How To Keep Peacock Bass(pbass care guide)

     How To Keep Snakehead fishes(Channas)/Snakehead Fish Basics

Channas(Channidae) are member of freshwater ray finnned fishes.They are also known as snakeheads for their snake-like heads.There are mostly two types of channas in wild.One family is from Africa[Parachanna],and the other family is found in Asia.
In this article,I am focusing on asian channas.In Asia,there are many types of snakeheads,from 6inch to 4ft.They are the most staple food in Laos,Cambodia.Most of them can move on land like snakes and they can also breath from air.

In Wild

In wild,Channas can be found on a wide range of areas.They are native to Asian countries like, India,bangladesh,mayanmar,vietnam,thailand,nepal etc.

In wild,Channas love to live in muddy,dirty lakes where lots of hiding space.Even they are also found in drains,paddy fields.

In Aquarium

Channas are kept in aquariums worldwide for their distinguished colours,ability to prey their foods and most of all their personalities.People love to keep dwarf snakeheads(Channa bleheri) and giant snakeheads(Channa micropeltes) as well.Most of the snakeheads are highly highly aggressive,so usually they cant be kept with other tankmates.Though in some cases,dwarf snakeheads like channa bleheri and Channa gachuas can be kept with other fishes.

How To Decorate Channa Aquariums/Tank Setups for Channna Tanks

Channas are mostly ambush predators,so They need a lots of hiding places.Oxygen pumps,power filters are not necessary as hiding places.Dwriftwoods,bogwoods,a wide variety of plants can be added in aquariums for proper hiding places.They can easily survive in low level of oxygen,cause they breath from air.

There must be no flow or current in the water of aquariums.Channas hate flow in water.In nature they love to stay in stagnant water without any flow.If there is strong moving slow in Fish tank,that may cause the fish stress and the fish might be less active,it can also hide in a corner.

There must be good white lights to enhance their colour.

Sand,pebbles both gravels are acceptable for them.

They are expert jumpers,so you need to cover your aquaium wisely.

Feeding

They accept a wide variety of foods,but all of them should be meaty items,cause they are carnivorous.What you will feed to your fish depends on their size.Like for small channas,you can feed them live food,like baby guppies,earthworms,bloodworms,crickets,meal worms,roaches,leeches and so on.For bigger fishes,go for tilapia fillets,cut fish,small fish,market prawns,shellfish and so on.

They can be easily trained to accept meaty pellets,sticks etc.But they would not accept veg items,you need to keep it in mind.

Breeding And Sexing Channas

It's easy to breed them if you got a pair of male and female snakeheads.In wild,they usually breed in rainy season.THey can produce 400 to 5000 eggs depends on their size.But unfortunately,their survival rate is low.Both parents guards the fries and they can attack anything which comes to their fry.During breeding,they became extremely colourful and territorial.

At first,fries consumes the yolk sac of egg,they they can be fed bloodworms,tubifex,daphnia,infusoria ,flake foods as well.

It is not possible to sex them by 100% unless you breed them.Though male channas use to have a wider face and their fins are bigger thans females.

Types of Snakeheads

There are many many types of snakeheads.Though all are not popular in aquarium trade.Some popular species are

1)Golden Cobra Snakehead(Channa aurantimaculata):

They are extremely predatory fish,found in Assam,India.They can reach upto 2feet easily,Though they are easy to keep,but for their huge size and aggression they are not for beginners.They are extremely beautiful,they are called golden cobra for their golden colour and cobra like appearance. They need a tanksize of 150-200 gallon for each fish.

2)Channa barca:

This is the most beautiful fish of this species.They are the most desired snakehead fish worldwide and for the aquarium trade their population in wild decreasing day by day.They are also from assam.They need a tanksize of 150-200 gallon for each fish.

3)Channa bleheri:

They are known as dwarf snakeheads,rainbow snakehead for their shining colour and small size.Their maxium size is 5-6 inch.They are also predators,but they are much less aggressive than others.It is a good fish for beginners.They need a tanksize of 15-20 gallon for each fish.

4)Meghalayan blue leopard:It is a rare specimen,only found in meghalaya.They can't survive in higher temperature.They are also beautiful,their colour is dense blue.They need a tanksize of 15-20 gallon for each fish.

5)Channa micropeltes:They are also known as giant snakehead.They are the biggest and most aggressive of all channa family.They can grow upto 48inch.They are also notorious for attacking humans while breeding time.In aquariums they also attack their owners.Baby micros have a orange,red,white colour but when they get older,the color became black with white stripes.for me,hey are not aquarium fish .They are better in ponds,lakes.

Though there are much more vareities in channa family,these fishes are popular in fishkeeping industry.