Channa Melasoma and Channa Melanoptera care

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Species name: Channa melasoma

Common name: Black Snakehead

Maximum size: 30 cm / 12 inches

Environment: freshwater streams , prefers to be shaded

Temperament: Aggressive

Company: Channa melasoma should not be kept with species smaller than the snakeheads.

Water parameters: Temperature - found from tropical to sub-tropical 18-28˚C ; pH 5-5.3 has a distinct preferance for still waters
 
why these two fish , have you got them ? they are both extreamly rare in the trade.

melasoma as above , its one of the larger dwarf species ,regarded as pretty aggresive and should only be kept as part of bonded pair. because of aggresion you will need at least a four foot tank.

Melanoptera - extreamly rare and only found in remote parts of sumatra , all keeping conditions the same a maularoids , in fact is almost identical except lacks any flowers at all.

Species name: Channa marulioides

Common name: Emperor Snakehead, darkfin snakehead, toman bunga, flower snakehead ,blue snakehead ,blueline snakehead ,green snakehead , sumatran cobra snakehead

Maximum size: 65 cm / 26 inches

Origin: Rivers of southeastern Sumatra, Kapuas basin of western Kalimantan , Bangka, Belitung , Samarinda, eastern Kalimantan, peninsular Malaysia, Pahang , southern Thailand


introductions: none confirmed at this time allthough unconfirmed reports are comming out of florida usa

Temperament: this channa is very rarly aggresive toward other fish or its own kind outside of breeding time , it is often said to be one of the more passive snakeheads.

Company: this fish is a fairly good candadate for mixing with other fish ,so long that its requirments are met , you need to bare in mind that this fish alone will need a huge tank as an adult ,and as a juvinile it can be bullied by more aggresive fish , mine got bullied by some angle fish that where suposed to be there as dither fish . it will eat smaller fish given the opertunity , but looking at its teeth structure would suggest that it eats more crustations ect in nature and its lack of aggresion against other fish also goes to suggest this

Water parameters: Temperature ,found in tropical areas 22-28˚C / 72-82˚ F; pH 6-7.5 it is though that lower ph and softer water have a direct influance on the development of the flower patterns that develop along the flacks of this fish , many in the aquarium do not fully develop these ,as of this time no scientific test have been carried out

Feeding: Will like most other snakeheads eat almost any meaty food you give them or can be trained to do so. but do show a preferance for prawns shrimps ect , will also eagerly accept worms insects ect

breeding : breeding has only been acomplished a couple of times in the aquarium both by the same person , it is reported to spawn in november and on both occasions spawned on exactly the same day of the month in november , we know from this that floating eggs are produced and are procected by a raft made out of vegitation that the parents make , at this time the parents become very aggresive and will attack anything in or near the tank , they also aggresive to each other and you may need to seperate them , for obvious reasons breeding should anly be attempted in a huge tank that is very well though out

tank: this is a very large fish and req's a very large tank to suit , i would not recomend any thing less than 7ft long and 3ft wide , height is not so important , the tank should be very well thought out , even though they are big fish they still need hiding places and floating cover is a must as they like to hang out at the surface , tropical tempretures should be maintained

notes : these are quite often found ,and are useally not very expensive , they come up quite oftem on order lists and can be found in some of the more specalist shops , expect to pay around £3-£15 for a juvanile in the uk , however a large specamin will fetch a considerably higher price and are extreamly rare to find , expect to pay over £100 for and adult fish

choose fish with six or more dark bands along there flanks , seven bands are seen as the best and have the most potential of becoming fully patterned adults , five bands are the most commen found
 
my melasoma is around 9"-10" at the mo and it has taken him/her 2 years to get there ! i also keep him in a community and as long as he can have his space(which is not that much !) he's fine,sometimes can be bullied by my RCK so have to keep a watch out but normally fine,tank size is 150 gal (6x2x2),he eats whitebait,prawns,cockles and earthworms
 
AU_Arowana-RG;2482881; said:
Asked about them because I heard about their names and saw pics of both. They're interesting.

