1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Predatory and territorial; best kept alone or with a mate.
64 species in our list are a good match.
Predatory and territorial; best kept alone or with a mate.
Check your local laws. US: all live snakeheads (genera Channa and Parachanna, family Channidae) and their viable eggs are injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act (listed 4 Oct 2002, 50 CFR 16.13); importation into the US and interstate transportation or acquisition are prohibited without a USFWS permit. It is named in the list. Check the rules where you live before you buy one, and never release it into the wild.
Fish, prawns and large pellets.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Egg-guarder ·
Parents guard eggs.
A pair in a spacious tank.
500 L tank with leaf litter, wood and plants.
Warm water and heavy feeding.
Hundreds of eggs.
Fry feed on baby brine shrimp.
A dark, soft-water snakehead of forest streams and peat swamps from southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippines; dark greenish or bluish above, paler below, and young fish have a red stripe from snout to tail.
Pieter Bleeker described this dark snakehead in 1851. It is a secretive species of acidic swamp forests.
First described by Pieter Bleeker in 1851. Named for 'Melasoma' means black body.
13 facts checked with sources
Often confused with C. baramensis of Borneo (once a synonym; it has a black spot on many scales and a barred tail fin above 12 cm SL) and with C. cyanospilos. Misspelled 'melanosoma' in older literature.
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Channa species list (Channa melasoma) · FishBase: Channa melasoma summary · Seriously Fish: Channa melasomaLegacy has no family. Order Anabantiformes.
FishBase: Channa melasoma summaryBoth give 30 cm SL.
Seriously Fish: Channa melasoma · FishBase: Channa melasoma summaryLegacy 22-28 °C lies inside Seriously Fish's 22-32 °C.
Seriously Fish: Channa melasomaLegacy 4.5-6.5 lies inside 4.0-7.0.
Seriously Fish: Channa melasomaLegacy has no hardness. Soft water.
Seriously Fish: Channa melasoma120 x 45 cm base x 45 cm height = 243 L (Seriously Fish's figure). Legacy 500 L not supported as a minimum.
Seriously Fish: Channa melasomaSeriously Fish's social rating says 'in a pair' with no supporting text; whether it can live singly is not stated.
Seriously Fish: Channa melasomaNo swimming level stated; mainly nocturnal. Obligate air-breather: needs constant access to the surface and a tight lid with an air gap.
FishBase: Channa melasoma summaryRecords from the Chao Phraya and Mekong may be misidentifications or introductions (Seriously Fish); FishBase still says 'Mekong in Thailand to Indonesia and the Philippines'. IUCN: Least Concern (2020).
Seriously Fish: Channa melasomaRange is wider than 'Borneo and Sumatra'. 'Dark bars' not supported (C. baramensis, a look-alike, has a barred tail). 'Often sold as hardy' not checked.
Seriously Fish: Channa melasoma · FishBase: Channa melasoma summaryUS rule cited from the current eCFR text (amended 67 FR 62203, 4 Oct 2002). Many US states also ban possession; state rules, EU, UK, Canada and Australia were not checked for this species.
eCFR 50 CFR 16.13 (US injurious wildlife: fish)