flying fox algea eater

[jfd]

I bought one of these guys last month. He doesn't seem to ever suck anything-he swims around and eats like the other fish. He never even hangs out on the botttom. He is great in my community tank but does anyone know anything about him?

[RobbieG]

They do just fine on regular fish food (they only eat algae when they are little)

They can get aggressive when they get older

[jfd]

How big do they get and are they like some angels- if you get them young they get used to living with a lot of fish? Now I suppose I have to get another algea eater that actually is a more serious a. eater

[Chrona]

Siamese flying fox - one of the best algae eaters out there. Never gets aggressive, never stops eating.

Flying Fox - basically same as above except it doesn't eat as much algae

Chinese Algae eater - gets aggressive as it matures and doesn't eat algae later on

Try a search on google for some pics to ID what you have. The main thing to look for is how far the horizontal black stripe goes back.

[crackatinny]

From what I have read and heard, the true alge eater has the stripe continuing right through the tail.

[jfd]

The stripe goes through the tail but I have never seen him eat algea. After researching I am more nervous about my chinese algea eater now. I had a chinese a.e. for years and never had a problem so naturally I got another one when he died. If these fish turn aggressive and stop eating algea why when you ask the lfs for an algea eater a chinese one is what they always give you. I am going this weekend to check it out and hopefully I am wrong but all the pics say chinese.

[troy]

You could get an Otocinclus(also known as otos.) They only get about 2 inches long.