Wow. Didn't realize they were that rare.
Click to expand...


ahh no worries mate , i will list the ones you will most lickly find to give you an idea of whats is likly obtainable. obviously this will vary from country to country but for the most part will be the same

channa anphibius - zero chance of finding
channa argus - easy to obtain in many countries outside europe
channa asiatica - comes up for time to time , some around at the moment
channa aurantimaculata - not often seen in shops , but a fair few around at moment
channa bankanensis - very hard to obtain
channa barca - very hard to find - few around at moment but over $3500
Channa baramensis - near impossable
channa belhri - fairly commen and useally able to order at most times
channa burmanica - very rare in the trade and will be very hard to find
channa cyanospilos - near impossable to find
channa diplogramma - getting easier to find and can useally be ordered in
channa gachua - very easy to obtain
channa hartcourtbutleri - hard to obtain , poss some around at moment
channa lucia - can be ordered ,and some around now but getting harder to find
channa maculata - very hard to find but some around at moment
channa maruliodes - pretty easy to find , many around at moment
channa marulia - very easy to find - many around at the moment
channa melanoptera - very rare , near impossable to find
channa melasoma - hard to find - not many about at all
channa micropeltes - extreamly easy to find - allways around
channa nox - near impossable to find
channa orientalis - very hard to find in shops , can be found through several breeders
channa panaw - very rare in shops - some around at moment
channa pleurophthalma - fairly rare - but many around at moment
channa punctata - useally available to order and quite easy to obtain
channa stewarti - getting harder to find , some varieties around at moment
channa straita - not many shops stock but should be able to order + around at moment
parachanna africana - hard to find but small amounts around at moment
parachanna insignis - extreamly hard to obtain
parachanna obscura fairly easy to obtain , many around now

channa pulchra - now fairly commen and should not pose a problem in getting
channa ornatipinis - rare in wild ,but many around at the moment
channa sp five stripe - once easy to find now quite rare
channa sp greenfins - few around at moment
channa sp turqoise - few around at moment
pseudomarulia - limited amounts around at moment
sp assam - fairly easy to obtain and order
sp platinum - very hard to find but some about now
Channa sp. 'Meghalaya Leopard' - few around now but very expensive
Channa sp. 'Spear-head' - few around now but fairly rare


hope that help you with your choice

cheers col
 
Ok. So, any would you be so kind as to help me find prices for some of these? The striata is the local philippine snakehead, and as such, very cheap. In fact, I found that a friend of mine has a 1-2 inch baby that came from a feeder fish bag primarily of tilapia (He also found two gouramis inside) @_@. So Striata won't be too much of a problem for me.

However, pleurophthalma, aurantimaculata, Lucia, Maruliodes, obscura, barca, diplogramma, and a number of others I haven't seen much info on pricing on, let alone care info and a picture.
 
cannot help you on prices bud , but for info and pictures check here http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75290 threads not compleate yet but i am slowly working on it. lol

iam sure there are a few guys from Phillipines on here that will be able to point you in the right direction or at least let you know what your chances of finding a certain species are .

straita should be nice and easy to find there as you said . they where introduced there upto 100 years ago , and are now regarded as native by most people. only problem with them is there size (upto 3ft or 90cm) and they do tend to be very aggresive. but that depends on each individual fish

cheers col
 
Thanks for the tips.

BTW, that same friend also has an "adult" striata (About 16 inches or so) living with the following fish:

1x Spotted Gar
1x Alligator Gar (He's planning to move it)
2x Clown Knives
1x Lima Shovelnose
1x Red Pacu
1x RTC

The striata cost him only 54 pesos. @_@ So yeah, they ARE that cheap here.
 
as i said it would depend on the fish its self and which varient of straita it is , i have known a few people mixing straita, and most say they have had no problems, yet i am still to see any pictures of anyone housing a fully grown straita with anything else ( in a private aquarium) same goes for micro, no photos of a private aquarium housing a micro in a comm. i suspect this is because sooner or latter they all run into problems, all the ones i have seen have been nuts , i suspect that they are similar to micro and get progressivly more aggresive as they grow , 16" is still less than half grown. but your mate may have gotten lucky and picked a placid one , but as allways its a gamble. obviously at the price you can get straita at , you could give them a try , just dont mix them with anything thats cost you a lot of money , just in case

cheers col
 
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