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CAEs, SAEs, & Other matters

     Hi All,
        Wanted to put in my $.02 on a couple of items, and post some info 
     that I feel will be of interest to many.
        First, the Chinesse Algea Eaters (CAEs). I have mentioned to 
     several people that IMO baby ( < 2 inches ) CAEs are the most 
     effective green algea eaters going. Sub-Adults ( from 2 to 4 1/2 
     inches ) slowly change from eating Green algea to other foods. This 
     can include the slime/muecus (sp ?) on the sides of goldfish, discus, 
     etc. Causing damage to these fish. As adults they are territorial and 
     a poor community fish, and eat algea only if there is no other choice. 
     Too many times I have overheard salespeople recommend these fish for 
     algea control to the unsuspecting, without reguard to fish in the 
     tank. Unfortunately in my area there is no market for adult CAEs.
        Second, some general info on SAEs. To condition adult SAEs for 
     breeding requires a healthy ( a lot of ) algea in the tank. I think 
     this is why I have been successful at spawning on demand. I encourage 
     algea growth ( now close your mouths before you catch some flys ) to 
     help in my breeding attempts with catfish. The SAEs are used to bring 
     experiments that have gone array, back under control, and to clean up 
     breeding tanks for the next attempt. This is not something that most 
     people want to try with their prise plant tanks, and I would not 
     recommend tring it to anyone that doesn't have a good grasp of 
     Sears/Conlin concept of using water quality as the main control for 
     algea. 
        Greenwater, with its accompaning compliment of small critters, is 
     an abolute must for survival of the fry. Without huge amounts of 
     Greenwater available you will experience very high losses of fry in 
     the first two weeks. If the Greenwater gets out of hand, you can add 
     Daphania. They will cleanup the Greenwater problem, and become food 
     for the growing SAEs. At this stage, approx 1/4 inch, the babies begin 
     to show their stuff as algea eaters. They seem to be forever hungry. 
     Veggies, algea, algea tabs, etc all work well.
        A word of caution on Greenwater. Depending on how you get/grow your 
     culture, you may be introducing unwanted critters into your tank. In 
     my case it was Hydra. I used a dozen baby Panaque Nig. to do it in.
        I'm working hard at getting all my information together to post. I 
     realize that the above statement may discourage a lot from tring to 
     duplicate my success, because you would not want to introduce 
     additional algea to your tanks. Althought I feel that algea 
     growth/Greenwater are essential (it works for me), you may find a 
     better way. So please try within acceptable parameters for your tank. 
     I may be focusing on one possible trigger for spawning. There may well 
     be others that I'm missing.
        SAEs are very intolerant of cloudy water. As Steve Pushak mentioned 
     in his post about substrates, "Be careful with clay.....". I had a 
     tank with a clay/vermiculate/laterate substrate, and the powerhead 
     dislodged and fell to the bottom. As someone else mentioned when it 
     happened to them, it always lands with the intake in the substrate. By 
     the time I saw it, all the fish were at the surface gasping for air. 
     Five of the eight SAEs in the tank were dead, and two of the others 
     didn't make. All of the others survived. I wouldn't want to perform 
     this type of experiment again to find out, but it seems the SAEs had a 
     very low tolerance for the cloudy water.
        Hope this helps,
                Doug Underwood