What all do Siamensis eat?

Question

I recently purchased 2 4" siamese algea eaters. It seems like they are some of the better choices as an algea eater for what they eat and compatability with the others in my tank. My question is there is not a whole lot of algea in my tank at the moment except for some green (sometimes redish) algea on the glass. I do not know if they will eat that but will they eat the algea wafers and sinking wafers I put on the bottom for some of my other fish? Also should I eventually get more of them or will they be ok with just the 2 of them?

Thank you.

Oh almost forgot... I read somewhere that they will tend to stand on their tails when resting but these so far have not after 2 days of having them. I bought them from a very good specialty fish store who said they were not flying foxes or other similar fish that are easily confused. They have the black like down that body that tapers down to the end of the tail. Do adults tend to just lay on the bottom instead of their tails?

Answer 1

I've never seen them tail stand for any length of time personally, most I have seen were laying down. I wouldn't get any more of them, they get about 10" long and are territorial. They will fight with each other over territory and in fact will be nasty little brutes to most any other fish around when they are grown.

As far as feeding, you have found that out already, they love sinking foods and will munch away on raw veggies as well. The older and larger they get the less algae they will eat, so specific targeted feeding will become a necessity soon if not already.

Answer 2

I don't know about the "on the tail standing"....
Keep algae tabs on hand, and depending on how many bottom algae eating fish you keep, toss them a part of a larger algae tab into the tank.
Let it sink in front so you can see how fast it will be eaten - you don't want it to rot or dissolve.
Do you keep other bottom feeders such as corydoras in the tank? These kind of fish also would feed on the algae tabs.

In my 125 gallon tank I kep bristle nose temminkiis algae eaters - albinos, as well as the grayish/brownish kind. The group is about 27 strong.

Answer 3

no, only get one like the man said, i had two and they frought so one die it was so anoying