Can a bonded pair of snakehead fish kept permanently as a pair ?

Fishman Dave

Potamotrygon
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Nov 14, 2015
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Just the once for me. Temperature may have fluctuated a little but all year round late seventiesish. But mine were in a bigger tank (80ukg) with other large dither fish. Really peaceful fish after initially buying four and these two killing the other two, never really showed aggression thereafter.
Although they would colour up each year they never bred again but to be honest that was probably after adding the musk turtle to their tank.
They lived with (amongst a few others) the turtle, a pair of fossil cats, a trio of leopard bush fish, five Asian bumblebee cats. Although I never probably had enough plants for them after adding the turtle, there was a lot of rock and cave cover.
 
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kumaran_4576

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Mar 24, 2024
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Just the once for me. Temperature may have fluctuated a little but all year round late seventiesish. But mine were in a bigger tank (80ukg) with other large dither fish. Really peaceful fish after initially buying four and these two killing the other two, never really showed aggression thereafter.
Although they would colour up each year they never bred again but to be honest that was probably after adding the musk turtle to their tank.
They lived with (amongst a few others) the turtle, a pair of fossil cats, a trio of leopard bush fish, five Asian bumblebee cats. Although I never probably had enough plants for them after adding the turtle, there was a lot of rock and cave cover.
Got it. Its a community tank not a biotope.
 

kumaran_4576

Feeder Fish
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Mar 24, 2024
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Will a bonded pair in biotope with emergency tank/barrication incase fight break out... work out long term ?

( provided all necessary conditions are met)
 

kumaran_4576

Feeder Fish
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Mar 24, 2024
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Will a bonded pair in biotope with emergency tank/barrication incase fight break out... work out long term ?

( provided all necessary conditions are met)
1. ) Will a bonded pair in biotope with emergency tank/barrication incase fight break out... work out long term ?

( provided all necessary conditions are met)

2.) If fight breaks, is it possible to re-introduce after short time out ?
 

Milingu

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Jul 19, 2015
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If all the necessary conditions are right, all that remains is the individual character of the fish. You can't change that. Some couples are just not compatible.

But based on the questions, I assume that not all the necessary conditions were understood.
Let's take the hypothetical case of a pair of C. aurantimaculata or any other subtropical Channa with perfect external conditions (sufficiently large tank, hiding places, the ability to dig, etc.).
The male beats the female terribly. He'll probably do it again if conditions don't change. As said above, the external conditions are perfect, we leave the individual character out of the equation. So all that remains is the conditioning of the female. For example, the female's oogenetic cells may not be properly developed, or not yet mature, or she may have already laid the possible amount of eggs for this season. Everything leads to her not being able to spawn again. This means that despite perfect external conditions, we cannot (yet) put the couple back together.

A possible solution would be to separate them and simulate "hibernation".
Many subtropical Channa survive the "winter", which also means the dry season, in burrows that they either occupy or have dug themselves. Winter does not necessarily mean cold temperatures though some species can survive until 10 degrees C, but "winter" mostly means no food and less light because the fish sit the whole time in their mud holes.

This means a slight reduction in temperatures (below 20 degrees C is usually sufficient) with reduced lighting and without! food. A healthy and normally fed Channa can easily survive 2-3 months without food. During this time, new eggs can mature from the oogenetic cells and when the hibernation period ends (temperature increase, more light and food again) the fish can in most cases be reunited without any problems.

The problem with egg maturity can also occur with tropical Channa, but the season is not necessarily so important here.

This means that without knowing the exact species, you cannot answer the question precisely, even under “perfect” conditions.


But all of this, like the questions, is just theory because it is very difficult to create really perfect conditions in the aquarium.

The best thing to do is to get a suitable tank and one or, if you want it to have a subtropical channa species, two small additional tanks that can serve as an escape tank and as "winter rest" tanks.
These extra tanks can be relatively small because without food and at lower temperatures and little light, the animals' metabolism slows down significantly.
 
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kumaran_4576

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 24, 2024
13
1
3
34
India
If all the necessary conditions are right, all that remains is the individual character of the fish. You can't change that. Some couples are just not compatible.

But based on the questions, I assume that not all the necessary conditions were understood.
Let's take the hypothetical case of a pair of C. aurantimaculata or any other subtropical Channa with perfect external conditions (sufficiently large tank, hiding places, the ability to dig, etc.).
The male beats the female terribly. He'll probably do it again if conditions don't change. As said above, the external conditions are perfect, we leave the individual character out of the equation. So all that remains is the conditioning of the female. For example, the female's oogenetic cells may not be properly developed, or not yet mature, or she may have already laid the possible amount of eggs for this season. Everything leads to her not being able to spawn again. This means that despite perfect external conditions, we cannot (yet) put the couple back together.

A possible solution would be to separate them and simulate "hibernation".
Many subtropical Channa survive the "winter", which also means the dry season, in burrows that they either occupy or have dug themselves. Winter does not necessarily mean cold temperatures though some species can survive until 10 degrees C, but "winter" mostly means no food and less light because the fish sit the whole time in their mud holes.

This means a slight reduction in temperatures (below 20 degrees C is usually sufficient) with reduced lighting and without! food. A healthy and normally fed Channa can easily survive 2-3 months without food. During this time, new eggs can mature from the oogenetic cells and when the hibernation period ends (temperature increase, more light and food again) the fish can in most cases be reunited without any problems.

The problem with egg maturity can also occur with tropical Channa, but the season is not necessarily so important here.

This means that without knowing the exact species, you cannot answer the question precisely, even under “perfect” conditions.


But all of this, like the questions, is just theory because it is very difficult to create really perfect conditions in the aquarium.

The best thing to do is to get a suitable tank and one or, if you want it to have a subtropical channa species, two small additional tanks that can serve as an escape tank and as "winter rest" tanks.
These extra tanks can be relatively small because without food and at lower temperatures and little light, the animals' metabolism slows down significantly.
Yes it can happen...

Most likely should be ready to seperate the pair if fight happens and reintroduce them after issues sorted out... like maintaining a aggressive cichlid pair...
 
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