Hi - I'm getting some true SAEs from Tri-Mar in Cornwall, online. I trust them as the guy was double checking my current fish is a true SAE and he knew his stuff but it does serve to be paranoid.
SAEs are gold, black and white (no red, although apparently males can get a red spot on them when in breeding form). They also have two little barbels at the corner of their mouth - not a suckermouth like a CAE, and their nostrils stick up a bit. The black body stripe has a slightly blurry edge and goes right on to the tail, where it ends in a point.
I find my SAE a great little fish and he's busily working on clearing his new home (a molly tank that is covered in green algae). He's quite an acrobat and swims at the most bizarre angles when trying to eat algae off the giant vallis. He hasn't bothered the guppies or mollies for one second. I do think he'd be happier in a little school, however, which is why I'm getting some more.
The fish you describe sound more like False SAEs. However, provided you aren't trying to add them to a school of SAEs I think they sound like great fish anyway - in my experience, SAEs may nibble brush algae, but they don't eat it in quantities large enough to make much of a difference, particularly if live food etc. is also available. My SAE will take a brine shrimp over brush algae any day! However, it is nice to know what actual species you are buying - I've made mistakes like that with rummy-nosed tetras and I know how annoying it can be.
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