Appearance
The Siamese algae eater has a black horizontal stripe extending from opercle to tail. The stripe can fade to camouflage the Siamese algae eater against its surroundings. Genuine "Crossocheilus siamensis", without maxillary barbels and with deeply fringed V-shaped upper lip are rarely encountered in the aquarium trade.The red algae eater is a species that is widely sold as "Siamese algae eater". It has a bright brownish elongate body with a slightly flat belly. It has a prominent brown-black horizontal stripe extending from nose to tail. This fish may grow to measure up to 16 centimetres. It possesses small maxillary barbels and an unfringed shallowly arcuate upper lip.
Naming
It is often confused with the Crossocheilus oblongus, however, both are algae eaters and will behave similarly.Two other similar species are traded as Siamese algae eaters, namely "Crossocheilus atrilimes", a species that prefers Java moss than red algae, and an undescribed species of "Crossocheilus".
References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
