R.i.p. auranti ,welcome pleuro?

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H

Hans Stam

Feeder Fish
Nov 1, 2009
4
0
1
Ridderkerk,Holland
Hi everybody, I am not new here,but is has been a while last time I visited this forum.
I am keeping snakeheads now for about 15jrs,love em!
3 weeks ago my auranti died,cried like a girl..
Had difficult time breathing and keep the air in its body..was hard to see it struggle but died fast thank god.
Now I am looking for new snakehead(s)
I can obtain some pleuros,but can use some advice..
My tank is 160x60x60 cm,550 liter.
Is that enough for some 3-5 fish?
Hope that someone can give me an answer.
Cheers,Hans
 
I would keep a group of 5 in that size tank. I don't think you would have all 5 left by adulthood, so plenty big enough for 2 or so adults later on
 
I dont think its a bad idea to just buy 2, one on its own would not work for me, even fish need company. If you want a pair it's best to raise them as a group from a young age, I think that pretty much works for all snakeheads. I believe that pleuros are a lot more tolerant of their own species, from what I've read over the years, compared to other snakeheads. If you just want a couple of them, and not bothered about a bonded pair, you could just get the amount you want. They usually get on well until sub-adulthood, then there can be troubles. I've seen quite a few posts over the years of happy groups of pleuros. How long they stay happy for, I'm not sure.
I would always start with 5 or 6 myself and see how things go, if a pair formed, that would be great.
My experience of snakeheads is that they pretty much always end up alone or just 2 left in the tank anyway.
 
Breeding them would be awesome, but I read that that is almost impossible?
I guess 3 will do the trick for me.
Thank for the reply, you will hear from me soon!
Try to buy them tomorrow ;)
 
I hear that they are a river species, and like similar river species (micropeltis), they probably require large ponds to breed. I haven't heard of it happening in captivity.
 
3 is a bad number. In a hierarchy, 3 fish always end up with both the strongest hitting on the smallest. 4 and more is ideal.

As for breeding, from memory, in the wild, they leave the shoal to enter vallisneria fields close to/under banks and breed there before rejoining the group.

Mimicing that habit is quite complicated... ;)
 
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