Question about mates
- Thread starter NikosKoul
- Start date
I've found snakeheads to be more aggressive to their own kind, more so their exact species. You might have more luck with other species. As long as they are not territorial, too large to be a threat or too small to be eaten. Temperature matches can be a pain with subtropical snakeheads. Be prepared for some failures before you find suitable tank mates
It isn't going to work.
My aurantis were fine for a month or two, and the second they decided the Polys had to go, they would just chase them whenever they would get out of their hiding.
I had different kinds of ploys, different sizes too, none were escaping their watch.
I eventually had to buy a new tank for the aurantis as to not waste 180 gal for 2 fishes.
You need to stop trying to find tank mates for incompatible fish such as channas.
Anything that isn't sub-tropical will not tolerate the temperature changes, and anything that does is on channas' "to eat" list as they are in the wild.
My aurantis were fine for a month or two, and the second they decided the Polys had to go, they would just chase them whenever they would get out of their hiding.
I had different kinds of ploys, different sizes too, none were escaping their watch.
I eventually had to buy a new tank for the aurantis as to not waste 180 gal for 2 fishes.
You need to stop trying to find tank mates for incompatible fish such as channas.
Anything that isn't sub-tropical will not tolerate the temperature changes, and anything that does is on channas' "to eat" list as they are in the wild.
True story.. i hope my maru ll tolarate some tankmates because i dont want to spent my 300 for one fish
Aside temperature issues with subtropical Channa it depends on the individual fish to a great extend if socialization is possible. Also the way you raise/keep the fish (always alone, always with others, etc.) can be important, imho .
I had a Parachanna obscura (it's the one in my avatar) at ~48 cm/~19 inches that was with community fish through all the 18 years I got her, bought at ~8 cm/3 inches in 1994. She was very suspicious against other fish, agression occured only when she was threatened. There was only one fish that she would not accept , that was a ~40 cm/~16 inches Hemisorubim platyrhynchos that I had to take out of the tank.
I own a C. marulioides since december 2010 that is currently at ~70 cm/27,5 inches big and that has always been with community fish as well. Got her at ~15 cm/~6 inches and she was always with other fish like the Parachanna was back in the day. She's more of a brute and did sort out (I took them out, no one died) some tankmates in the past, but most fish were ok and were completely ingored.
Now I introduced two quite big Clarias batrachus-catfishes into the snakehead-tank and she's ok with them, but not in in every part of the tank which is a bit weird since she don't hold a territory where no other fish are allowed normally. But even there the Clarias only get nipped gently without injuries. Even two tiny (~28 cm/~11 inches) Polypterus endlicheri were in the tank for over half a year without any problems, those were observed closely but no harm in any way was done, not even nipping when I introduced them.
Anyways, when I set up my new 291g I'll introduce the catfish a few days before the snakehead so that she'll arrive last in the tank, I'm sure this way she'll be more compatible with them through a "environmental reset"; this worked out for me with a bunch of fish through all the years I'm into fishkeeping.
As a note, if you keep a snakehead alone for a longer period of time OR you add new fish unknown to the sankehead to your tank where the snakehead lives for a longer period of time and has it really settled in the chances of aggression and incompatibility are greatest, from my experiences.
The "keep snakeheads alone"-rule does not work well for my fish I had and have, especially my current marulioides was quite shy in the short periods of time when she was alone.
.I had a Parachanna obscura (it's the one in my avatar) at ~48 cm/~19 inches that was with community fish through all the 18 years I got her, bought at ~8 cm/3 inches in 1994. She was very suspicious against other fish, agression occured only when she was threatened. There was only one fish that she would not accept , that was a ~40 cm/~16 inches Hemisorubim platyrhynchos that I had to take out of the tank.
I own a C. marulioides since december 2010 that is currently at ~70 cm/27,5 inches big and that has always been with community fish as well. Got her at ~15 cm/~6 inches and she was always with other fish like the Parachanna was back in the day. She's more of a brute and did sort out (I took them out, no one died
) some tankmates in the past, but most fish were ok and were completely ingored.Now I introduced two quite big Clarias batrachus-catfishes into the snakehead-tank and she's ok with them, but not in in every part of the tank which is a bit weird since she don't hold a territory where no other fish are allowed normally. But even there the Clarias only get nipped gently without injuries. Even two tiny (~28 cm/~11 inches) Polypterus endlicheri were in the tank for over half a year without any problems, those were observed closely but no harm in any way was done, not even nipping when I introduced them.
Anyways, when I set up my new 291g I'll introduce the catfish a few days before the snakehead so that she'll arrive last in the tank, I'm sure this way she'll be more compatible with them through a "environmental reset"; this worked out for me with a bunch of fish through all the years I'm into fishkeeping
.As a note, if you keep a snakehead alone for a longer period of time OR you add new fish unknown to the sankehead to your tank where the snakehead lives for a longer period of time and has it really settled in the chances of aggression and incompatibility are greatest, from my experiences.
The "keep snakeheads alone"-rule does not work well for my fish I had and have, especially my current marulioides was quite shy in the short periods of time when she was alone.
