getting three of these guys tommorrow hopefully, ok there tanks going to be a three foot which is fully matured<housing a jaguar cichlid at present, substate is pea gravel, should i change this for sand, i have tonnes of rocks.bogwood.slate plastic plants so this should be ok for hiding spaces, there around 4inches at present, i shall be upgrading to a 5ft/18/18inches in thenew year,,so should i do a heater or not? also what food do they do best with? anything else you guys could tell me would be much appriciated, it will only be these guys in the tank
Channa-ornatipinnis<info please
- Thread starter south coast nelly
- Start date
a three foot tank with ornatipinis is not going to work even at 4" they will constantly chace harrass and eventually kill each other , these fish cannot stand the sight of each other.
would wanting to be unpopular , i would highly advice you leave them in the shop .
they are also sub-tropical, should be under low temps and heavly flow at this time of the year , and will be stressed and harresed by the jag also , there is a good chance of them eating gravel , all mine are now on sand for this very reason.
honestly mate ,i know they look great ,but there are far better channa out there ,ornatipinis are just not worth the trouble.
cheers col
would wanting to be unpopular , i would highly advice you leave them in the shop .
they are also sub-tropical, should be under low temps and heavly flow at this time of the year , and will be stressed and harresed by the jag also , there is a good chance of them eating gravel , all mine are now on sand for this very reason.
honestly mate ,i know they look great ,but there are far better channa out there ,ornatipinis are just not worth the trouble.
cheers col
no no iam swapping them for the jag because hes to big for the tank<so jag gone<,,,,Iam upgrading for a 5ft/18/18 in the new year about febuary,,,,the substrate is what iam asking about because if its no good i will run to the shop and get the sand,,also have another 3ft around,,so could set that up aswell and have them in solo tanks,,hope this makes more sence,,also what food do they eat?
tell me what you think is ideal or how you keep yours?obviously its not bad to keep them if you have so many, this is why iam asking whats the best way
tell me what you think is ideal or how you keep yours?obviously its not bad to keep them if you have so many, this is why iam asking whats the best way
that is better then mate ,
i always prefer to use a sand bed with channa as they can sometimes eat the gravel ,but for a short period , it would be better to leave the gravel in , if you put sand in now you loose all the bacteria in the gravel , so when you set up the big tank then set that up with sand.
you may well need the other spare 3ft , and may have to use a divider in one of them and keep all seperate until they are in the bigger tank , it will be a case of try and see , but i honestly think they will kill each other in a 3ft ,even just for a couple of months , they need a lot of teratory.
your planned tank would be fine and you could set it up perfect for them, i no longer keep any ornatipinis as they are so hard to cater for. and would go for pulchra over ornatipinis any day of the week. but ornatipinis are without doubt a very good looking fish.
if you want to be safe , seperate them with dividers until the big tank is done. then they should be fine . i would try and find some more though , more = more to spread the aggresion around.
here is a bit of info on them :
Species name: Channa ornatipinis
Common name: burmese spotted snakehead
Maximum size: around 25cm
Origin: Southern: Irrawaddy and Sitang River basins Myanmar
introductions: none as yet!!
