TomatoandEgg
Member
First off i appreciate your input here and i also appreciate that you're keeping your tone civil, albeit condescending, given your strong feelings on the ethics of my treatment of the fish.
it's not that i'm not moved by the pain and suffering of animals, it was simply that the replacement fish was from a different batch so i quarantined him in the tupperware to ascertain if he had the common 'auranti fungus' that lots of them have.
You chose to delete a part of my post in your quote "I put him in into a big Tupperware for 2 weeks." The tupperware may be small by tank standards but it was a 60l restaurant tupperware i use for storing drinking glasses so it's not like the fish couldn't move. As a 7 inch fish he could swim freely in there. My LFS refused to take another sick fish back as they were already housing 1 in their quarantine tank so i that was not an option. i also needed to ascertain if my first batch were all sick with weak immunity to their own fungal infection or whether my tank had columnaris. So in he went. it was a cruel gamble i accept that.
given that all my fish and snakeheads have not developed the same problems this time around it looks with some certainty that the original tanks problem was columnaris.
When this happens in the wild could it be possible that the males just swim away instead of being killed off?
It would be wise to respect nature more and to avoid situations like this in a closed environment of a fish tank.
There is a reason why this species is advised to be kept alone in a specific tank.
Even with established couples the risks remains that they suddenly kill eachother when they are together in a tank, in the wild they have their "single" periods so never a guarantee that it won't end in a killing spree...
you've drawn a line that satisfies your own ethical position. If you want to take that train of thought to its logical conclusion then the fishkeeping hobby is cruel full stop. boxing animals away from their real natural habitat is unthical. i can accept this. i can also accept where you draw your own line. For me i'm fine with keeping these kind of fish even with their aggressive and moody behaviour to one another. i plan to remove and resell the other 4 should a pair form. I can't promise that they wont go into a big tupperware for a few days. i do have some large water bins so rest assured the size of their temporary home will be ok if the fish have grown some if and when it happens.
I’m undecided on whether soil was the best choice as substrate but that’s for my own visibility reasons. As far as the fish are concerned it’s great as it’s soft and perfect for digging. Which they do a lot of.
Successful breeders of these fish have done so using sponge filters and I have been assured by them that my filtration is more than enough as the fish have very robust immune systems unless severely stressed or under attack from a deadly bacteria like columnaris.
The stones may not be the best choice but none are particularly sharp. I will report back if they scrape and damage themselves on the stones.
Other inhabitants cherry shrimp and neons were intended to be live food to provide the snakeheads something to hunt immediately upon entering the tank and trigger their appetite in their new home.
The fish are currently 6 to 7 inches in a 4ft by 1.5ft tank. Adult aurantis grow to 14-15 inches and are suitably homed in a 6ft by 2ft tank. The tank is, relative to their size, spacious for them at their juvenile size.
Room temp water here in malaysia is 28c. I’m currently settling the fish at 22c. I’ll be taking it down to around 17c for their winter period late in the year. My tank has always had a chiller.
aside for taking pictures and video recording the tank lighting runs on level 2 of 6 for my front light and 1 of 6 for the rear light.
The entire surface is covered in duckweed.
The majority of plants are types of java ferns and jungle vals. It’s already grown thick enough that I can’t find the fish if they choose to hide.
-A tightly closed hood is essential since they are escape artists... (OP has an open tank, no? They didn't bother to escape 'cause they were melting i guess
)
I have always had a 7mm thick acrylic lid. You see it clearly at the start of my feeding video All pictures are taken with the lid there it’s just not very visible.
Food intake is relative to metabolism. I expect to feed once a week or so at 17c. When kept to 14c as European breeders do, they feed even less frequently, going a month or so between feedings.
So tell me again why this high light and open top (small but essential detail with five of them cramped together) and carefully aquascaped tank with mainly low vegetation, big stones and steep slopes instead of hiding spots is build specific for Channa's?
i'm sorry but don't hand me a loaded gun by claiming something like that, i might have a triggerfinger
Quote from Seriously fish:
"Since it is less of an ecological generalist than many Channa species, requires a specific type of microhabitat, has a restricted range and is never found in large numbers it is recommended as a concern for conservation by Goswami et al., 2006., who also noted that it is ‘rampantly fished’ for food and the ornamental trade."
Five in a 120cm tank is not a natural situation one could say after reading that... And since they are under human pressure one should at least show some respect if one can't resist on the urgent need to keep a fish like that no matter what....
See my point?
As of right now I completely disagree with your analysis of my tank. I am however ready and willing to admit exactly where I go wrong with this tank so if problems arise for the reasons you have listed I will definitely admit it and share it in detail as a warning for others who choose to own these fish
