Fine gravel, preferably sand, lots of rocks, plants, again live would be better just make sure they ate very hardy plants. Not too bright lighting either, sorry don't have pics, but seen a few nice setups that have plenty plants and rock caves.
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Joao M's video above is a great example of how Channa like to be kept, all species will be happy in a heavily planted, dimly lit setup with floating cover and several caves/hides.
If the goal is to shoot for a biotype or mimic a specific habitat then you'd have pick a species as they come from different areas, some live in hill streams at higher altitudes, others in swampy conditions, open deeper rivers or flood plains etc. Depending on the species the natural habitat could be quite different. I've managed to find a few shot's of Channa in wild habitats but It's much easier to research for photos of the rivers/streams of the reigons they are found in then it is to find actual photos of the channa in that environment.
I start by finding out as much specific information as possible about where the species is collected, from there research maps of the areas get names of rivers/provinces/districts. Once you start researching the specific waterways you'll stumble across a study on something else that's been studied in more detail then the channa but are from the same habitat so you'll be able to get detailed information and photos.