Temperament: very aggresive , will not tolerate members of its own kind in small spaces , although a dwarf species req,s a very large well structured tank to house a group
Company: best kept in a species tank , do not mix with tropicals as these are sub-tropical fish and will not fair well , more than any other snakeheads these guys deserve propper consideration when buying. they deserve a species tank, and should be left to the more seasoned snakehead keeper. they do not make a very good 1st 2nd or even 3rd snakehead
Water parameters: Temperature 18-25 c ; pH avoid extreams, slighly softer water , although these guys can stand higher levels of temp for periods of time they sould not be kept year round at theese temps. there behavior is directly affected by tempreture , and very high temps are thought to be stressfull
Identification: similar to pulchra but have much more prominent black spots on head , allways shows multi black spots in dorsal fin
tank set-up: an important consideration for theese guys , even though they are considered as a dwarf species , please aquascape as if they where at least a medium sized snakehead , they are ultra aggresive amoung each other and need there own terratories , in nature they are found one large stones , one stone one fish - never two . try and replicate this in the aquarium with seperate areas for each fish , this in its self reqs, a large area to work with. where they are found the river bed is made up of volcanic rock (red lava) use of theese and plants can make a realistic biotope setting. temp should be sub-tropical with a lower safe guard set at around 16deg ambient temps should take care of the higher temps
as with pulchra they inhabit a stream that is fed from the hiymalaya mountains , in the wet season it is very wet with snow melt from the mountain causing fast flowing waters high oxogen content and higher ph values, in the drt season the opostite happens , streams dry up snow stops melting , so the stream turns into a series of isolated pools , in theese pools the oxogen content slowly drops as does ph and water level , in the aquarium this can be replicated by installing a sio, tunze ect powerhead at the surface during winter months , when summer comes round we can drop the level of the water ,turn off the pumps at the surface and add hardwood leaves to soften the water , by mimicing nature in this way we stand the best chance of getting these wonderfull fish to breed in aquaria , and also ensure they are at there happiest
other notes: they are from a small area and not very many are thought to live in the wild , they have not yet bred in the aquarium together with falling prices this is without doubt going to be putting excesive pressure on wild stocks , before we know it there will be no more left!!
as the prices have fell this has unfortunatly meant that they are available to more people and more people will but these fish as an impulse buy ,many of them are dieing at the hands of people who know no better , every owner of this fish should try and breed it to try and ensure the contunuance of this fish not only in aquariums but also in the wild
this fish is now to be found for around £20 each , only 1 year ago it comanded prices of £150 and up . although it is found quite often in shops i would urge you you leave it there unless you are perpered to meet this fishes needs
breeding: not yet acheived in the aquarium . thoughts are that following there natural pattern will be the key with this species , know to be a mouthbrooder from a male specamin caught in the wild carrying young.
some people have opted to keep theres in seperate aquariums while they grow . bringing them together when sexually mature , to save on deaths from fighting while growing up
cheers col
i always prefer to use a sand bed with channa as they can sometimes eat the gravel ,but for a short period , it would be better to leave the gravel in , if you put sand in now you loose all the bacteria in the gravel , so when you set up the big tank then set that up with sand.
you may well need the other spare 3ft , and may have to use a divider in one of them and keep all seperate until they are in the bigger tank , it will be a case of try and see , but i honestly think they will kill each other in a 3ft ,even just for a couple of months , they need a lot of teratory.
your planned tank would be fine and you could set it up perfect for them, i no longer keep any ornatipinis as they are so hard to cater for. and would go for pulchra over ornatipinis any day of the week. but ornatipinis are without doubt a very good looking fish.
if you want to be safe , seperate them with dividers until the big tank is done. then they should be fine . i would try and find some more though , more = more to spread the aggresion around.
here is a bit of info on them :
Species name: Channa ornatipinis
Common name: burmese spotted snakehead
Maximum size: around 25cm
Origin: Southern: Irrawaddy and Sitang River basins Myanmar
introductions: none as yet!!
