A Pair of Channa Marulioides

[Sarcosuchus]

The Emperor Snakehead / Toman Bunga / Flower Snakehead / Channa Marulioides.

I just got home awhile ago buying a pair of Channa Marulioides after college. They are just over 3 inches in length, could be 4 inches. My digicam isn't with me, my brother has borrowed it for his uni stuff. That sucks, I am looking forward to sharing their pictures. One is a little bigger than the other though, definitely with a larger head which looks awesome.

They look similar to the Marulioides in the picture below. I have them in a temperory tank of over a foot in length and almost a foot in width. After checking things out they have begun to swim / play around and attack the non-fancy guppies. One of them did something funny, it was checking something in the plants, then striked...forced itself in and appeared stuck as it just laid in there with half body out before coming out. Curious little babies, they are awesome!:headbang2

[eman b115]

SWEET

[WhiteLineRacer]

Wow what a cool fella :)

[Sarcosuchus]

Thanks for the replies guys. After awhile they became confident and started coming to me, looking at me and watching my finger movements before them. I had a nap ( I have them in my room near my bed ). When I woke up, I moved and bang! I knew one had jumped...the big one, outside the tank, laying on the floor. Wiggled as I tried to grab it before putting it back in the tank.

I guess it chased me against the tank glass and jumped after heading upwards when seeing something move all of a sudden. This temperory tank has an opening, I will close it...can't lose them like I lost my Bleheris.:(

[PhullTank57]

Congrats on a great pickup! :) Be sure to post some pics when you can.

[Euge]

nice pick up. I use to have one. They're beautiful. Post some pics up

[phen_dox]

nice marulioides sarcosuchus.. :) i also owned a pair of marulioides too.. now already about 14 inch and the smaller one around 12 inch.. i guess the smaller one is female.. how do you identify their sex?

sometime during night or light off, the larger one were chasing and bite the smaller one and she alwys try to jump out of the tank but fail because i cover the tank nicely.. the smaller one get minor injury.. while during daylight, they were become friendly and close togethr.. sound weird right? :screwy:

[Sarcosuchus]

They love tiny mealworms!:headbang2 that's awesome, with round bellies now.

Phen_dox, post their pictures please! yes that behaviour is indeed wierd. I am not sure how to sex them or even if it's possible from their appearence. The bigger one has a darker colouration than the smaller, it shows its body pattern almost all the time while the smaller rarely shows, it appears just plain and light coloured. What do you feed them Phen? Mine so far have been eating non-fancy guppies and tiny mealworms. Looking forward to post pictures.

[Sarcosuchus]

All of a sudden, the bigger one is being aggressive towards the smaller, the smaller is not clearly smaller, but you can see it is, especially with a smaller head. That sucks, the bigger chased and made the smaller make a few attempts of jumping out to escape. I fed them, looks fine for now. Hmm...:irked:

[benzjamin13]

I really want a Snakehead! :irked:

[phen_dox]

They love tiny mealworms!:headbang2 that's awesome, with round bellies now.

Phen_dox, post their pictures please! yes that behaviour is indeed wierd. I am not sure how to sex them or even if it's possible from their appearence. The bigger one has a darker colouration than the smaller, it shows its body pattern almost all the time while the smaller rarely shows, it appears just plain and light coloured. What do you feed them Phen? Mine so far have been eating non-fancy guppies and tiny mealworms. Looking forward to post pictures.

the pattern, colouration for both of my marulioides almost same.. no obvious appearence between them.. only size of them were different..
my smaller marulioides always hiding and not many movement make the small one. while the bigger one was active..
for their food, i feed them with chicken fillet or sometime with feeders and frog.. i feed them once a day..

here some pics of my marulioides.. sorry for the bad quality pics.. :)





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[Sarcosuchus]

AWESOME! what a pair of beautiful specimens! thanks a lot for sharing, they look great, attractive. It is facinating how they are where you are, very aware of their surrounding, watching what you are doing.

They look very calm, in how many gal tank are they in? What a resemblance of the Cobra Snakehead, thank you very much for sharing.:headbang2 Have you been keeping them since they were juveniles / babies? How long has it taken for them to reach that size? Thanks again and keep us updated!;)

[1ra8der]

Congrats on a great pickup! :) Be sure to post some pics when you can.

