nitrates and other DOCs.

Silly question, how does the LFS keep the Nitrates down. Since they
must have over 100 hundred ?AEs in a 25 gallon tank. I gather they
don't feed much, but do they use any resins? OR is it all in the turn
over?


Not silly. Some LFS do not. NO3 is relatively non-toxic and it is luck
of the draw whether the fish are being moved into a home tank which has
equally high NO3 levels, or else there is some shock. Some LFS regularly
gravel vacuum, so they inadvertently control NO3 through water changes.
Some LFS use a lot of live plants, so these soak up the NO3. Some use
automated water change systems.

In my shop, I used a combination of gravel vacuuming (twice a week, 3
times for the Oscar tank ;~), lots of live plants (which generally grew
much better than I could ever achieve at home) and water changes (four 5g
water changes per day, per tank, automated). If you are buying small or
sensitive fish, I always recommend that when comparing water parameters,
check their NO3 levels. In some stores, it gets to obscene levels.
--
www.NetMax.tk

snip

Thusly "Bill Stock" Spake Unto All:

The new SAEs seem to be doing a lot of "tail standing", swimming vertically
up and down the glass. I gather this is some kind of food search?

No, they're likely just being their hyperactive selves. SAE's are
hyper, and especially when they're new in an aquarium will they do a
lot of swimming up & down the glass.

Also how few SAEs can I leave in a group.

My experience is that a single SAE is perfectly OK. There's also a lot
less chasing, which any more timid fish you might have will
appreciate.

However, a 10G is really too small for SAE's. I'd recommend a single
ancistrus instead - it grows big too, but it's not as an active fish
as the SAE.

"NetMax" wrote in
:

I could be mistaken, but I've never considered it desirable to shoal
the larger cyprinides SAEs , CAEs, Redtail sharks, Rainbow sharks etc,
as they can be territorial, and don't seem to suffer being alone.

All the other fish you listed are territorial when adult, but SAEs are
schoolers for all of their lives. Don't keep them alone. They are not as
peaceful as several tetras, but they are active and do some fighting with
their school mates (like many other barbs do). Still they like to have
company and can turn aggressive if there are no other SAEs in the tank.

Liisa

On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 10:18:04 +0000 (UTC), Liisa Sarakontu
wrote:

"NetMax" wrote in
:

I could be mistaken, but I've never considered it desirable to shoal
the larger cyprinides SAEs , CAEs, Redtail sharks, Rainbow sharks etc,
as they can be territorial, and don't seem to suffer being alone.

All the other fish you listed are territorial when adult, but SAEs are
schoolers for all of their lives. Don't keep them alone. They are not as
peaceful as several tetras, but they are active and do some fighting with
their school mates (like many other barbs do). Still they like to have
company and can turn aggressive if there are no other SAEs in the tank.

Liisa

I sure have to disagree with your characterization of SAEs. I have
one in a 10 gallon tank with 2 Clown Loaches and 4 Platties. It shows
no aggression and is as apt to swim with the others as to swim alone.

I have 9 in a 75 gallon community tank and have never seen one attack
or show any aggression toward another fish. The Clowns and the SAEs
are often side by side and even resting in touch with one another.
They have been together for over 2 years. In the first year each
species stayed together, but now they mingle all the time.

I have no idea why our experience is so different. I like the SAEs.
Often they rest lightly on leaves or gravel alone or in groups, but
come other times they are quite active especially at feeding time. It
never fails to amaze me how so many fish can occupy the feeding zone
so peacefully. I have seen smaller fish go for the same flake as a
SAE and the SAE swerve off if the little fish is closer.

As you can tell I really enjoy the breed. I have a 29 gallon tank
with 6 more, so I have a sample of their behavior in different
settings.

dick

On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 00:42:04 +0100, Mean_Chlorine
wrote:

Thusly "Bill Stock" Spake Unto All:

The new SAEs seem to be doing a lot of "tail standing", swimming vertically
up and down the glass. I gather this is some kind of food search?

No, they're likely just being their hyperactive selves. SAE's are
hyper, and especially when they're new in an aquarium will they do a
lot of swimming up & down the glass.

Also how few SAEs can I leave in a group.

My experience is that a single SAE is perfectly OK. There's also a lot
less chasing, which any more timid fish you might have will
appreciate.

However, a 10G is really too small for SAE's. I'd recommend a single
ancistrus instead - it grows big too, but it's not as an active fish
as the SAE.

I have one SAE in a 10 gallon tank with 2 Clown Loaches. They have
been in the tank with some Platties for over 2 years. I am happy with
the tank.

I don't see the single SAE swimming up the glass, but the 10 in the 75
gallon tank are often going up the front glass. Right now all are
settled on leaves resting, but as feeding time approaches they will
become quite active.

I don't understand why people say size and temperament is a problem
with these fish. In my over 2 years experience with them, they are
great in community tanks. They are one of my favorites. It is weird
to see a 5 inch fish resting on a plant leaf. Right now, in the front
of my 75 gallon tank, I see 2 SAEs resting on Crypt leaves while
underneath the same leaves are 2 Clown Loaches.

dick