michael.qian Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Rang both Hollywood stores and they only have the look-alikes but not the real thing. Tried calling Jansens but no one is answering. I'm looking for some that'll eat the hair algae (like dust on my leaves and thin hairs), that's infesting my tank. Anyone know where to get them? Thanks a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockerpeller Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 other then the 2 you have tried, try origin aquatics. thats the last place i tried for em. i managed to come across 2 real SAEs that were advertised as flying foxes. way to tell is: 1. a true SAE has only 1 set of barbels coming from their mouth unlike the flying fox which has 2 sets. 2. a jagged black line down their side to the tip of their tail unlike a False SAE which stops at the beginning of the tail, and the flying fox which is straight and broad and has a gold stripe above it. 3. all of a true SAEs fins are clear. I ended up with 2 SAEs and 2 False SAEs :-? wish i had of known all of the above info when i went hunting for them. Its also better to go and look for them yourself as they tend to get mixed up because they are so alike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Thanks for telling me I only knew the black line has to go all the way through the tail, didn't know the other two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockerpeller Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 :lol: i only knew the barbel part. lucky i didn't end up with 4 False SAEs instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozski Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 wouldn't otos clean up the algae? and be smaller and friendlier as tankmates Just wondering, as I have fine algae growing on my glass where it gets a lot of light, and if it ever gets too bad, oto's were going to be my fishy line of attack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 what type of algae? normally brown algae appears first in an established tank, I got rid of my brown algae by ramshorn snails, but brown algae should disappear by themselves eventually when the tank gets fully established. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozski Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 no its not brown, its green are you able to answer my question? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 from what i have heard florida flagfish are good also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Rozski What is your question? I've never had Otos before, but found ramshorn snails get good at cleaning algae off leaves and side of the tank. But green algae and also green water is helped by excessive sunlight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaat Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Hmm I just checked out my flying fox, looking for the points brought up above. He/She has only one set of barbels, the black line runs through the tail and clear fins .. should I assume he/she is not a flying fox after all ? Tania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 I found the fish sold as a 'Saimese Flying Fox' in NZ were always Saimese Algae Eaters. Not sure if this has changed in the last 6 months or so. IMO SAEs are the best of the three. Genuine Flying Fox has a nicer look but can be more aggressive to its own kind, and false siamesis is just a waste of time. I know you haven't made this mistake, but a lot of beginners read these threads, so I must say 'do not get confused with the chinese algae eater'. I hate those things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 When I rang Hollywood Mt. Roskill yesterday I got this lady who seems to have no idea what she's talking about, not that friendly either. Me "Hi do you have any siamese algae eaters?" Lady "We got these gold ones and black and brown ones." Me (a little confused) "Are they the real ones or the look-alikes like the flying fox?" Lady "Ummm they just the ones that are golden ones or brown-black ones with the sucker mouth on the bottom" Me "Ok thanks a lot" Lady just hangs up. Does she even know what a siamese algae eater is? What she described sounded a lot like a chinese algae eater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Yeah she was describing a chinese algae eater. Always best to go see for yourself, most people don't really know their fish, hence the 'glass kuhli' and 'red danio' problems of late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozski Posted August 23, 2007 Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 Rozski What is your question? If you go back and read my first post I asked why you weren't considering oto's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 Oh right ok. I never knew much about Otos but looked them up last night, could be an option, so either them or SAEs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dracoz Posted August 23, 2007 Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 The ottos are cool little thing, but you will need a few of them! Mt Eden Jensen has them (Ottos), not that many left last time i was there! as well as SAE...i think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 Do ottos eat hair and fuzz algae? If they do I'll get them instead as they are pretty small and I can have 4-5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted August 23, 2007 Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 They don't eat BBA. Most other types they will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 sorry what's BBA? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 Oh ok black beard algae. I'll give them a go then if I can't find siamese algae eaters, might pickup a few tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicolette Posted August 23, 2007 Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 I had a problem with hair algae recently and got 2 SAE (90% sure) from Hollywood, although they were sold to me as Siamese flying fox I found the fish sold as a 'Saimese Flying Fox' in NZ were always Saimese Algae Eaters. Not sure if this has changed in the last 6 months or so. Anyway I also got a phospad to put in the filter at the same time and continued to grab any excess hair algae that was floating about every couple of days. All the hair algae was gone within a week or so. SAEs will only eat the newly grown hair algae...not the long old stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 Went to Hollywood myself just now and managed to pick up 2 siamese algae eaters. They were sold as "Siamese flying fox". But they looked like genuine siamese algae eaters, with the black line through the tail and clear fins, no gold line above the black line. I told the guy they look like real siamese algae eaters and told him the difference between those and the flying fox, he goes "oh ok is that the difference". They should learn about their fish better lol. Right now sitting the the bag in my tank, will release them in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicolette Posted August 24, 2007 Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 Glad you found them. I will try to take a decent pic of mine and post on here and we can compare if you like and confirm SAE statis if you like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 yes that will be good, I don't have a camera at the moment but I'll see if mine looks like yours. Mine are quite small though about the same size as a adult danio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastables Posted August 26, 2007 Report Share Posted August 26, 2007 I picked up two of them at the Albany Hollywood fish farm just three days ago. They had the single pair of barbels, the black line that extends all the way to the tail, and see through fins. Pretty much confirmed "SAE" although hollywood has some sort of wierd label on their tank that confuses the issue somewhat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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