they are far from native in america , infact are regarded as an invasive species and banned from keeping just as they are in oz . they are also banned in the uk and many europian countries
channa argus
Native range: Middle and lower Heilong (Amur) River basin; Songhua (Sungari) River, Manchuria; Tunguska River at Khabarovsk, Russia; Ussuri River basin; Lake Khanka (Herzenstein and Warpachowski, 1887; Berg, 1965; Popova, 2002); Korea, except northeastern region (Okada, 1960; Berg, 1965); rivers of China southward and southwestward to upper tributaries of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River basin in northeastern Yunnan Province (Evermann and Shaw, 1927; Kimura, 1934; Nichols, 1943; Mori, 1952; Berg, 1965; Xinluo and Yinrui, 1990; Ruihua, 1994). Reported from Guangdong Province, China (Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, 1991), likely an introduction there. Widely distributed in Chinese reservoirs (Sifa and Senlin, 1995).
Introduced range: Occurrence of this species in the upper reaches of the Bei (Beijiang) River, Guangdong Province, China, is apparently the result of an introduction (Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, 1991). Introduced from Korea in the early 1900s and established in many waters of central and southern Japan (Nakamura, 1963; Uyeno and Akai, 1984), considered as a “careless importation” (Okada, 1960). Chiba and others (1989) recorded the dates of these introductions as 1923-1924, noting that the species was reproducing in experimental or natural ponds and adding “Predation on native species” as a remark. In Japan, present and established in Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku (Hiroshi Ueda, personal commun., 2001). also now pretty much established in certain parts of the usa
