snakehead fish??

[Oddball~]

Hah, there was an over-run of these in Michigan. One owner SLEPT on top of his fish tank. He came home on night and the mattress was moved over like a foot in one corner. The fish escaped via an open door.

Another instance, was a snakehead swam and hit the top of the tank. There were 3 bricks on top and the snakehead hit those off and jumped out.

 

[ashdavid]

Very fun fish to have!!! :clap:

 

[bluewillow]

yes, but dont want to ever wake up with one attached to my leg thanks :dance2:

anyone piccies yet

 

[ashdavid]

Sorry no pics , I got rid of mine a long time ago. Sexing them is difficult.

 

[Swimfins]

I saw these at my LFs yesterday. They sure are cute when theyr'e small. Lucky I left them there

 

[MyTankIsAnArena]

In Nebraska, their introduction to native waters has not only led to a ban on buying them or importaing them, but the Nebrasja Game and Parks Comission embarked on a plan in October to buy the fish back from any aquarists that already had them. Only prob. was the prices: the max was $10 for anything over 12 inches long. Don't think they realize the cost to buy them in the first place...

 

[bluewillow]

anyone got any ideas on how i can tell the males from the feamles pleaseeeee :duh:

so what you all had then? african ,chines,??? breed?.

and is there anyother links to these fish? :look:

 

[ashdavid]

As I said before very hard to sex them. There are no colouration differences or distinctive markings that either male or female possess, they can only be sexed when they become adults, the male being bigger than the female. So in reality to sex a snakehead you would need to have a male and a female together to compare. Like I said very difficult to sex. And as for breeds, I had a red snakehead , very aggresive fish, but very fun.

 

[Lepisosteus]

Yes, they are very difficult to sex. Supposedly they can be sexed by the width of their heads, the broader head meaning a male, but I havn't found this to be true. There are some dwarf species, the smallest of which only gets to around 5" (Channa orientalis). C. maruloides is fairly unaggressive, but the majority of the others are fairly aggressive, and some are extremely aggressive (such as C. micropeltes). Their presence in the US is VERY much overblown, they cause no more damage than carp or other ferral animals that have been in US waters for a long time. Even North American catfish and bass (neither one of these is native to the western US) that have been introduced into US waters where they are not native do MUCH more damage than snakeheads, yet they are still legal in every state that I know of.

 

[id10t]

check out monsterfishkeepers.net