1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Predator; keep alone.
88 species in our list are a good match.
Predator; keep alone.
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.
Mature males are slimmer than females; males tend towards a bluish colour pattern, females greenish.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Egg-guarder ·
Not recorded in aquaria. In the wild, fish living in groups form temporary pairs that leave the group to spawn among marginal vegetation and then return; there is presumably no parental care.
A pair in a large tank.
1,000 L tank with plants and caves.
Warm temperatures and heavy feeding.
Hundreds of eggs.
Fry feed on baby brine shrimp and small live foods.
A metallic-green snakehead from Sumatra and Borneo with three or four large orange-ringed eyespots (ocelli) along each flank, plus one on the gill cover and one at the tail base. Juveniles are striped and grow to about 35-40 cm.
Pieter Bleeker described this snakehead in 1851. Its row of large eye-spots along the body makes it one of the most distinctive snakeheads.
First described by Pieter Bleeker in 1851. Named for 'Pleurophthalma' means eyes on the side, after its eye-spots.
16 facts checked with sources
Spelling pleurophthalma per Catalog of Fishes and Seriously Fish (the US rule spells it 'pleurophthalmus'). Seriously Fish: also called 'orange-spotted snakehead', the same common name the legacy data gives C. aurantimaculata.
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Channa species list (Channa pleurophthalma) · FishBase: Channa pleurophthalma summary · Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaLegacy has no family. Order Anabantiformes.
FishBase: Channa pleurophthalma summaryFishBase 40 cm TL; Seriously Fish 35 cm SL (similar once the tail is added). Larger figure kept; matches legacy.
FishBase: Channa pleurophthalma summary · Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaLegacy 5.0-7.0 is lower than Seriously Fish's range.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaLegacy has no hardness.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalma240 x 60 cm base x 60 cm height = 864 L (Seriously Fish's figure); needs open swimming length more than volume.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaSeriously Fish's social rating is 'shoal', yet it warns that groups may turn on tankmates; no clear minimum group can be given. Legacy 'keep alone' not confirmed.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaShy and wary rather than aggressive, but predatory; no single temperament label fits the source.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaOpen-water (pelagic) swimmer, unlike most snakeheads. Obligate air-breather: needs constant access to the surface and a tight lid with an air gap.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaNeeds a very large tank. Seriously Fish: young fish are very sensitive to water changes.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaLegacy story says 'Southeast Asian'. IUCN: Near Threatened (2019) per FishBase.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalma · FishBase: Channa pleurophthalma summary · Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Channa species list (Channa pleurophthalma)Legacy 'slimmer males' confirmed; dorsal-fin claim not in source; colour difference added.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaLegacy 'parents guard the nest' contradicts the source.
Seriously Fish: Channa pleurophthalmaLegacy 'a bold black eyespot on the flank': adults have several orange-ringed ocelli, not one black spot.
FishBase: Channa pleurophthalma 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. The rule's spelling 'pleurophthalmus' refers to this species.
eCFR 50 CFR 16.13 (US injurious wildlife: fish)