Pairing the Channa gachua

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NativesMan

NativesMan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 18, 2017
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I have been wanting to try this for quite some time, having read about it in a number of places, and I finally got the opportunity when my 6 year old Channa gachua( which had been kept alone all its life), passed away a week ago, leaving me with an empty tank on my hands.

So I went out this morning and brought in 6 juvenile gachua, all between 2 and 3 inches in length, and released them into the tank. It's the same tank that my old gachua lived in, so it's well furnished with everything a snakehead would want - lots of floating vegetation and hiding places. Anyway, within 10 minutes of being introduced, all the gachua started going at each other, flaring up and fighting all over the tank. As far as I can make out, every fish is being aggressive with every other fish in the tank, so I don't think a pair has been formed yet. It's been a couple of hours now, and while the initial aggression seems to have died down a fair bit they are still clearly not very fond of each other, and flare up and charge each other whenever they cross paths.

Is this behaviour to be expected at this stage? Should I persist with the pairing attempt, or is it time to separate the fish before someone gets hurt? So far, there haven't been any serious injuries as far as I can see-apart from a few torn and tattered fins, the fish appear to be more or less okay. I'd just really like them to remain that way. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
 
It's been a day now, and matters haven't improved. One of the gachua has established itself as the clear boss of the tank, and is aggressively charging its tankmates whenever it sees them. The others all seem terrified of this guy, and are hiding in the dense layer of hornwort at the surface. Whenever one of them even tries to move out into the main part of the tank, the dominant fish chases it right back up again.

Watching all this, I can't help but feel that things aren't going to plan. Any suggestions would be most welcome.
Thanks.
 
They are very young to form a pair , tank size is important key to low down the aggression , what is ur tank size ? And don't worry they will settle down , just give them food properly and make sure that every one gets its share of food ,I give food to my bleheris with a stick so everyfish get food ,my dominant bleheri also chase the other ones but its OK,
 
Hi Mazhar26 Mazhar26 , thanks for the reply.

I'm a bit worried about the tank size to be honest, I think it might be a little too small for pairing them. The footprint is 2.5 * 1.5 feet. Hiding places aplenty though. Do you think that's enough?

I fed them chopped prawns a while ago, the fish ate them hungrily so no worries there. Pretty sure I got all of them to eat too.
 
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Ur tank is small for gachua , even they dwarf channa but they are really very aggressive, I think u should try andraos in this size of tank , I have a andrao pair in 2ft tank and they r doing fine, gachuas need 4' tank ,
 
Would I be okay with keeping a single one then?

This particular variant of gachua is one of the smaller ones I think, my old one only grew to just over 5 inches in the 6 years that I had him. It reached that length pretty early in its life, and then grew mainly in girth, becoming a thicker and more robust fish as time went on. It was a pretty healthy fish throughout, great colours and excellent activity, so I don't suppose it was too unhappy with its home.

Unfortunately, these also seem like one of the more aggressive variants of gachua out there. My old one used to flare at its reflection in the mirror, sort of like a giant betta.
 
Give them sometime, things might work for u and u get a pair,, just wait don't panic
 
Alright then. I'll just wait and do nothing for now.

In case it does work out, will this tank be okay for a pair or will I be needing a bigger one?
 
For a 5" fish it will work, for a pair they need lot of hiding places , but it work , a friend of mine had success in breeding gachua in a tank size same as urs
 
Problem with a small tank for a pair is that you won't see a problem until it is too late.
When most sub-trop channas pair, they tend to have a kind of alternate custody over the fry... With the male being more protective of them. If the tank is small, chances the fry go to the female and the male being aggressive towards her are bigger.

So perhaps you'll need to separate them with eggcrates or such if that happens.

If you can/want a bigger tank, I'd do it.
 
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