Channa Pleurophthalma

Some old and new pics. Enjoy.

cl0wn knife said:

Very nice I miss my Pleuro they were so active nice to see their colours coming on.

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Thanks, they are very active and hard to photograph haha.

tlindsey said:

First time ever seeing these beautiful patterned snake head.

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Thank you. These are, in my opinion, the most beautiful freshwater predator.

E.C. said:

Hey bottles.



Question: Do the wolf fish and dats, and I assume a goby are still in there?

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Thanks, E.C. I just used that tank as a growout for the channa. The wolf and dats have their own tank. The only tankmates are jaguar catfish, megalodoris irwini, and chrysichthys ornatus.

E.C. said:

Bottles last question, I've got an offer for those beauty's as juveniles for 30-32$ dollars each is it a good deal? I'm really down for those.

And I thought also you're doing one of the impossible stocks, haha, I seem to see snakeheads as teamplayers only when on a hunt specially those, pleurophthalma, they're like exodons when on hunt, the thing is they don't nip, they'll leave a huge chunk and try to monopolize the kill.

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Feel free to ask questions.
I got mine for $20 each around 2.5". Prices could vary greatly depending on locations. $10 per inch is kind of standard over here in western Canada. However, the opportunity to buy these guys comes up very rarely over here so I would pay a little extra if that's what it takes.
They definitely hunt together. As soon as one attacks, the others follow, grab and rip. If you have a chance to own these, I say go for it. Just be aware that they can hit 20". I'll have to upgrade my 6x2x2 to a 7x3x2 (hopefully 8x3x2) next year.

E.C. said:

What do you feed them? , I'm planning also a 8x4x4 for them, are they jumpy? and I'd like to confirm this, I've heard the lower the ph you have them is that the blue-ish they can be. Is it true or just another myth?
Sorry for a lot of questions, I just want to know more before dealing clueless and having the fish suffer for my mistakes, can't afford that.

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In the wild they are piscivores, so I feed mainly whole fish. Frozen silversides, live cichlids, live crayfish, king worms, earth worms, frozen krill, and pellets. They are not picky, but I've heard that some juvies will get addicted to blood worms and refuse other foods, so I avoid feeding blood worms. Be aware that juvies will cannibalize eachother. I highly recommend keeping a constant food source in the tank; baby cichlids, guppies, etc. They grow very fast and are always hungry. Cannibalism seems to stop around 5" in my experience.

8x4x4 would be a great tank size for a pack.

Juvies are very jumpy and great escape artists like most channa. Once they hit the 6" mark, mine were less jumpy. They currently range from 11-15" and pretty much never jump. The biggest threat for juvies in the aquarium are jumping and other pleuros.

I've never kept them in hard water, so I can't really say, although I have heard the same thing regarding color. My water here is pretty soft and my ph is around 6.7. One thing that I will say about color is that krill is supposed to promote blues and I gut load king worms with carrots to promote oranges. I've also heard that the blue pleuros are male and the more green pleuros are female. I haven't confirmed this though.
I don't mind answering questions; I'm happy to help if I can.

follen said:

Sickkk fish love a pleuro and keeping them with a red wolf looks an awesome combo


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Thanks, Follen. While they were growing out in my wolffish tank, the wolf would school with them; an honorary member haha. If there wasn't such a difference at adult size, I would have kept them together.