The largest and most splendid of all snakeheads belong to the relationship of Channa marulius. This species occurs in India and attains a maximum length of about 120 cm. The largest specimen ever collected is said to have had a length of 183 cm and a weight of 30 kg. But most often the fish become „only“ 40-60 cm long. The counterpart of that species in Southeast Asia is Channa marulioides (in fact the specific name means „similar to marulius“). We were able to import that beautiful species now from Thailand. We are sure that is has the potential to grow as large as C. marulius, but the largest specimen recorded so far scientifically was only 65 cm long. Currently our fish are 12-15 cm long.
These snakeheads are piscivorous. Against other fish that are too large to be eaten C. marulioides are usually peaceful. The large snakeheads are highly appreciated as food fish in the countries where they occur, but they are also often kept in temple-ponds. Here the Channa become very tame, they are fed by the visitors of the temple and they can be even stroken. The elegant predators also become very tame in private aquaria. Due to the size one has to expect a very large tank should be at hand, but it is avisable to let the tank grow with the fish. A small fish is lost very fast in a too big tank…
For our customers: the fish have code 409134 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
