Any idea what these "tuxedo fish" are?

Hi all

I bought these a while back, they were sold as tuxedo fish but I have not been able to find anything about them online. When I bought them they both were quite pale with the black markings on the tail half of the body, and also over the head. As they have grown one has lost all it's dark markings, and turned far more orangey, while the other has lost the black from it's head. Both seem healthy, they even look like they *might* be doing courtship swims around each other (perhaps one is male and the other female, hence the colour differences?)

As you can see they have sucker mouths, much like a pleco, and they keep the glass wonderfully clean. They do strip some leaves though, and kill them. They are very active and fun to watch. They're approximately 6-7cm in length.

Sorry for the low quality of some of the pics, but I thought it better to include more to increase the chance that someone can ID them. Please ignore the rather obvious glass streaks in the one pic, I promise the tank looks cleaner than that when not illuminated by the flash! Some cleaning to do in the morning though...

 

Kinda look just like these, dont they?

I was by Petstop the other day and was thinkin "what the frig are those?" myself, so i picced them for an id, and forgot about the pics till now, ...

The attendant just said they're algea eaters... didn't know the name either

 

Yeah, they really do look like they could be the same. I like them, I must say, they get on well with the other fish, although they chase each other a little. Not too aggressively I would say, so if you're keen I might recommend them.

 

lol, i know they chase each other, thats why in the first pic they all look like they are fleeing cept for one suckin on the glass, left side...

you'll notice the second pic's focus is on the only stationary fella who's in the adjoining tank, they were quite fast, but nice and lively, how well do they do cleanup?

 

I have one pleco which eats mostly cucumber and algae flakes, and these two which we've named kreepy and krawley because they are constantly on the glass. Maybe I am just lucky, but I never have to clean the glass, so I suspect they do it very well!

 

Chinese algea eaters - get rid of ASAP

 

Please tell us why?

 

it is probably on the blacklist

 

CAEs are extremel agro as adults, they also suck onto other fish and take off the protective slime coating as well as scales in extreme cases. REALLY a fish to avoid

from various sources

 

Chinese Algae Eaters

Aren't Chinese and dot eat Algae

 

I always wonder why the LFS here keep them in ther own tanks when they are slightly bigger.
thank Henk
I now know to stay away from then because I was going to add them into my community tank

 

Mine grew from 3 to about 12cm in 6 months.

 

Thats a Chinese Algea Eater for sure.

 

ahhh. So THESE are the ones i read i should avoid, havent seen a pic of them before now

 

Yep - they enjoy sucking on Discus and Angels as well as others

 

I had 1 about a year ago. Was kept with tetras and live bearers. It used to chase other fish. It sucks on other fish and eats dead fish.

 

I wonder if Oscars eat them?

Sauron, you want a batch

 

Thanks for all the help

Having read all the replies in this and my other posts, as a newbie to this forum, I have 3 things to say:

1) Thanks for all the positive responses, there was no "you idiot!" or "why don't you take care!" or anything, which seemed prevalent on the previous forum. I stopped being very active there, perhaps others did for the same reason, and that's why it is dead.

:amazed: 2) You've answered my query well. I am not happy about these little blighters because I actually rather like them at the moment. They are fun to watch and so far haven't caused any trouble. Thanks for IDing though - I don't suppose anyone would like to take them off my hands?

3) Pet shops piss me off. They were very clearly labelled "Tuxedo Fish", which google searches have convinced me is something they simply made up. I suppose I could have asked but, being new to the hobby I figured the shop would be honest and sell things the average hobbiest could keep easily. Of course, I have since learned that they just want to push as much live product out the door as they possibly can. I reckon they expect, indeed RELY on, a significant portion of the fish they sell dying so that the customer comes back for more but never realises s/he's been had.

I will be sad to see them go, but as far as I can tell, go they must.

 

It is a pleasure - As seen on many threads - there is no such thing as a stupid question - we all started somewhere, and still make mistakes to this day...

BTW - Agree totally on the LFS

 

awesometastic dude, glad you like it here.

Sorry to hear the fishies must go, alternative is get a tiny tank just for them, and then you can keep them, and enjoy their antics, embrace MTS, even if just a little