Single species tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
K

KrisLynne

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 26, 2013
6
0
0
Washington England
Hi,

I'm looking to stock a 200g 6' tank and was wondering if it's viable going for snakeheads.
I would rather have more than one fish so what would be best for a single species tank? how many of then could i house?
Or another option is can i have a multi species tank same question apply although from reading about snakeheads I'm not sure this is possible.
 
for your needs, id suggest going for channa pleurophthalma (but if you really reside in washington, i dont think you'll have much luck finding any snakeheads for sale). They're colorful and active, school together, and aren't too aggressive towards other tank mates.

[YT]vwrIrTNKoS0[/YT] (this is my 180 gallon 6x2x2)

other good snakehads that come to mind for a 200g

channa marulioides (may need more than a 200g depending on the size of the individual or how many you're keeping)
channa maculata
channa obscura
parachanna africana
channa punctata
channa straita
 
As was sort of implied above, snakeheads are illegal in the US. So I wouldn't go that route if you're in WA.
 
I'm from Washington, England and snakeheads are legal here so I'm fine.

Just a bit more info the tank that I'm about to have built as it fits my room dimensions is a 72x32x24.

I like the look of the channa pleurophthalma what are they like to keep? easy? intermediate? or hard
I don't want to go all in on something i may kill off due to lack of experience.
 
No problem, they're extremely easy to keep after about 6-7 inches. when young (2-4 inches) they are really susceptible to sudden death syndrome and can often be picky eaters. Out of a group of 10, I had 8 successfully make it to 8+inches and after that it was smooth sailing.

Keep in mind though, these fish are schooling fish which is great for a species only tank. From my experience, these fish learn off eachother and gain confidence from eachother. They can be very skidish and shy if you keep them alone or with just 1 other pleuro. Of the pleuros that have died in my care, 1 died for no apparent reason (sudden death syndrome) and the other refused to transition from bloodworms to pellets and eventually starved to death (bloodworms dont have much protein, they're mostly water). It was important to rear a school of pleuros together because they taught eachother what foods to accept and allowed them to have the confidence to eat agressively

Overall, a very easy fish to keep, and the more pleuros you raise together, the easier i find it is to raise the group
 
chronick said:
No problem, they're extremely easy to keep after about 6-7 inches. when young (2-4 inches) they are really susceptible to sudden death syndrome and can often be picky eaters. Out of a group of 10, I had 8 successfully make it to 8+inches and after that it was smooth sailing.

Keep in mind though, these fish are schooling fish which is great for a species only tank. From my experience, these fish learn off eachother and gain confidence from eachother. They can be very skidish and shy if you keep them alone or with just 1 other pleuro. Of the pleuros that have died in my care, 1 died for no apparent reason (sudden death syndrome) and the other refused to transition from bloodworms to pellets and eventually starved to death (bloodworms dont have much protein, they're mostly water). It was important to rear a school of pleuros together because they taught eachother what foods to accept and allowed them to have the confidence to eat agressively

Overall, a very easy fish to keep, and the more pleuros you raise together, the easier i find it is to raise the group
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info I will check these out and see if I can get them around here in some of the lfs near me.
if I can see some it will probably help me decide.
i want to get it right first time but if they are not available I can always set up one of my smaller tanks for some dwarf species.
 
Hello, I have a 190 gallon tank (200cm x 60cm x 60cm). At the moment I have 1x Channa Pleurophthalma(10cm), 1 Datnoid(5cm) (IT) and 1 Chitala Chitala(15cm). I wanted to have in the tank 3x IT, 1x Chitala Chitala, 5x Channa Pleurophthalma, 1x Potamotrygon Motoro, 1x Polypterus Endlicheri and 1x Polypterus Ornatipinnis. Do you think its possible? If its not possible what about if I removed the 2 polypterus?

Thank You


 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom