# A Couple Of Questions



## ChannaLover (Nov 22, 2013)

Hey there! Sorry im kind of new here so oh well  I would like to ask a couple of questions down below so please help me with them! Thanks!

1. I recently have bought a 5" Spotted Gar and I have been feeding him baby 1.5" Giant Snakeheads( ironic to my name ) and hes been steadily consuming a good 7 of them a day. Based on keeping other fish i learnt to regulate the amout that they eat but since im new to keeping these gars im not sure how to determine the amount of food he should get to stay healthy.

2. How can I determine a Giant Snakehead's adult colour/ If there is any way possible i would like to... As an angler ive noticed many Giant Snakeheads with numerous colourations from pure black to a shade of dark green and would like to understand the factors leading up to different colourations.

3. Lastly, how can i clean a plant in a non filtered aquarium? My pleco has been getting his waste trapped in between the leaves of the plant and am finding any quick solution to cleaning the pants..

Thanks!


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## Marshall (Jul 8, 2013)

can't say about the first 2 points, but a turkey baster can clean lots of tuff spots


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

Ya I can't help you with your first questions. But a turkey baster should be in every aquarists tool box. But you can add a power head and that wont allow the waste to settle on the plants. It will push it to the substrate, and you just vacuum that once a month or so.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Not to many people here will know to much about snakeheads since they are illegal in most states.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

In the day when snakeheads were sold there were two types available;red,and green.The red was most common and had a black stripe running horizontalthrough its' body.The green(we use to call it the "scientific" snakehead,probly because it was sold with its species name)was dark and I believe had semi circle type coloring on it's side(a striking fish{pardon the pun}).I had a 18" red that was pretty dark the color fades as they older.
How have you come across yours?Did you catch it fishing?
How many fry do you have and if you're keeping them how fast do they breed and how many fry?Sounds like you have unlimited supply?
I would only feed the gar enough that you notice a bulge in his belly(not as fat as he can be) and limit to 5 feedings per week personally.No tank any keeper/ breeder has is even close to good size for them or the snakeheads and they are in no way as active as they would be in nature.My snakehead took only 1 swish of his tail to cruise my 135(6' long)in like 2 seconds.They mostly just stay idle in confinement so do not need as much food as in nature.Plus limiting feeding will prolong how long you can keep him.I feed my 120g fowlr tank no more than 5 times a week.With 2 lionfish,1 morray eal,and a miniautis grouper these guys are growing at an unbelievable rate that I may not even get 2 full years out of them even though they were small when I got them.They will go back to LFS(already agreed on with owner) when I feel they have outgrown my tank.
Hope my info helps a little, very interested in hearing about your snakeheads and the gar.
By the way how big are both and what size tank(s) do you have them in?


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## ChannaLover (Nov 22, 2013)

coralbandit said:


> In the day when snakeheads were sold there were two types available;red,and green.The red was most common and had a black stripe running horizontalthrough its' body.The green(we use to call it the "scientific" snakehead,probly because it was sold with its species name)was dark and I believe had semi circle type coloring on it's side(a striking fish{pardon the pun}).I had a 18" red that was pretty dark the color fades as they older.
> How have you come across yours?Did you catch it fishing?
> How many fry do you have and if you're keeping them how fast do they breed and how many fry?Sounds like you have unlimited supply?
> I would only feed the gar enough that you notice a bulge in his belly(not as fat as he can be) and limit to 5 feedings per week personally.No tank any keeper/ breeder has is even close to good size for them or the snakeheads and they are in no way as active as they would be in nature.My snakehead took only 1 swish of his tail to cruise my 135(6' long)in like 2 seconds.They mostly just stay idle in confinement so do not need as much food as in nature.Plus limiting feeding will prolong how long you can keep him.I feed my 120g fowlr tank no more than 5 times a week.With 2 lionfish,1 morray eal,and a miniautis grouper these guys are growing at an unbelievable rate that I may not even get 2 full years out of them even though they were small when I got them.They will go back to LFS(already agreed on with owner) when I feel they have outgrown my tank.
> ...


Well for me I live in Singapore so here are plenty of Toman aka Giant Snakehead( Channa Micropeltes) And as an angler ive caught numerous of these- all the same species but ive realised that their colors vary from each one(generally)... 
At home i have 9 fry, they can be easily bought from stores for about USD$1.50 for 6-10 of them depending on how generous the shopkeeper is. You can go to reservoirs to catch them but its much more troublesome...So practically yeah i have an almost unlimited supply in a sense .. 
For my gar I actually got him for free as the shopowner knows me well as im a regular customer... So well he asked me if i wanted a free fish( knowing i dont really appreciate expensive fish such as Goliath tiger fish and arowanas) and decided to get the gar for a change. For the gar I currently keep him in a 2x1x1 tank with a pleco as the gar is only 5"... But i have a tank ready to put him in at 5x4x3 so im all ready... 
As for my snakeheads, i only am interested in the giant ones as I kinda like their ferocity  So i started off using them to feed my Grandad's arowanas but then gradually got attached to 1 in particular, prompting me to keep him 
apologies for the bad english


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## Arthur7 (Feb 22, 2013)

hotwingz said:


> Ya I can't help you with your first questions. But a turkey baster should be in every aquarists tool box. But you can add a power head and that wont allow the waste to settle on the plants. It will push it to the substrate, and you just vacuum that once a month or so.


Please, please tell me what is a Turkey Baster?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Nylon Turkey Baster


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## Arthur7 (Feb 22, 2013)

I have viewed the link. It is a pipette to measure. Thank you very much for the information.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I have one of those turkey basters and its 10 inches long and about 1 1/2 wide at the widest part. They are available at walmart in the cooking utensils section.


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