Channa Andrao - Water temp variation query

[TomH]

Hi all,

First post, so hopefully this is in the right place.

I've recently got back into fishkeeping after a few years out and seem to have somewhat fallen in love with snakeheads! Currently keeping channa andrao in a planted 4ft tank. They are probably the most 'interactive' fish i've kept and are great to watch feeding.

As with many of the snakehead species, I assume these require sub tropical temperatures. Most sources I can find seem to suggest somewhere in the region of 22degrees and allowing the tank to cool over winter to around 16 degrees.

However, with the warmer summer weather, tank water temperature hits a max of 27 degrees some days (which is at or just above room temperature). Room temperature then drops to around 20degrees overnight, with a similar drop in water temperature, as the heater is set to 20deg.

My question is, will the fish be stressed with a 5-7 degree temperature change between day and night? Or am I better keeping the temperature higher (say circa 25 degrees?) and trying to hold it at a steadier level with smaller fluctuations, until I can drop the water temperature towards the cooler autumn/winter months?

Thanks for your help. Would love to hear any tips and advice from any other dwarf snakehead keepers.

Tom

 

[-DC-]

you are correct they are a subtropical species .

They will actually do best WITH those temperature swings, both seasonally and day/night changes. In fact i highly recommend ditching the heater all together, even in the winter i wouldnt use a heater unless you expect nights to dip below 10-15c for prolonged periods of time.

I live in eastern canada, i keep (and breed) several subtropical channa. My tanks are unheated and in the basement. The temps swing much like yours with warmmer summer weeks hitting 27+ degrees on hot days, in the winter i set the room at 10c and the water temps frequently hit 12c on cold winter nights, probably a bit colder at times. All is well within the safe range for subtropical channa, Last year i kept a large batch of auranti fry in a pool at back and only brought them inside when they started calling for frost ! i rememver it was 5c or so the night i decided id finally bring them in and although i was in a rush & didnt check the water temp i suspect it was down below 10c because i was freezing my legs off trying to catch them all lol

hope that helps!

 

[TomH]

Hey Devon,

Thanks so much for the reply. Just wanted a little bit of reassurance.

Interesting to read about the cool temps you've been keeping yours at. Temp seems to be coming down a bit at the moment in the UK, so my water is back down at around 22deg now as the nights are getting cooler. Interestingly, one of the males has become much darker in colour with the cooler water and the blue of his fins is much more pronounced.

Have you found any particular trigger to breeding with your channa? I know that just having males/females doesn't necessarily mean they will pair up. I'm not entirely sure which of mine are male/female, sometimes it seems easy to tell them apart and sometimes not. I've definitely got one male who has bright blue fins, one large brown female, and the other two i'm not so sure about, sometimes seems to be more brightly coloured like the males and sometimes more brown like the females, so i'm not so sure.

Cheers

Tom

 

[-DC-]

I find the best thing to do is try and mimic nature , the natural environment has a cool/dry season with a shorter warm/rainy season . I let the temps follow the seasons and I decrease/increase water changes and food offered to match .

So to sum it in the summer months when temps are highest I feed most frequently maybe every 3 days or so , as fall approaches I'll drop feedings to let's say 1-2 times a week , stop water changes and let the temps drop , as winter hits temps are colder and the tanks water levels start to drop due to evaporation . During the coldest months I don't really feed , maybe a small meal once and a while but that's about it . No water changes or top ups. Typically by the time things start to warm up again in the spring the tanks are only half full . When spring hits and the first big rain storms roll in I'll do a small water change and top up the tank . (So let's say it's 50% full , I'll syphon out ~1/3 of that and then fill the tank right up). I'll do 25-30% water changes weekly for a couple weeks and then decrease that to every other week , until summer hits , during summer months I'll do roughly 1 Wc a month and as temps start to drop (this time of year) I'll stop water changes all together until next spring .

Behaviour wise I find subtropical channa look much better in the winter temps vs summer temps , there is a boost in activity in the spring. typically as temps warm right before my spring Wc cycle starts I'll see increased activity and males breeding colours start to show. As breeding season passes and summer highs hit they will become more lethargic but until fall rolls around.

Unless of course breeding was successful and then you get to see some interesting parental behaviours!

Just as importantly if not most importantly they need to be left as undisturbed as possible with an appropriately aquascaped tank including lots of hiding spots and ample floating cover to make them feel secure .


Sorry for the long post lol got into a bit of a rant, hope that helps!