C. marulioids or a couple of pleuro'es?

[steenmillinder]

I have 2m/6foot tank, with a couple of oscars, a jag, a devil, pleco, slider.. I have fallen in love with the emperor snake, but pleuro was the one that got me on the track of channa(im normally a big SA/CA cichlid fan(i've had puffers and marine tanks in the past)), LOVE the pleuro coloration!.

I dont know if i can get hold of an emperor snakehead, and i just found a great deal on pleuro'es 20 bucks for 1, thats really cheap here in denmark, so thought of buying 3-5 pleuroes(about 6-7 inches).
Thing is i'd want a pack of pleuroes to be same sex so a pair doesnt form and murder the rest of the tank, but i'm not sure the LFS will let my buy so many of the same sex, shame only buying one when it's a pack hunter...

Any experience with an emperor with the mentioned cichlids or a pack of pleuroes with the cichlids? Or how big the danger of a breeding pair of pleuroes forming out of a group?(ask me anything about setup or whatever if you need more data)...

What mentionable differences are there between male and female in aggression(and coloration(pleuro female is more green according to the interwebs)) for both species?

Thx for all the past help and any future advise, you guys have helped me so much already, cheers...

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

I have 2m/6foot tank, with a couple of oscars, a jag, a devil, pleco, slider.. I have fallen in love with the emperor snake, but pleuro was the one that got me on the track of channa(im normally a big SA/CA cichlid fan(i've had puffers and marine tanks in the past)), LOVE the pleuro coloration!.

I dont know if i can get hold of an emperor snakehead, and i just found a great deal on pleuro'es 20 bucks for 1, thats really cheap here in denmark, so thought of buying 3-5 pleuroes(about 6-7 inches).
Thing is i'd want a pack of pleuroes to be same sex so a pair doesnt form and murder the rest of the tank, but i'm not sure the LFS will let my buy so many of the same sex, shame only buying one when it's a pack hunter...

Any experience with an emperor with the mentioned cichlids or a pack of pleuroes with the cichlids? Or how big the danger of a breeding pair of pleuroes forming out of a group?(ask me anything about setup or whatever if you need more data)...

What mentionable differences are there between male and female in aggression(and coloration(pleuro female is more green according to the interwebs)) for both species?

Thx for all the past help and any future advise, you guys have helped me so much already, cheers...

Get rip all other fishes if you want to own a pack of Channa Marulioides and VEY BIG TANK
you would need 6x2x2 foots at minimum foot print and planted tank to keep it happy. Also, if you keep all same sex (probably all males cause it look better) then they most likely will fight each other and the weakest one die first and continue on until you have 1 left in the tank, your best it get a pair and call it a day

 

[steenmillinder]

6.6 x 2.6 foot print, 2.3 hight, is what i would eventually get, now it's 6.6 x 2 x 2... i really want to avoid a breeding pair, i was thinking 1 or 5(i can afford 5), but how do i stop a pair bonding from a group of 5? (i'm not gonna get the chance of picking same sex)..

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

6.6 x 2.6 foot print, 2.3 hight, is what i would eventually get, now it's 6.6 x 2 x 2... i really want to avoid a breeding pair, i was thinking 1 or 5(i can afford 5), but how do i stop a pair bonding from a group of 5? (i'm not gonna get the chance of picking same sex)..

You can't keep them from bonding and make a pair if 1 of 5 is a female. Do you know how to identify sex for each one? I doubt your LFS good enough to identify each one neither lol. You just tell them pick the one you like or think it's a male cause they are quite small to show the different unless your buying the dwraft channa species. Another thing is your LFS rule LOL it's ridiculous that they won't sell you a group of males channa, over here we don't even care and you pick what you like and pay...We business love money than keep live stock with stupid rules.
Edit:
You might offer them a slightly higher price if you want all males, probably they just don't want you to pick all the good looking one and the rest taking longer time to sell.

 

[steenmillinder]

males are more blu and female more green, dont know about body shape dimorphism, pretty sure i can find in on the interwebs.. How large do you think the risk is for a pairbond if they are in a busy community tank? From what i have read, the bonded pair seclude them selves from the pack in the vegetation for a while and return when rearing is over, so in the tank they wont have the oppertunity to find such a place and maybe the breeding response isent triggered? I't kinda 1 or 5 for me, but i wont be able to se them first so its gonna be random if i get a male of female

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

males are more blu and female more green, dont know about body shape dimorphism, pretty sure i can find in on the interwebs.. How large do you think the risk is for a pairbond if they are in a busy community tank? From what i have read, the bonded pair seclude them selves from the pack in the vegetation for a while and return when rearing is over, so in the tank they wont have the oppertunity to find such a place and maybe the breeding response isent triggered? I't kinda 1 or 5 for me, but i wont be able to se them first so its gonna be random if i get a male of female

It's required very large tank so they can own a place in your tank and chase other away from their nest, when the pair is bond you can't break them up unless you're separate them in different tank. They will harass other one even they are not in breeding mode, the risk you will face when the pair is bond that they will try to eliminate all other live stock live same tank it's their nature behave that's why I said you pick a pair and call it a day When they decide to kill their tank mate then most likely all other live stock will die over night. Trust me, I got a pretty big pond for my snakehead and I was try to put couple channa species in there and I still fail lol within couple months there is only 1 pair left in the pond...A channa micropeltes pair (I know you getting different species but snakehead are all similar behave)

 

[steenmillinder]

I hope that the lack of a isolated breeding space and high "action level" from the other fish will persuade them not to breed, otherwise i'll break up the tank and sell the surplus fish.. From what i read(and also body morphology), the micropeltes is most similar to the plauro... BTW i have placed the order for 5 pleuroes..

 

[steenmillinder]

how stable would it be to have 5 pleuroes and 1 marulioids in the same tank? i saw i youtube video of one who had them together, but i dont know for how long(they didnt seem to have any bitemarks), and i cant find it again

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Like I said before you will need a big tank to house these together, in long term the Marulioids will be 2x bigger than pleuros at mature age. Also, Pleuros love to play follow the leader if 1 attacking something the rest will follow and you already know...Game Over
*If you keep bare tank then you might get away with aggression since there is no place to call home to defend but I would not recommend using bare tank for channa, they look good in heavy planted tank but you would likely get territorial problem between the 2 species or a bonded pair.

 

[steenmillinder]

you know the size of my tank, it looks like this now

https://www.facebook.com/pikspiller/videos/vb.621016575/10153813865356576/?type=3&theater

I'll try and keep it looking close to what you se in the video, and trim the other fish back as needed..

When pleuroes follow the leader, is that mostly feeding frenzy behavior or will it carry over to territorial aggression to? The others dont really win anything in helping the leader kill another fish.

The marulioids is bigger wont that deter the pleruroes? i was more afraid the other way around.

Anyway i think 6.6 x 2 x 2 is probably to small to house the 2 channa species, but if it were to be these two, in a big-cichlid comm. tank, it probably should be the two i mentioned.. Can't wait to get my 5 pleuroes

I was thinking that so much action happened that they wont try to make one of the caves their own, and more keep to the top with the oscars..
Apropos that, the pleuroes are going to be around 15cm my oscars are 25cm, I'm afraid they might get eaten, so i'm considering to fatten them up at bit first in a different tank. Thing is i'm not sure they are going to grow faster then the oscars, because the oscars are in a state of development where they are greedy as helle and grow just as fast!!..