Well... even though it was a late reply it was right on the money! I put in
my American Flag female about 4 hours after I posted and the tank is now
algae free again! I tried to put the male in there but he got nasty and had
to be taken back out again. I think American Flags could very well be the
answer to everyone's algae problems if they would just give them a chance.
The males are really quite beautiful fish and they get no bigger than a
mollie or swordtail. Even the females are cute in their own drab way. I've
never had a bit of algae problem in any tank that I had this pair in. They
keep it absolutely spotless! Well worth the $2.99 (my lfs considers them
pond fish and sells them dirt cheap!) I plan to keep American Flag fish in
all my community tanks from now on!
Surgicalrn

Where are you from? I'd love to get my hands on an AFF but can't find them
in Central California.

DJay

"Surgical RN" wrote in message
...
Well... even though it was a late reply it was right on the money! I put
in
my American Flag female about 4 hours after I posted and the tank is now
algae free again! I tried to put the male in there but he got nasty and
had
to be taken back out again. I think American Flags could very well be the
answer to everyone's algae problems if they would just give them a chance.
The males are really quite beautiful fish and they get no bigger than a
mollie or swordtail. Even the females are cute in their own drab way. I've
never had a bit of algae problem in any tank that I had this pair in. They
keep it absolutely spotless! Well worth the $2.99 (my lfs considers them
pond fish and sells them dirt cheap!) I plan to keep American Flag fish in
all my community tanks from now on!
Surgicalrn

I live in Phoenix and the lfs (Phoenix Tropicals) has a whole tank of
nothing but American Flags. You can also order them online if you can't find
them in CA from Florida Driftwood. Here's the link to the Flag fish page:
http://www.floridadriftwood.com/subc...1=230&2=-1&6=1 They
call them Florida Flag fish on the site but they are actually American Flag
fish (Jordanella floridae) but they are native to Florida as the scientific
name states so I can understand the mix-up. As you can see they aren't that
expensive considering the job they do on algae! Since you now have the
scientific name maybe you could talk to your lfs and see if they can order
them. I'm sure if you tell them what an incredible job they do with algae
control and how nice they look and that if the lfs really talked them up
about their eating habits they would have no problem selling them, the lfs
would be more than happy to order them. I've also read that they are
relatively easy to breed but I don't remember how they are supposed go about
it. They are a type of killie that is native to N. America so I don't know
if they breed in usual killie fashion and need a drying period for the eggs
or not. I'm sure you can find a site somewhere that deals with their
breeding habits.