Wanted: Siamese Algae Eaters

Hello,

Does anyone know where to get Siamese Algae Eaters around JHB or Pretoria? I have some BBA starting to grow and heard that they will eat it.

Many Thanks,

 

Hi DanielBorn, I dont want to put you off getting SAEs but I would like to point a few things out about them if I may.

1) Yes they do eat BBA but since they have poorly developed swim bladders they tend to stay near the bottom of the tank. Result being that any BBA growing high up in the water column does not get eaten.
2) They grow pretty big, 10cm plus, and being boisterous at times they do need a fairly large tank.
3)They are shoaling fish so ideally they need a couple of tank mates in order to feel secure. Ive seen a solitary SAE look very depressed in a tank, compared to my 4 hooligans it was very sad to see.

As an alternative may I recommend you invest in a bottle of Seachem Excell? I have used this to good effect in dealing with BBA, specially if you are able to take the plant out the water to treat but otherwise I used to switch off all the pumps and filters and wait a few minutes for the current in the tank to settle. Use a syringe + needle to apply it directly to the BBA and within a few days problem areas will start looking different as the BBA starts dying off. Also the benefit your plants receive from the carbon source cant be overlooked. Obviously care should be taken not to overdose, I used no more than 1ml per day for algae control but depending on your needs and tank size you could get away with using more.

Hope this helps

 

Thanks for the reply. I've got a bottle of excel at home and will try the syringe method to see if it works.

 

i have 6 of them in my 700L they are hooligans but awesome fish..