It doesnāt say it in their website. The color card doesnāt have the color in it for the ph test. Ok I will let it sit now until Thursday. About the SAE, are you sure you are talking about the same one as me?
https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/siamese-algae-eater/ https://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/siamese-algae-eater
Yes, we are talking about the same fish, though the first linked site has the incorrect scientific name, but this species is rather confused taxonomically. The link I gave previously for Seriously Fish is reliable; I know nothing about these two linked sites, and anyone can set up a web page and be "expert" without knowing much. Not saying these two are bad sites, but without knowing the individual(s) who run them and write the data and their level of knowledge, I won't trust them. The second site for instance is suggesting this fish eats algae...not strictly true. It is one of only two species of aquarium fish that will usually eat brush/beard algae, but that is not the same thing. And one should never acquire any fish to solve a problem, as the fish has requirements and possibly problems associated with it, as indeed is the case here.
The common name Siamese Algae Eater is regularly applied to several related but distinct species. The species
Crossocheilus langei is the one most often encountered in the hobby as the Siamese Algae Eater [SAE] and is the best at eating black brush [aka red beard] algae. The "true" SAE is actually
Crossocheilus siamensis, a species initially described by H.M. Smith in 1931 as
Epalzeorhynchus siamensis and moved by Banarescu into the genus
Crossocheilus in 1986, and which has probably never been seen by hobbyists since the holotype [the specimen collected and used for the description] is the only one known. To further confuse, the fish described as
C. siamensis by Smith was subsequently determined to be conspecific with a prior described species,
Crossocheilus oblongus, so in fact there never was a
C. siamensis as a distinct species, and the name now is a synonym for
C. oblongus.
Confusion abounds with this fish, beyond the fore-going. There are several near-identical species within
Crossocheilus, and they are occasionally seen in the hobby. Their usefulness as "algae eaters" is variable, depending upon the species. Then there are two other fish often confused with the SAE, known as the False Siamese Algae Eater,
Garra cambodgiensis, and the Flying Fox,
Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus. Both of these regularly appear in the hobby, but neither will handle brush/beard algae like the common SAE. The False SAE can be distinguished by the dark lateral band that ends at the caudal peduncle whereas on the subject fish this band continues into the caudal fin. The Flying Fox has white-edged red and black coloured fins, not clear fins as in the subject species.
All of these attain six inches, and being a shoaling species they need a group if they are to be provided with what they "expect," and a large aquarium. They can sometimes have temperamental issues with other fish. These are not, frankly, fish well suited to home aquaria.
