SAE's in San Diego (??)

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: SAE's in San Diego (??)
From: Cindy Vann <cvann at qualcomm_com>
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 11:32:58 -0700
Some time ago I had asked a local store to see if they could get in SAE's.
When I visited them on Saturday, they directed me to a tank to see if they
had received the correct fish.  They looked like the real thing & I took 5
of them home ($3.99 each).  When I put them in a tank that had SAE's from
Uncle Ned's and from Albany Aquarium, they were somewhat different.  Instead
of having a distinct black stripe to the fork of the caudal fin, I really
had to look hard to see a faint stripe and not all the way to the fork.

The "new guys" seem to be a bit more slender (could be just from shipping)
and the stripe is a little more narrow.  My "originals" have a brown
reticulated back with an overall gold "sheen" while the new guys have a gray
reticulated back with an overall silver sheen.  Both new and originals in
this tank are about the same size - ranging from 1 1/2" to 2".  

I pored through the article (in AFM) written by Neil F. and Liisa S. reading
and comparing the pictures and the fish.  These fish do _not_ look like the
false siamensis pictured in the article.  If I had just the pictures to go
by, I'd say they looked just like the siamensis pictured on p. 62 (? I think
that's the right page - I'm at work and don't have the article).  They do
_not_ have yellowish fins, they are all clear with no dark markings in the
dorsal fin/area. The edges of the stripe in the two fish appear to be the
same (kind of zigzagged) with no lighter stripe above.  And, as noted in
Liisa and Neil's article "every scale has a dark edge, which make the top
look reticular".  It has one pair of "thin, forward-pointing barbels" just
like my originals. 

Any ideas what these guys could be???  Even though they might not eat red
brush/beard algae, will they eat any other type of algae?

BTW, if you're in San Diego, and want to take a look for yourselves they are
at Fountain's in La Mesa - you can e-mail me personally if you have questions.

________________________________________________________________________
Cindy Vann                                 QUALCOMM Incorporated
Systems Analyst                            Phone:  (619) 658-4767
email:  cvann at qualcomm_com                 Loc  :  E-131
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