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Hi Al,

You might recall a month or so ago that I brought home 3 CAE and posted a question on them and most everyone responded that I needed to get rid of em. Bad news! Etc.
Well, I kept em. So far they are awesome fish. My tank is spotless! The CAE's dont fight and they leave the other fish alone as well.
They are sorta fun fish to watch, they are always on the move and very playful.
Why do people give these fish a bad rap?

I've wondered that myself. I have one in my big tank and never had a problem with it since i put it in the tank.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

Simple answer is luck of the draw. Some people have piranhas that wont eat other fish, supposedly territorial fish that just refuse to be territorial, but they are in the extreme minority.

In your case its been a month. A month is nothing, CAE's often are at their worst when 18 months or older and fully mature, so far your experience is completely average, not exceptional, its just that your fish hasnt got around to making a pain in the butt of itself yet.

Most fish with a bad rap have it for a reason.

CAEs are perfectly reasonable fish...when they're young. As they get older, they tend to get a bit cantankerous, ranging from being a slight bullying to outright attacking other fish. They're good for semi-aggressive to aggressive tanks, but for more peaceful settings, they will quickly make life difficult for just about anything.

I fully agree they can be or are very peaceful when they are young and small. As they become fully grown this is where the trouble begins. You will find the SAE is the best over all, only as they get older they just get lazy.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Keith

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I have also experienced the aggresion of the CAE as it reached adulthood. While it was young it was great at keeping the tank clean and didn't bother any of the other fish. But that did change after it got to be bigger. It didn't go for the algae as much and showed attitude to any of the community fish withing reach. I got rid of mine and another pleco in the tank when I got discus because they have a tendancy to eat their slime coat over other food sources. He was nearing 5-6 inches at that time and was only half of the maximum length listen on the profile. I did only have one and they appear to be even meaner to their own species as they grow old. Not all fish fit the mold and I have had a lot of the odd ball fish throughout the years that proved them wrong. Hopefully this will be true for yours, but with the CAE I see it turning bad.

What does that mean, Bob? "Till the cows come home." Where have the cows been?

I have three CAE in my 55g. semi peacefull tank. about a year old now, and only had a problem with one. a little aggressive toward other fish. removed him and the others have been great. i love them in the tank, fun to watch.

When they are young they are great for a community tank, but as they get older, things do change. I just got rid of my CAE because he was starting to cause problems. He was about 14 months old in my tanks and about 3 to 4 inches long. For now you'll be ok, just watch him and after a year watch him closely. The larger the fish he is kept with the more likely he will start munching on the slime coat of the fish. Like every body else said, be careful with them.

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SAEs will also remove the slime coat of of Angels apparently at breeding time the slime releases ????? when it is looking for a mate. I lost several very good Angels that way.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
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just you wait till they're 8 inches long and sucking the life out of everything that moves...

They have the potential to damage other fish when they get big.

However, they lack a swim bladder, so being near the top of the tank takes a lot of effort for htem and they usually don't bother. I kept one with top dwelling fish (perl gourami) and small, fast, schooling fish (white clouds) for nearly 4 years and they were too difficult for a big CAE to catch and hurt.

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When i had some, at first they where shy & ate all the Algae in the tank & when they got bigger, they started to eat more fish food than Algae.

Once i saw them sucking on a Pearl Gourami & that was the last time i owned a CAE..........


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I agree they are cool fish. I also agree when they get bigger, they get nasty. I have tossed mine into my above ground pond. Hopefully the colder water will slow their fighting.
I got a flying fox fish and never looked back. He is one cool fish, cleaning every bit of plant algae. He leaves the stuff on the glass to me, but its easy to wipe down with a little filter wool.
The best bit is he loves to pose for macro photography.

I remember a few months back someone posted a great picture of a dwarf gourami that had a huge chew mark on its head from CAE. Not sure the segregating them by water level thing pans out as a theory. Theyll pretty much go anywhere in a tank and if the want to chew a fish, theyre fast enough to chase it down.

Mine grew to 8 inches and typical of other stories gave up cleaning algae as he got bigger. Yet there was no agression, extremely placid. Didn't like fish going within 1 inch of him but would just lean towards them making them flee. He was however, the only bottom dweller in the tank so I can't speculate on how they treat corys etc...

There's no reason I would willingly give one up unless I saw some undesired behaviour.

i think they tend to "target" rather flat-bodied fish to be honest..

I am curious... my tank develops plenty of brown diatoms, coating the glass, rocks, plants, etc. Would SAE do well in cleaning this stuff? I can get it with gravel vacs, and cleaning off the rocks manually, scraping the walls of the tank, etc. but, I would love not to have to scrub my rocks and glass.