Channa from India & Rest of the World- 26th Feb Vid.

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Good evening
Anonymous

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Thank you for the kind appreciation Mullaji.

I feel it is basic courtesy to reply to everyone acknowledging/appreciating your fish or work.

Regards,
Tabby

Hi Guys

One of the most colourful, popular, preferred & widespread Channas in the hobby world over is Channa bleheri or the Rainbow Snakehead. Most often it is perceived to be an easy beginner’s Channa to keep but it is delicate and susceptible especially in the initial stages and thus sharing this article/experience from an Indian hobbyist perspective as promised:

Channa bleheri – Some “do’s” to enable a smooth transition into your home:

1) Set up a tank at least 2 weeks prior to the arrival of the fish.
2) Ensure that the fish is not received during seriously hot summer temperatures. This sub tropical Channa is not as hardy as its closest resemblance mate the Channa sp. Lal Cheng/Assam. A common misconception among hobbyists is that they are as easy as the beginner Channa species like Channa gachua, Channa sp. Lal Cheng/Assam or even Channa stewartii. These are much more intolerant to warmer temperatures, water parameters in the initial stages than the 3 above mentioned species.
3) The most important thing to keep in mind is that this species is super sensitive to getting skin ruptures/red patches/ulcers upon arrival in your tank hence care must be exercised in this regard.
4) The fish will even feed with the skin ruptures/red patches/ulcers but will eventually perish. One cannot always accurately ascertain the exact stress level the fish has undergone right from the collection point to the eventual keeper hence I've seen a lot of hobbyists fail with this species due to the fish developing these skin ruptures/red patches/ulcers. Thus, the remedy I've realized is to receive the fish in very old tanned/brown water with a lot of leaf litter.
5) Make sure your bleheri tank’s water is ‘old and seriously tanned’. You can either use any water from your existing tanks having wood in it plus add a lot of Almond or Catappa leaves to prepare a tank for them. A lot of new wood or wood releasing tannins at a brisk pace as their décor to add to the brown look to the tank in addition to the leaf litter. These are known to have a lot of leaf litter in the habitats they are caught in their native state Assam.
6) Check for a good source for the fish and get them in with a quick turnaround time from their source to your tank. These have started appearing more often in LFSs now so a nice way to tell a healthy fish from a stressed one is to pick out the upright finned bully who is chasing or dominating the others. Again, please check closely for even the slightest of skin ruptures or minute red patches as I call it ‘the bleheri bug’ which is very difficult to reverse in the initial stages.
7) Once the fish is released in your tank, do not at any stage run a filter let it be even a sponge one. My personal experience is that this species does not like filtration of any sort especially in the initial stages. The point here is that we are trying to eliminate the vulnerability mentioned earlier with the help of very old water and there would be a gradual transition to get the fish into cleaner, more watch able tanks.
8 ) After a month or more has passed and bleheri settled showing no stress without any patches on the skin, you can start replacing the ‘brown’ water slowly with clear old water. Take out the new wood & excess leaf litter and add plants to make it a décor much more watch able. You can slowly attain a tank less ‘brown’ but make sure you do not have it very clear.
9) They are not fussy eaters and one of the fastest Channa to put on weight and get fat easily. This will make them sluggish and reduce their lifespan overall so avoid feeding fatty foods even in fewer frequencies. As there is no fixed rule to perfect ‘the right path’ for them in this regard, check for the body/fin ratio regularly to see how they are faring. When growing out a juvenile group, generally males grow bigger and faster than the females.
10) Channa bleheri will be very active feeders during summer and the opposite during winter wherein they will sometimes not eat at all and be inactive. This is their natural cycle and thus a balance has to be maintained. Do not overfeed during summer despite the great levels of enthusiasm. Feed sub adult or adult fish (4-7’’) twice or thrice a week but good portions during summer. Hobbyists keeping them in mostly tropical climate places cannot attain their native habitat’s winter temperatures regularly hence the winter feeding should be halved to the summer schedule or ignored completely if the fish refuses to eat.

And thus, your bleheri should be happy and blessed! Smile

Regards,
Tabrez

Good Info Tabby...
I'm sure this thread will help the begginers
who are into keeping Channa species... Very Happy

Thanks for the update.... waiting to learn more about these awesome group of fishes

ravi

Nice info.. Thumb Up

you have a huge experience with these guys,,though most of the times you are abroad them also Very Happy

Thanks Chetesh, Ravi, Nandy and Mullaji.

Regards,
Tabrez

Check out this update guys...

Presenting a Monster Aurantimaculata of 61 cm (2 feet) from a New Catch Location that I received...

This should be the record breaker!

Cheers,
Tabby

WOW! Wish I had the space to accommodate such specimens

ravi

WOW

Thanks guys.

@ Ravi - Gradual transition bro, work on it.

Cheers,
Tabby

nice one indeed

Beautiful

Tabrez - You bought this from the Aquatic exhibition ?

Thanks guys.

@ Pio - No! Fortunate enough to have collectors in the North East supplying the rarest & best Channa to me. For records on the internet this is the first time AFAIK a Channa aurantimaculata this size has been shown. You may have seen other Channa species at the exhibition. Smile

Regards,
Tabby