Channa gachua. Tropical or sub-tropical??

[baal]

Hi everyone.

I bought a channa gachua about a week ago and the shopkeeper promised that it would be a tropical gachua but after some reading I'm not sure if he was right
I saw in a other tread in the forum " snakeheads keeping conditions by pallestopheles " that gachua from india (sub-tropical) normally have a red stripe underneath the eye and that their pectoral fins have a orange-black clouration, while the tropical gachua does not have a red stripe and their pectoral fins often are black coloured.
Both the red stripe and the orange-black pectoral fins match my gachua. So can anyone tell me if my gachua is tropical or sub-tropical?? I really want to give him/her the best environment possible.
Here is a pic of my gachua "Wiener". Sorry about the bad quality, will try and get a better pic later.

//baal

 

[Madou]

Ideally, you would need to ask your LFS for the collecting point.
Looking at the fish, it screams "sub-trop" but I only just found out Gachuas were also collected in warmer areas where a cold period is not exactly required.

 

[Madou]

Ideally, you would need to ask your LFS for the collecting point.
Looking at the fish, it screams "sub-trop" but I only just found out Gachuas were also collected in warmer areas where a cold period is not exactly required.

 

[baal]

I asked him when I bought the fish and he told me it was from the east asia and that it was a tropical gachua, but he also told when I talk to him later about getting another one that channa pulchra was a good tank companion for my gachua, but to my knowledge all pulchra is sub-tropical, and I told him that but he said that they dont need any cold periods. So after that I strated to look for info about my gachua because I dont trust him.

 

[Madou]

Your LFS told you your channa didn't need colder periods.
The same LFS told you to put two species of Channa together.

Given the second information is a flat out lie, and will get your fishes killed, I wouldn't trust the first one.

Just keep your Gachua in a non-heated tank and he'll be fine.

 

[baal]

I'm doing a low tech and low light without any heater and the temperature is around 24-25 C (75.3-77 F) do you think he will make it between those temp or should I try to lower it to around 20-22 C (68-71.6 F)??

 

[Gaz_ham]

I would keep him at 22/24°c until you can identify what species he is. If you could get a photo of him in the light with his dorsal find up, that would be ideal.

 

[-DC-]

Keep it sub tropical most Gachua are sub tropical. He'll probably do fine at those temps for now but if you can go lower I would.

 

[-DC-]

Also you are correct , the traits do look to be a varriant out of India and sub tropical. they can tolerate a WIDE range of temperatures quite well but ideally you should try to provide cooler temps for at least part of the year.

 

[baal]

I really tried to get a good pic but he does not want to cooperate , and I just have my crappy phone. Will try again today. Trying to lower the temp but since I dont have a chiller it's not easy, any suggestions?
Do you guys know what the spots are??