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Re: SAE dietary preferences
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 13:35:22 PST
From: Roxanne Bittman <rbittman at kirk_dfg.ca.gov>
I concur with Roxanne's observations about SAEs and what they eat.
But ...
> Personally, I am not that impressed with the algae-eating behavior of
> SAEs and wish there were more other alternatives.
For me, the primary purpose of SAEs is to eat the black brush algae
which nothing else seems to touch. That's their job. If they
constantly nibble at other stuff, that's a bonus! When they eat the
fine leaved plants, that's a bummer but that's life.
If I had smaller fish, I would try some shrimp for the hair algae that
seems to have an affinity for the tenellus. We just weed it out by
hand. It seems less of a problem recently, so that must work to some
degree.
> Someone's comment that one needs to have a variety of algae eaters is
> well taken.
Thanks.
> The other thing I don't care for about SAEs is their tendency to get
> territorial toward their own kind
I've not noticed this behavior among the 10 or 12 SAEs we've had. I'm
not doubting it happens. Most fish species, even those noted for
peaceful behavior, have occasional bullies develop.
George