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Neither of these is a sub-tropical channa though. :/Aside temperature issues with subtropical Channa it depends on the individual fish to a great extend if socialization is possible. Also the way you raise/keep the fish (always alone, always with others, etc.) can be important, imho
I had a Parachanna obscura (it's the one in my avatar) at ~48 cm/~19 inches that was with community fish through all the 18 years I got her, bought at ~8 cm/3 inches in 1994. She was very suspicious against other fish, agression occured only when she was threatened. There was only one fish that she would not accept , that was a ~40 cm/~16 inches Hemisorubim platyrhynchos that I had to take out of the tank.
I own a C. marulioides since december 2010 that is currently at ~70 cm/27,5 inches big and that has always been with community fish as well. Got her at ~15 cm/~6 inches and she was always with other fish like the Parachanna was back in the day. She's more of a brute and did sort out (I took them out, no one died
Now I introduced two quite big Clarias batrachus-catfishes into the snakehead-tank and she's ok with them, but not in in every part of the tank which is a bit weird since she don't hold a territory where no other fish are allowed normally. But even there the Clarias only get nipped gently without injuries. Even two tiny (~28 cm/~11 inches) Polypterus endlicheri were in the tank for over half a year without any problems, those were observed closely but no harm in any way was done, not even nipping when I introduced them.
Anyways, when I set up my new 291g I'll introduce the catfish a few days before the snakehead so that she'll arrive last in the tank, I'm sure this way she'll be more compatible with them through a "environmental reset"; this worked out for me with a bunch of fish through all the years I'm into fishkeeping
As a note, if you keep a snakehead alone for a longer period of time OR you add new fish unknown to the sankehead to your tank where the snakehead lives for a longer period of time and has it really settled in the chances of aggression and incompatibility are greatest, from my experiences.
The "keep snakeheads alone"-rule does not work well for my fish I had and have, especially my current marulioides was quite shy in the short periods of time when she was alone.
The question was about aggression so it's not important that I gave examples of my tropical Channa, even though NikosKoul's example was about a subtropical Channa .
The temperature fluctuations needed for keeping subtropical Channa are another obstacle for socialization on it's own, for sure .
.The temperature fluctuations needed for keeping subtropical Channa are another obstacle for socialization on it's own, for sure
.It is relevant, though as they have a whole different temperament. Tropical channas are superactive, and usually can hold their own against pretty much anything, making tank mates easier to find, as you only have to make sure that they won't eat them. A maruloides would fight a fish twice its size head on, while any sub-tropical channa will hide and let itself die. I have found that it is much less the case for tropicals.The question was about aggression so it's not important that I gave examples of my tropical Channa, even though NikosKoul's example was about a subtropical Channa
The temperature fluctuations needed for keeping subtropical Channa are another obstacle for socialization on it's own, for sure
I've had smaller channas almost let themselve die to a wolf fish, so I moved them. On the other hand, I've had juvenile diplogrammas chase the same wolf fish (except it was much bigger then) for hours until the wolf fish would find a place the diplos were not interesting in chasing through.
Mmmmh, those arguments are too much of a generalisation in my book and also biased by the fact that, aside Channa argus, all the big boys are tropical Channa .
And when you look at intraspecific aggression then the subtropical Channa are in no way more peaceful in comparison to their tropical relatives.
First of all you do not choose fish that are aggressive by themselves hoping the Channa would "hold it's own", those scenarios are doomed from the start, imho. If you choose aggressive fish then the snakehead will be forced into fights and given the fact that many of the big Channa won't back down this would lead to nasty and unnecessary confrontations.
Also it's a whole different perspective when on the one hand you evaluate the aggresson of snakeheads towards aggressive fish and on the other hand you look at the behaviour of snakeheads towards peaceful fish, this can be far apart from each other.
Best example for this was my Parachanna obscura: very ignorant and peaceful against virtually every other fish that did not harras her, but she could get quite nasty when threatened.
Again, aggressive fish are wrong with every Channa in my opinion, best bet are peaceful fish too big to eat and a tank that is big enough for every fish which is in it. Then you would have cooked it down only to the snakehead's behaviour which CAN (not must) be aggressive on it's own, even when the other fish are not. This can often be influenced by other factors like how the fish grew up, how big the tank is, how much space per fish is available etc. etc. .
. And when you look at intraspecific aggression then the subtropical Channa are in no way more peaceful in comparison to their tropical relatives.
First of all you do not choose fish that are aggressive by themselves hoping the Channa would "hold it's own", those scenarios are doomed from the start, imho. If you choose aggressive fish then the snakehead will be forced into fights and given the fact that many of the big Channa won't back down this would lead to nasty and unnecessary confrontations.
Also it's a whole different perspective when on the one hand you evaluate the aggresson of snakeheads towards aggressive fish and on the other hand you look at the behaviour of snakeheads towards peaceful fish, this can be far apart from each other.
Best example for this was my Parachanna obscura: very ignorant and peaceful against virtually every other fish that did not harras her, but she could get quite nasty when threatened.
Again, aggressive fish are wrong with every Channa in my opinion, best bet are peaceful fish too big to eat and a tank that is big enough for every fish which is in it. Then you would have cooked it down only to the snakehead's behaviour which CAN (not must) be aggressive on it's own, even when the other fish are not. This can often be influenced by other factors like how the fish grew up, how big the tank is, how much space per fish is available etc. etc. .
