1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Aggressive and territorial; keep alone or in a large tank with a bonded pair.
23 species in our list are a good match.
Aggressive and territorial; keep alone or in a large tank with a bonded pair.
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, shrimp, earthworms and large pellets.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Females are slightly duller and more yellowish than males.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Mouthbrooder ·
Mouthbrooder: the male carries the eggs and young in his mouth.
A conditioned pair in a large tank.
700 L tank with plants and caves, tight lid.
Seasonal change and good feeding.
Hundreds of eggs.
Fry take baby brine shrimp then small fish.
A dwarf (about 30 cm) mouthbrooding snakehead of the C. gachua group from the Brahmaputra and Ganges basins of northeastern India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, sold as the golden snakehead. It needs a cool winter rest and is aggressive towards its own kind.
Robert Playfair described this snakehead in 1867. A medium-sized species, it is kept for its golden tones and relatively manageable size.
First described by Robert L. Playfair in 1867.
14 facts checked with sources
Valid per Catalog of Fishes. Britz et al. (2024) designated a lectotype because Playfair's two type specimens were two species (the smaller is C. gachua); DNA barcodes of fish identified as C. stewartii fall into two clades 3.2-4.1% apart, so the name may be split in future. FishBase and Seriously Fish common name: Assamese snakehead; the trade and the US injurious-wildlife list call it 'golden snakehead'. A C. gachua-group species, easily confused with other dwarf snakeheads in the trade.
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Channa species list (Channa stewartii) · FishBase: Channa stewartii summary · Seriously Fish: Channa stewartiiLegacy has no family. Order Anabantiformes.
FishBase: Channa stewartii summaryBoth sources give 29.7 cm TL (rounded to 30). Britz et al. 2024 lectotype is 204 mm SL. Legacy 40 cm not supported.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartii · FishBase: Channa stewartii summarySeriously Fish 16-25 °C with a cool winter of 16-18 °C. Legacy 18-26 °C is slightly too warm at the top.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartiiLegacy 6.0-7.5 lies inside Seriously Fish's 6.0-8.0.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartii120 x 45 cm base x 45 cm height = 243 L (Seriously Fish's own figure). Legacy 700 L is far more than sources ask.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartiiSingle fish or a pair.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartiiAggression is mainly towards conspecifics; a predator of anything that fits in its mouth.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartiiSeriously Fish difficulty rating: Moderate (legacy 2 = moderate).
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartiiLegacy has no range field (story says north-east India and Bhutan). IUCN: Least Concern (2010).
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Channa species list (Channa stewartii) · Seriously Fish: Channa stewartii · FishBase: Channa stewartii summaryLegacy text is a generic snakehead description (slimmer males with longer dorsal fin) not confirmed for this species.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartiiLegacy 'nest-guarder' is wrong: this is a mouthbrooder. Female feeding of young with unfertilised eggs is known in other C. gachua-group species but Seriously Fish found no account of it in this species.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartiiRange confirmed and widened (also Bangladesh, Nepal). 'Golden body with dark blotches' and 'head like a grass snake' were not checked against a source.
Seriously Fish: Channa stewartii · eCFR 50 CFR 16.13 (US injurious wildlife: fish)US 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)