Thank you Zoha.
Here's a little something i put together.
Channa eyes by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Can you identify them all?.
All my species, except Channa harcourtbutleri.




Thank you Zoha.
Here's a little something i put together.
Channa eyes by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Can you identify them all?.
All my species, except Channa harcourtbutleri.



Some recent shots to share.
Channa diplogramma
Just a record shot to keep track of his patterning
Channa diplogramma by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa diplogramma by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
My asiatica girl
Channa asiatica by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa sp 'fire & ice'
Channa sp 'fire & ice' by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
The beautiful Channa pulchra
Channa pulchra by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa pulchra by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa pulchra by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Snakehead indeed
Channa pulchra by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Enjoy![]()


Deep deep poison...Arrghhh![]()



Hahaha
Here's a few new shots
Channa sp 'fire & ice' by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa diplogramma by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa diplogramma by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa stewartii by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa stewartii by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Thanks for viewing![]()
Hi kai..
Again.. Credit to all your channa shots! Enjoyed viewing them over and over again. So much details to see!!
I fell in love with rainbow snakehead aka Channa Blekheri. But here is the problem.. I have no chiller to create the sub tropical temperature they require to thrive. They are sub tropical right?
Saw a few at c328 along with other sub tropical species of channas. So tempting!!
2 questions.
. What other cheaper alternatives would you recommend (if any) for people who really wants to keep a blekheri without having to get a chiller or an air conditioned room?
. Are there any small tropical channas suitable for a 3ft tank?
Please send me some good news. LOL!!
Thanks in advance kai!
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Hi eejamboy, thanks again for viewing, glad you enjoyed.
Unfortunately there are no alternatives besides a chiller or Air conditioner, even with a cooling fan, a C bleheri will still slowly die away. They are strictly sub tropical, requiring temperatures below 20 degrees, thus cooling fans won't work in the long run.
For small tropical channas, there are a few. For a 3ft tank, a Channa panaw/punctata/bankanensis or tropical Channa gachua variants would be comfortable in that tank dimension. Panaw, punctata and bankanensis are quite uncommon though.
Hmm.. That is not good news.
I read there are many variants of gachua around and some are tropical as some are sub tropical. Is this true? How can we tell them apart? Any distinctive markings to look out for to distinguish tropical from sub tropical gachuas?
As we all know that not many shop owners know their channa well..
I am really hopeful to get a dwarf species tropical channa for my 3ft. At least i know now that bleheri is not an option now, not until I decide to get a chiller or install a new air-conditioner.. LOL!
Any not so rare easy to find DWARF species TROPICAL channa around?
*
Dwarf : fits in a 3ft comfortably
Tropical : requires no chiller to thrive
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As mentioned before, try to go for the tropical C gachua variants. You can tell they are tropical or sub-tropical by the location they are from though. Unless, you recognise a particular variant in a shop and you know for sure is tropical/sub-tropical and you can identify it by yourself.
Again, I will state the only DWARF TROPICAL Channas I feel comfortable to keep in that tank dimensions are punctata, panaw, gachua (Tropical variant) and bankanensis. These 4 are the only few tropical DWARF species i have seen enter the market. Other tropical dwarf species are even rarer, some of which I haven't even seen in stores.
Already, there are only a handful of TROPICAL DWARVES as it is, I could only think of these 4, others, like i mentioned before, I have never seen appear in stores. Many of the tropical Channa species reach tank busting proportions or are not suitable for a 3 footer.



Channa orientalis, if you can find this little bugger.



Thanks for narrowing down on those dwarf tropical species! Had a good time reading on them.
Googled those dwarf tropical species you mentioned.
Exclusively looked for Gachua and bankenansis (spelling). Most images kept re appearing for channa gachua species search. There are just too many gachua species out there. Not much help Mr. Google. LoL!
I can't seem to be able to find physical differences in terms of colour markings the time I spent looking at images of these gachua variants. I guess the only way to know tropical from sub tropical gachua variant is to ask the importer/shop owner where the species come from yes?
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wow your photos of them are really amazing !






Some new additions. Specially bought from a friend
Channa bankanensis
Channa bankanensis by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa bankanensis by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa bankanensis by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa baramensis.
Channa baramensis by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Channa baramensis by Aristoheliam, on Flickr
Thanks for viewing![]()
You got bankanensis from your Malaysian friend kai? Should have known you're getting them..



I have never seen this bankanensis species locally here in any fish shop.
That one you have in that photo is absolutely stunning!
Guess we have to try what you did looking across the causeway. Haha!



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