# Snake Head Fish



## solid1kennels

has anyone got any experience with snake head fish how have they found there temp with other fish there eating habits etc


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## reptilefever

all i now is they eat anything and everything, if you put them in the same tank as any other fish the snake head will be the only one left! they make piranas look tame ive been told and i wouldnt bother attempting to evan bother to put my hand any where near the tank unless you dont like your fingers :lol2:


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## reptilefever

watch the beasty in action YouTube - northern snakehead fish in louisiana?


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## solid1kennels

lol so dont u find the ones born in captavity rather than in the wild are different ive known these fish to live aside other fish bigger and smaller but obviously this is not always the case 

someone else must have some positive feedback


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## daftlassieEmma

what kind of snakehead?


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## reptilefever

the fish kind, nasty buggers aswell


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## Esfa

there's loads of species of snakeheads. some are fine in a larger community, some grow to the size of your house and have elephants for snacks!


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## capester

There are loads of kinds, all will eat fish that they can swallow whole but don't tend to bother anything else (don't tear chunks or fin nip etc). There are some nice dwarfs that don't get much bigger than a foot and can be kept with medium/ large fish. Stay away from the bigger ones (reds etc) Unless you have a large tropical pond!


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## Alkaline

Most snakeheads are best in species only tanks and should be kept in pairs for breeding or singly as "pets". They will not pair out until maturity and tend to choose their mate from a group - simply sticking a male ansd female in a tank will result in the death of one or both. The standard method of pairing is to select a group of 6 fish as juveniles and keep them together until a pair form from the group.

At this point the pair wil begin to attack any encroaching snakehead and they should be given a tank of their own.

The most easily available and reasonably sized are Channa gachua and Channa blehri.

These species are not the evil voracious fish people would like to think, they will shred each others fins in territorial fights and occasionally eat smaller cohabitors (though ours live with cories and leave them be) but I have never been bitten by any of our six when feeding or doing tank maintenance and don't know anyone who has been tbh.


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## HABU

Esfa said:


> there's loads of species of snakeheads. some are fine in a larger community, some grow to the size of your house and have elephants for snacks!


 
yeah boss... i had the red snakeheads...



Hartz.com : Wardley® Fish Finder? : Red Snakehead


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## Heppy

firstly how big is your tank this will affect the species of snakeheads you could keep.

Ive kept 

channa blehri
channa aurantimaculata
channa marulius
parachanna obscura
parachanna africana
channa pluerothalma
channa gaucha
channa bankanensis
channa punctata

none were kept solitary

you have to consider what tankmates will be suitable for each individual species and be prepared that day all hell may break lose and fish will have to be seperated. this is not really applicable to the dwarf species these tend to be placid and don't keep multiple species of snakesheads together, this is a tried and tested non starter.

Avoid 

micropeletes(big and very aggresive)
argus(banned in this country)
striata(big and aggresive) any albino snakehead are likely to be striata so avoid these too
marulius (i did keep these in a community till it was 2 foot but when i sold it was starting to be very aggresive especially at feeding time)
i wouldn't recommend keeping parachanna obscura with tankmates as an adult should be ok till its 12"

Avoid keeping them with terratorial cichlids this will definately cause issues, especially pike cichlids.

try and buy juveniles these will definately do better in a community


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## HABU

this is one from maryland, usa... it's way cold there in winter... doesn't seem to phase them... i had a red that decided to swallow a jewel fish almost twice his size one day... he couldn't swallow it but just suckedon it all day until i came home... just couldn't bring itself to let the jewel fish go...


... the jewel survived this incident...



.

... the snakehead didn't...:whistling2:


.

hey! don't look at me that way!... i had nothing to do with the snakehead's demise....








:whistling2:


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## solid1kennels

here some pics of snake head and tank pics are crap using a shitty camera phone soz


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## solid1kennels

does anyone know what kind of snake head it may be it came with a 4ft tank an cabinet with 2 opaline gourami 1 angel fish and 1 medium sized plec lived with them fine and i have had it with blue acaras male fighting fish and catfish big an small since then lives among them fine very quiet fish but seems happy enough


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## Aquai

C.Bleheri would be my guess as they're the smallest and most community compatible ime


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## inkyjoe

I had a c.gechua in a cichlid community and he was fine, even with smaller fish. now i want a biggun!:devil:


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## _simon_

I keep Channa pulchra. I have 8 young ones (4" now but will reach 10" and pair off at some point) in a 443 litre tank. I got them last year when they were about 7cm in length. They're lovely fish and watching them develop and become more colourful is nice to see. They're very inquisitive fish, just sitting in front of the tank will have them come and look back at me.

I keep them at room temperature as they're subtropical so don't need a heater. Filtration is done with an FX5 and lots of live plants. I don't do any water changes, just top up the evaporated water a few times a year. At the moment I feed mine on mussel, squid and prawns. Some people only use inverts but I found that to be a pain in the arse as the crickets ran across the surface of the water and escaped the tank lol 

The only other tank occupants are trumpet snails to keep the sand aerated and eat dead / some live plant matter.

I've done various things in the tank and never been bitten.

Here's some rubbish pics.


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## xyra

Aquai said:


> C.Bleheri would be my guess as they're the smallest and most community compatible ime



Sorry disagree, orientalis are often said to be the smallest at about 4" although I think there is one other at about 3 - 3.5". Orientalis as very peaceful i've found, even more so than bleheri.


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## seasider

make sure you have a tight fitting lid as they have a tendency to jump out and go for a wander around your living room!! :gasp:


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## DYLANSTER1

i watched a documentry on snakeheads they an absolute nitemare in american lakes they eat everything and make sure ya have ya lid on tight coz they leave enclosures steer clear


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## DarkEntity

Yes a very one sided and biased program called "fishzilla" i expect. Ive kept Channa for a while Bleheri and Gachua, and have never found one wandering across the floor, they have never eaten anything else in the tank and have never even attempted to eat anything in the tank.

The only thing you do need to know about Channa is they can jump but mine rarely did, they are predatory but if kept well fed from my experience have no need to attack anything else. Obviously you dont put a Channa with feeder fish like guppy, tetra, molly etc as they will be snack sized, so be sensible and you will be fine.


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