Opinions on adding a Flagtail

[MrsE88]

I’ve tossed around many ideas on a different fish to add to my terror tank, but haven’t really settled on anything. I’ve been curious about flagtails for a while now and am looking for opinions.

An issue I have in the tank is brown algae. Not just diatoms, I’m talking long flowy algae. If you’ve seen any pictures of my main tank then you know what I’m talking about. You can’t miss it. Lol
My nitrite snail won’t touch it. My pleco isn’t allowed in that tank and wouldn’t eat it I’m sure anyway. So..... maybe a Flagtail?

I’m also curious on others opinions about adding it to my pond in the warmer months. Would this be doable? Or are they too jumpy to be in an open pond?
My pond gets full sun so I have no shortage of algae out there. I wanted a highfin shark for algae control in the pond, but decided against it and haven’t come up with a different solution yet.

My idea right now would be to add it to the terror tank till spring when the pond temp gets above 75F. Then it could spend a couple months out there till the temps come down and then winter over in the terror tank.
Does this seem doable?

 

[islandguy11]

Having no experience with ponds I can't say whether your transfer plan will work, but that Flagtail will clean the living heck out of your tank -- that's all they do, all day long -- and personally I haven't found mine to be a big waste producer like say Plecos (and they're far more active than Plecos).

That said I don't have any brown algae in my tank so I'm not 100% sure they munch on that, but I wouldn't doubt it -- they eat just about anything (mine's also addicted to Hikari Sinking Carnivore lol).

Not sure in a pond but in a tank they can be somewhat skittish if surprised, esp. when younger, but mine also calms down pretty quickly and acted like nothing happened. They're great fish imho, and have some character besides their super tank maintenance skills -- their mouths are shaped in a perpetual grin

 

[Rob909]

I’ve had Chinese algae eaters clean the brown hair algae pretty well. Just have to keep it a bigger size to go with the terrors. They’re a bit more aggressive and they’ll hide in tight spaces if they need to.

 

[MrsE88]

islandguy11 Your guy is adorable
The skiddish part is what worries me about having one in the pond. My koi don’t spook too often, but it does happen. I’d hate for it to jump out if they got startled. Though netting is always an option.

Rob909 I don’t really have small spaces for hiding. My tank is really open.
My goal is to have a functional addition but also one visually appealing on its own.

 

[Jexnell]

I have had mine a short time. But so far it is matching exactly what islandguy11 said. All they do is graze all day long on everything. They don't hurt plants either. As mentioned a little skittish, mine as settled in nicely after I added the floating water lettuce.

 

[MrsE88]

I have had mine a short time. But so far it is matching exactly what islandguy11 said. All they do is graze all day long on everything. They don't hurt plants either. As mentioned a little skittish, mine as settled in nicely after I added the floating water lettuce.View attachment 1355096

I was hoping you’d pop in here.
Do you know the specific kind yours is?
From reading it looks like there are two kinds?
I definitely like the red on yours and that’s the kind I’d ideally like.

 

[Jexnell]

I went back and checked the receipt to see what they (The Wet Spot) has it listed as also if wild caught or cb. It didn't say if cb or wild so....theres that. But it says it's a Semaprochilodus taeniurus (Flagtail Prochilodus)

I also noticed some slight differences between mine and islandguy11 's. Mine has broken bars in the tail and a spotted dorsal fin.

 

[MrsE88]

I went back and checked the receipt to see what they (The Wet Spot) has it listed as also if wild caught or cb. It didn't say if cb or wild so....theres that. But it says it's a Semaprochilodus taeniurus (Flagtail Prochilodus)

I also noticed some slight differences between mine and islandguy11 's. Mine has broken bars in the tail and a spotted dorsal fin.View attachment 1355099

Thank you. Yes, the differences are subtle between the two kinds especially as juveniles.
The main difference I read was that the spots on the body won’t fade on the kind you have. And the other one it will. I really like the spots so I was hoping the kind you had was the one that keeps them. Lol

My go-to fish shop has some Flagtails right now but I’d have to ask what specific kind they have.

 

[RD.]

What size of tank? They look cute when small, but they can easily reach over a foot in length, and they become large powerful swimmers when mature.

 

[islandguy11]

I went back and checked the receipt to see what they (The Wet Spot) has it listed as also if wild caught or cb. It didn't say if cb or wild so....theres that. But it says it's a Semaprochilodus taeniurus (Flagtail Prochilodus)

I also noticed some slight differences between mine and islandguy11 's. Mine has broken bars in the tail and a spotted dorsal fin.View attachment 1355099

I assure you our Flagtails are exactly the same species, Semaprochilodus taeniurus -- the other one is S. insignis, which has less black dots on its side, which will disappear when it gets older, unlike S. taeniurus as MrsE88 mentions.

Here is a S. insignis:


These also have less black coloration in the ring behind the gill plates. The difference in red between my and Jexnell's fishes' anal fins is solely due to tank lighting and/or camera setting difference, reds don't show up very well in my yellow-ish tank.



Any tiny difference in the dorsal or tail fins is due to either age difference or perhaps slight regional variance.