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: :iagree:

[Sarcosuchus]

I will be posting them today! my brother's on his way home.:headbang2 Going to do a little waterchange now, suck all the unfiltered debris which I do everyday.

[phen_dox]

AWESOME! what a pair of beautiful specimens! thanks a lot for sharing, they look great, attractive. It is facinating how they are where you are, very aware of their surrounding, watching what you are doing.

They look very calm, in how many gal tank are they in? What a resemblance of the Cobra Snakehead, thank you very much for sharing.:headbang2 Have you been keeping them since they were juveniles / babies? How long has it taken for them to reach that size? Thanks again and keep us updated!;)

thanks sarcosuchus.. :) they were in 40 gallon tank.. it too small for them by now, just little space for them to move.. i maybe will transfer them into 100 gallon when i move to my own house next month..;)

till now, i still don't know how to differentiate both species marulius and marulioides.. they look exactly the same.. but you can count their dorsal fin and anal fin spines to know their species.. (but i can't) :ROFL:

i kept them since november last year.. during that time, they about 3inch.. it's mean, they growth from 3 to 13inch only in 5 months.. their growth rate very high and maybe higher than my giant snakehead growth rate..

good luck with those monster.. keep update.. :)

[Sarcosuchus]

thanks sarcosuchus.. :) they were in 40 gallon tank.. it too small for them by now, just little space for them to move.. i maybe will transfer them into 100 gallon when i move to my own house next month..;)

till now, i still don't know how to differentiate both species marulius and marulioides.. they look exactly the same.. but you can count their dorsal fin and anal fin spines to know their species.. (but i can't) :ROFL:

i kept them since november last year.. during that time, they about 3inch.. it's mean, they growth from 3 to 13inch only in 5 months.. their growth rate very high and maybe higher than my giant snakehead growth rate..

good luck with those monster.. keep update.. :)

Wow from 3 inches to 13 inches in just 5 months!:WHOA: what a growth rate is that! I have been watching my Marulioides and seriously they have grown a little which is why I asked you about their growth rate, that tells me what I have to prepare for.:D That's awesome you are getting a 100 gallon tank!:headbang2

Speaking of differentiating Marulioides and Marulius, Marulius is said to typically have a pointy snout while Marulioides with a roundish, but I don't think this is valid as I have seen a Marulioides just a few days ago with a pointy snout, it rocked. And I have also seen Marulius ( adult pictures ) with roundish snout, but of course as adults it is easily distinguished.

Your Marulioides have a rather pointy snouts too, they look GREAT, take care.:thumbsup: I will come back to this about distinguishing these two species, now let's take a look at the pictures I took. They are not truly clear, my Marulioides did not like the camera at all, they were running all over the place which resulted in poor quality pictures. Since they are eating like pigs, they **** like one too lol as you can see, I just cleaned.

[phen_dox]

Wow from 3 inches to 13 inches in just 5 months!:WHOA: what a growth rate is that! I have been watching my Marulioides and seriously they have grown a little which is why I asked you about their growth rate, that tells me what I have to prepare for.:D That's awesome you are getting a 100 gallon tank!:headbang2

Speaking of differentiating Marulioides and Marulius, Marulius is said to typically have a pointy snout while Marulioides with a roundish, but I don't think this is valid as I have seen a Marulioides just a few days ago with a pointy snout, it rocked. And I have also seen Marulius ( adult pictures ) with roundish snout, but of course as adults it is easily distinguished.

Your Marulioides have a rather pointy snouts too, they look GREAT, take care.:thumbsup: I will come back to this about distinguishing these two species, now let's take a look at the pictures I took. They are not truly clear, my Marulioides did not like the camera at all, they were running all over the place which resulted in poor quality pictures. Since they are eating like pigs, they **** like one too lol as you can see, I just cleaned.

your marulioides are very cute.. :) remind me of my marulioides about 5 months ago.. yours look same as mine during that time..

my marulioides is a pig.. they even ate and swallow whole 2++inch goldfish feeders that i supposed to give to my giant snakehead.. my marulioides only 6inch that time and no way they can eat feeders that much much larger than their head.. but my marulioides did it.. :nilly:

about marulius and marulioides,any others obvious appearance between both species? i never see marulius with my own eye.. where can i get it here in malaysia? marulius is one the monster that i really want to keep..

[Opiate]

aweosme!!