Channa Info

[Dannyc]

hi can any one help me ive just got a chana chinensis hes about 2 inc at the moment and in a 4*2*2 on his own . ph is 7.0. he seems fine but i do not know if this is right so here are a few questions
1. whats the right ph.
2. what size will he get to.
3. whats there fav food.
and any thing else you think i should know .
many thanks dan

 

[CFC]

I've never heard of nor am i able to find any refference to a snakehead by the name of Channa chinensis, do you have a picture?

 

[Fruitbat]

Chances are that Dannyc is referring to Channa sinensis which is an older name often applied to what is now called Channa asiatica. This is one of the smaller snakeheads, reaching a maximum length (according to FishBase) of 20cm (about 8 inches). Since I've never kept this particular species I can't give first-hand knowledge as to their pH requirements but I suspect that, like almost all snakeheads, they're not going to be really picky as to water quality as long as the water is kept clean and organic waste by-products like ammonia and nitrites are kept to zero. As for food...I've never heard of a snakehead species (in general) that is particularly picky. Any 'meaty' food shoud be acceptable.

-Joe

 

[Dannyc]

thanks for the replys . it is definately chinensis . on monster fish keepers forum there is a list of all known channa and chinensis is there but sadly no info.
cant post pics so i will try to describe it as best i can.
its markings are like a coolie loach with electric blue spots all the way down and one black spot at the end
at first glance you can get the front confused with the back. the shop were i got it has never seen one before and hes been keeping fish for 30 years .
ive searched the web with no look

 

[nmonks]

If it is Channa asiatica (as sounds likely -- Fishbase has no C. chinensis) I have kept this fish. Greenish, covered in silver spangles, big eye spot on the tail.

Behaviour-wise, it's a pussycat. Eats prawn and squid. Gets on fine with other fish too big to eat. I kept the version without ventral fins, but there is apparently another race that has them. Mine was about 20 cm long. Eventually gave it away when I left university, but not before testing the fish to its limits: survived several days in wet moss (I was a heartless so-and-so back then). Soft water, hard water, doesn't matter. Also did fine in brackish water. Quite active and hand-tameable. Basically a really nice, medium sized predator. Only kept a single specimen, so can't comment on its behaviour towards others of its species.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[CFC]

I'm suprised at the fish surviving brackish water, its well documented that channa are very intollerent of salt in the water, in fact its one of the few things that will kill them usually.
My own experiences of using small Channa gachua that i breed myself as feeders on occasion is that they die within a few minutes in brackish water which made them next to useless for feeding our toad fish when there was a shrimp shortage going on and hadnt weened it to dead food yet.

 

[nmonks]

What can I say? I tried it out, SG 1.003-ish, and it did fine. Admittedly, only did this for a few weeks, but certainly it seemed fine. The tank included some young monos, a small silver scat, a tyre-track eel, some rainbowfish, and one or two others bits and bobs.

I wouldn't recommend keeping it in a high salinity system, to be sure.

I'd be cautious about using genus-level observations too broadly. Take Tetraodon. You have species there that need soft/acid, and species that can live in seawater. Do a quick Google of "brackish" and "snakehead". You'll be surprised... e.g., "Fisheries officials say the snakehead could flourish in the brackish waters of the Potomac", from the Washington Post.

Cheers,

Neale

I'm suprised at the fish surviving brackish water, its well documented that channa are very intollerent of salt in the water, in fact its one of the few things that will kill them usually.