Gold Cobra SNAKEHEAD escaped and found

Cyberman

Aimara
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Aug 14, 2011
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Hi guys...

Had my Snakehead (Gold Cobra) jump out of the tank, last night. Luckily I found him just in time but he seems to be anchored to the surface of the tank at the moment. Probably swim bladder trauma or something and he's not eating either. Will this eventually settle down and he'll swim normally again or will I need to intervene in someway to help correct his swim bladder or will it never improve???

Cheers

DSC_0062.JPG Taken before the little adventure
 

-DC-

Polypterus
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Sep 3, 2009
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Very nice auranti , I would not worry He should be fine and will settle down in time

he may just be restless but might also be trying to escape again, what's his setup like?
 

Cyberman

Aimara
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He seemed to be quite settled in the 90gl with my 10" male Istlanum and a few much smaller Firemouths Labiatus and Salvini. I'd guess he'll take a while to get back to normal after the experience he just had. Lucky I spotted him out of the tank as I was about to go to bed.
 

Madou

Polypterus
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Nov 22, 2013
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Glad he made it, he's gorgeous!
As for swim bladder, I wouldn't worry, if you have to wonder if that's what it is, then it's not. ;)
I would show you what swim bladder looks like, but I feel bad whenever I look at my Red wolf, and really don't want him on a picture like that, but basically, he'll swim ok, and whenever he stops moving, he just starts floating on a side and cannot stay straight. it's painful to watch.
 

Reiner

Dovii
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Very nice Auranti

on the other hand I'm quiet surprised that your 10" Istlanum tolerates anything in a 90 gallon tank especially other cichlids
 

-DC-

Polypterus
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There is your problem then .

Tankmates and channa Don't mix they should be kept species only either solo or as a breeding pair. Cichlids are too aggressive and I'm assuming with cichlids involved your temps might be too high as well One or both of these factors is likely why he jumped in the first place and His hovering at the top is an attempt to find another way out .

99% of the time if a channa escapes it's because he doesn't like where he's living, and he'll keep trying until he does or dies of stress.

I highly recommend getting him a tank of his own. Channa are just not suitable for mixed tanks, yes you'll find lots of examples of it working short term online but inevitably it will fail and very few people advertise when it does either out of ignorance not realizing it was the setup that caused them to jump or get sick or because they just don't want to admit the mistake!!

Hope that helps.
 
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Cyberman

Aimara
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I have the temperature at 24C in this tank.... whats the recommended temperature Range?

He Seems to be recovering a bit now. Really there doesn't seem to be any agro between the fish as far as i see it at the moment, he was eatting well and you could see by the earlier pic he was in good condition after a week with the Istlanum (who really is just a big softy) but I'll take your advice and house him in his own tank soon - he deserves his own home. :)
 

Madou

Polypterus
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Nov 22, 2013
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I have the temperature at 24C in this tank.... whats the recommended temperature Range?

He Seems to be recovering a bit now. Really there doesn't seem to be any agro between the fish as far as i see it at the moment, he was eatting well and you could see by the earlier pic he was in good condition after a week with the Istlanum (who really is just a big softy) but I'll take your advice and house him in his own tank soon - he deserves his own home. :)
Unheated tank is usually the best, though, like Belgium, UK has the worst weather (Rain and **** -.-) and we tend to heat our homes quite a bit, and therefore everything is always over 19°C.

Best are between 20-24°C during summer, dropping as the months pass to a 15°C (lower is ok, slightly higher as well, but it needs to be different from the summer temps) and going back up for spring breeding period temps.

As for your tank mates, their behavior and temperament is highly irrelevant, there are two cases in channa comms:
- Channa feels like the dominant fish, everything dies.
- Channa feels dominated, channa dies.

They will, quite literally, let themselves die if they don't feel secure, you'll often see comm with channas having them sit in a corner, with washed up colors, and people saying "No aggression, I made it work" until the channa is found at the exact same spot, a month later, having not eaten since, and not planning to.

If you give him the proper setup, heavilly planted, with hiding places and dim lighting, as well as the summer/winter temps, I promise you your channa will be up the front window, begging for attention every single time you pass by the tank. They are very personable, they will pout for weeks if you change their setup or move them from a tank to another, then they'll go back to being little beggars that'll bite your finger if it hits the water and go hide because the finger didn't come easy and it might not have been as good an idea to try to eat it as they thought.

As you may have guessed, I love channas :p
 
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Cyberman

Aimara
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Wow that'll save on heating buills then if I don't require heaters....

OK its time to moved things around then.... I've got a 4ft long by 15" front to back and 12" high tank (approx 30gls) I could pop him in for the short term.... He's about 8" at the moment. Will that do for now?



Unheated tank is usually the best, though, like Belgium, UK has the worst weather (Rain and **** -.-) and we tend to heat our homes quite a bit, and therefore everything is always over 19°C.

Best are between 20-24°C during summer, dropping as the months pass to a 15°C (lower is ok, slightly higher as well, but it needs to be different from the summer temps) and going back up for spring breeding period temps.

As for your tank mates, their behavior and temperament is highly irrelevant, there are two cases in channa comms:
- Channa feels like the dominant fish, everything dies.
- Channa feels dominated, channa dies.

They will, quite literally, let themselves die if they don't feel secure, you'll often see comm with channas having them sit in a corner, with washed up colors, and people saying "No aggression, I made it work" until the channa is found at the exact same spot, a month later, having not eaten since, and not planning to.

If you give him the proper setup, heavilly planted, with hiding places and dim lighting, as well as the summer/winter temps, I promise you your channa will be up the front window, begging for attention every single time you pass by the tank. They are very personable, they will pout for weeks if you change their setup or move them from a tank to another, then they'll go back to being little beggars that'll bite your finger if it hits the water and go hide because the finger didn't come easy and it might not have been as good an idea to try to eat it as they thought.

As you may have guessed, I love channas :p
 

-DC-

Polypterus
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Sep 3, 2009
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Yes that's plenty of space for a solo auranti at that size . Even. Solo adult would tolerate that in a pinch . Just have a secure lid !
 
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