Aurantimaculata tank v2.0. Don’t die on me again !

TomatoandEgg

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Nov 2, 2017
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interesting developments recently. Unfortunately i have no picture evidence to show you as i didn't think to take any pictures since i was unenthusiastic and down about the events detailed below.

after the last water change the pair fought. there followed an extra spirited chase around the tallest rock on the right side of the tank, a huge lunge by the male and water splashing everywhere. the female ended up with a broken back.

Visually she had a kink halfway down the spine, her dorsal was fully erect half way and then it was limp the rest of the way down her spine. She had no mobility after the kink, she couldn't turn around in confined spaces she had to use her pectoral fins to do large sweeping turns. she also couldn't maintain buoyancy normally as it seems her swim bladder had also been compromised in the fight so she would float tail up most of the time. Her demeanor immediately changed she became very submissive and hid away as best she could. appetite was diminished and when she ate the occasional worm she would swallow and then float head down tail up out of control as she chugged it down.

obvioulsy i was pretty bummed as i've put quite a lot of time and effort into cultivating a breeding pair over the past year. the crippled female wasn't going to be able to contort her body into the spiral to breed and i've never seen a fish with swim bladder problems not end up dead so after 2 weeks i figured i'd cut my losses, removed the female and went and bought a new one from the local snakehead store.

i put the male and the new female in a large bin for 2 hours to introduce them on neutral ground. no dramas. i then put them into the tank no fuss but about 10 minutes later the male was chasing her around the tank. i recalled everyone in the forum saying you can't introduce adult channa and expect them not to fight to the death. 4 days later the chasing hadn't stopped or even eased up at all. i called it a day and removed the new female and put Kinky back into the tank. she swam about in her crippled way and the male swam next to her and they did the snakehead cuddle. it was sweet that they remained bonded, but was also pretty annoying. i was resigned to having a non breeding pair.

Fast forward a few weeks later and i'd developed a niggling pain in my neck that wasn't resolving itself so i called a chiropractor to do a home visit and realign me. i'd never used a chiro before but itd been a month and my neck was still hurting. So this south african dude turns up, he whips out his portable bed and goes to down folding me up in weird positions and clicking me from head to toe. i told him Kinky and I were a right pair of cripples. He took one look at her and said "bro i used to treat animals all the time back in europe, horses, dogs, fish, you name it i'm Dr Doolittle... fish her out lets give her a whirl"

i was obviously taken aback because it seemed f'ing ridiculous and i also didn't want him snapping her in half and finishing her off, but then again she wasn't going to breed in her current state so i figured what the hell. so i net her and put her into a tupperware. i told him she can breath air so take ur time. he runs his fingers down her back and it like "hey bro, its right here, come feel this" so i run my fingers down her back and didn't feel anything. then he starts applying pressure sideways to the side he believed was causing her to be unable to turn. He bent her spine forcefully and she started flipping out. "put her back in bro" so i threw her back into the tank. she immediately went into her cave. he told me to check her out in the morning.

next day, unbelievably her dorsal fin was raised beyond the kink. the dorsal fin dipped at the kink point but was raised after it. she was clearly able to swim better and regulate bouyancy better too. The following weeks shes recovered i'd say to 85% mobility, up from 25%. i'm actually expecting her to make something close to a full recovery. all in all its been a pretty ridiculous few months. Her appetite is coming back too and my neck pain has almost totally gone too. The chiro is a total G.

The new female i put in a local pond next to where i work but she died today. unfortunately i think she was depressed that all the koi were 3 times her size and just gave up on life
 
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TomatoandEgg

Silver Tier VIP
MFK Member
Nov 2, 2017
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Sad there almost no interest in snakeheads within the fishkeeping hobby. This forum is a ghost town.

Will keep the thread going regardless since no one has thus far documented the breeding of these awesome fish in a thread. so with a little luck I’ll be able to have a guide from juveniles to adult with pictures all along the way. Next update will be when the project either fails or succeeds. Wish us luck!
 
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