Temperament: very aggresive , will not tolerate members of its own kind in small spaces , although a dwarf species req,s a very large well structured tank to house a group
Company: best kept in a species tank , do not mix with tropicals as these are sub-tropical fish and will not fair well , more than any other snakeheads these guys deserve propper consideration when buying. they deserve a species tank, and should be left to the more seasoned snakehead keeper. they do not make a very good 1st 2nd or even 3rd snakehead
Water parameters: Temperature 18-25 c ; pH avoid extreams, slighly softer water , although these guys can stand higher levels of temp for periods of time they sould not be kept year round at theese temps. there behavior is directly affected by tempreture , and very high temps are thought to be stressfull
Identification: similar to pulchra but have much more prominent black spots on head , allways shows multi black spots in dorsal fin
tank set-up: an important consideration for theese guys , even though they are considered as a dwarf species , please aquascape as if they where at least a medium sized snakehead , they are ultra aggresive amoung each other and need there own terratories , in nature they are found one large stones , one stone one fish - never two . try and replicate this in the aquarium with seperate areas for each fish , this in its self reqs, a large area to work with. where they are found the river bed is made up of volcanic rock (red lava) use of theese and plants can make a realistic biotope setting. temp should be sub-tropical with a lower safe guard set at around 16deg ambient temps should take care of the higher temps
as with pulchra they inhabit a stream that is fed from the hiymalaya mountains , in the wet season it is very wet with snow melt from the mountain causing fast flowing waters high oxogen content and higher ph values, in the drt season the opostite happens , streams dry up snow stops melting , so the stream turns into a series of isolated pools , in theese pools the oxogen content slowly drops as does ph and water level , in the aquarium this can be replicated by installing a sio, tunze ect powerhead at the surface during winter months , when summer comes round we can drop the level of the water ,turn off the pumps at the surface and add hardwood leaves to soften the water , by mimicing nature in this way we stand the best chance of getting these wonderfull fish to breed in aquaria , and also ensure they are at there happiest
other notes: they are from a small area and not very many are thought to live in the wild , they have not yet bred in the aquarium together with falling prices this is without doubt going to be putting excesive pressure on wild stocks , before we know it there will be no more left!!
as the prices have fell this has unfortunatly meant that they are available to more people and more people will but these fish as an impulse buy ,many of them are dieing at the hands of people who know no better , every owner of this fish should try and breed it to try and ensure the contunuance of this fish not only in aquariums but also in the wild
this fish is now to be found for around £20 each , only 1 year ago it comanded prices of £150 and up . although it is found quite often in shops i would urge you you leave it there unless you are perpered to meet this fishes needs
breeding: not yet acheived in the aquarium . thoughts are that following there natural pattern will be the key with this species , know to be a mouthbrooder from a male specamin caught in the wild carrying young.
some people have opted to keep theres in seperate aquariums while they grow . bringing them together when sexually mature , to save on deaths from fighting while growing up
cheers col
brilliant infomation thanks mate, yes i will do that keeping the substrate i have already, seperating these guys from each other, lots of rocks,slate caves and bogwood? so no bother with heater, if i remember from last time i had a coldwater tank in that perticular room temp was around 17c,,aim the filter at the floor which creates a wayor flow seems they like this? then when i get the bigger tank mix the gravel with sand? oh yes whats the best food?
no worries mate .
and you can either mix the gravel in or just go with all sand ,as you will have to wait for it to cycle it does not make much diferance.
and yes , no heater - 17deg is perfect for this time of year . in the summer the ambiant temp of the room will sort out the summer temps
from begining of winter to spring time , i would have the filter so that it produces a fair bit of flow at the surface , many use a extra powerhead for this , seio or tunze pumps are great for this . from spring to begining of winter turn off any flow at the surface , if useing the filter for flow point it into the tank so surface is still .
rocks (red lava rock is what is found where they are collected) plants ,floating and java fern attatched to wood , bogwood, ect ect , give each fish a small cave under a rock , this is how they are found hiding in the wild. i would also throw a hand full of indian almond leaves in during the summer months.
good luck with them , set the 5ft up nice and it should make for a stunning disply
cheers col
and you can either mix the gravel in or just go with all sand ,as you will have to wait for it to cycle it does not make much diferance.
and yes , no heater - 17deg is perfect for this time of year . in the summer the ambiant temp of the room will sort out the summer temps
from begining of winter to spring time , i would have the filter so that it produces a fair bit of flow at the surface , many use a extra powerhead for this , seio or tunze pumps are great for this . from spring to begining of winter turn off any flow at the surface , if useing the filter for flow point it into the tank so surface is still .
rocks (red lava rock is what is found where they are collected) plants ,floating and java fern attatched to wood , bogwood, ect ect , give each fish a small cave under a rock , this is how they are found hiding in the wild. i would also throw a hand full of indian almond leaves in during the summer months.
good luck with them , set the 5ft up nice and it should make for a stunning disply
cheers col
iam getting them in about an hour,,,got them, there a bit chewed up fin wise but nothing some good water changes shouldnt cure, post pictures in a minute, tanks heavily planted and has around 8caves hidden within the plants and bogwood..
