Does anyone on here keep snakeheads at all?

During the summer of 2008, I took in a Three Striped Snakehead (Channa Micropeltes) in a rescue with some other fish.

When I got him he was around 3ish inches. When I finally found a home for him he was around a foot-ish. He was quarantined with all the other fish that I took in at the time and he was cranky and mean and it generally sucked to be his tankmate. (I didn't know how he was originally, all the fish got dropped off together.)

Once I got him into his own tank, alone he was quite awesome. He quickly got to know by sight feeding time and knew I was his source of food. Sort of interesting as well, he had the grace of an arowana, but with the addition of a horrible drunken mean streak. He would eat feeders (duh) freeze dried shrimp, pellets, chicken bits, and most other meaty things. Chicken was actually one of his favorites)

Once he got about 8 inches, I tried keeping one juvie (3in) Red Ear Slider with him, (Yes, I am a dork and it amused me to have two lacey act animals in the same tank) and they got along fantastically at the time. I'm sure once the Snakehead got big enough it would have tried to eat the turtle.

If I had to adjust things in tank he never bothered me, however moving him out of the tank when he was bigger was a problem. He put up an amazing fight and I got a few scratches out of the deal moving him to his new home.

All said, a mean fish, and if it weren't for the fact that they survive in the cold fairly well, I'm sure they'd be available for purchase.

I had kept snakeheads in the past and I loved them.

Did you have to get a license/permit, saint? Ya said it was in a rescue. If so, how'd ya go 'bout it? I've gotten permits to keep natives/endangered species before, but never anything that was unlawful to possess on the federal level. If that woulda been here in Wyoming, that fish woulda been destroyed in a heartbeat.

WYite

Snakeheads are legal in a lot of states....I would like to keep them if I had the room.

Federal rules passed in 2003:

Importation and the interstate transfer of any snakehead species is prohibited under federal law although some states still allow aquarium hobbyists to maintain the species under permit.

Maintain as in those ones you have can be left alive.

Currently Maryland is the only state that allows the purchase of the dwarf (african I think) species, and has bans on the sale of all the others.

We ended up going through a decent amount of hassle once I found someone who wanted and was able to keep the one I had here. Technically by state rules I was supposed to kill it, but since it was placed with a high school teacher in his class they let us claim it was for scientific/educational purposes.

Wyite: I actually specialize in tortoises and been working with zoos with em. Thanks to that I have all sorts of various permits/ cites licenses allowing me to care for/keep most (I've never tested the extent of what I could get away with) animals. I also do rescue fish and turtles too.

I actually didn't find out that the snakeheads were banned until the local park service guy I deal with all the time for eastern box turtle stuff came over and saw it and told me. He was of the opinion that even tho they're supposed to be destroyed I had permits and was therefor exempt from that rule. I didn't argue.

So, when I did find someone able enough and insane enough to keep it permanently, I made sure to have dude covered, so if it somehow ever became an issue he wouldn't lose his fish. The guy who took him in kept regular snakes, and for him that snakehead was love at first sight.

Love at first sight, eh? I wouldn't mind havin a try at one some time.

Thanks for the clarification, guys. I thought simple possession was illegal under federal law, though I assumed there were ways around it with permits (there always is). Guess they have it pretty well locked up simply by prohibiting importation and interstate transport.

Specialize in tortoises. Do you breed and raise them, then, saint? Endangered species as well? I've always thought turtles and tortoises were interesting, but never have kept any reptiles.

I've rescued a lotta fish over the years, before they ended up somewhere they didn't belong. Mostly cichlids from people who didn't know that a cichlid would eat their neons. I'm simply amazed how many people release unwanted fish here, especially large species. They gotta know that the winter temps are gonna kill them. A fisherman caught a 22" pacu out of a local lake last summer. Reported it to the G&F because he didn't know what it was. A few years back, I was seining a pond for killies and caught a half dozen tiger barbs. Blows my mind how irresponsible people can be.

One of these days I want a huge tank to rescue tankbusters before they end up in a lake, pond or stream somewhere. Ya know: RTCs, TSNs, pacu, gars, etc. Never kept any myself simply because I don't have a tank large enough to house 'em in comfortably forever. I'd love to have a tank of monster fish! Mrs. WYite already gave the go ahead. The wind generator has to go in first to keep the electricity bill reasonable, then the building. Have to have a greenhouse section on the south side of the building for her. Then the hole and the concrete work, etc. Lookin' at a 7-10 year plan.

WYite

That would be cool to have a huge rescue tank someday.

dirtydawg10 wrote:

That would be cool to have a huge rescue tank someday.

Yup. I believe in dreamin' big.


'Spose I'm kinda drivin' the thread of topic, though.

It's all good our topics tend to blend here now and again.

I really liked the snakehead, but I didn't have that sort of attachment to it. I'm glad it found someone who'd keep it nicely. He's still doing good too, since my mom works at the same HS and stops by and visits it.

Tortoises: Yea, I breed and raise them. Actually I try to only breed endangered species. Not that I haven't had some others come in gravid or made mistakes about gender. I've been working with Egyptian torts primarily, (they're my favorite) Marginated and a few others. Also some of the west African turtles since they are my wife's favorite.

Almost all my fish rescues are big or aggressive monsters. Currently I have an indoor pacu pond with 5 of them and the biggest being 20". I just took in a shovelnose (maybe rtcXtsn not sure yet) that's almost 2ft. Dempseys seem to be a popular "I didn't know they'd get that big and/or mean" fish in my area so I got a bunch of those. Big koi from a pond where the original owner died. I'm down to 4 Oscars (Yay) but the one kid really likes them so they may end up staying. Don't forget the Arowana and his Uaru tankmate either.

One day I'd love to have that much land to build on. Tho I'd more than likely end up with Aldabras.

wow i saw a documentary on national geographic about these fish and they look cool. It said one guy had a snakehead in his 75g tank and the snakehead put a crack in it. They can also go on land for about 9 hours and the problem started when some chinese guy was gonna use the meat for medicinal purposes and his daughter got better so he released the fish in a nearby lake because that's what u do in asia i guess some gy caught one and didnt know what it was eventually to get rid of all them they poisened all the nearby ponds and lakes to kill the snakheads

Yep they are becoming a huge problem for the same reason all over the world. They have even been found in several lakes and rivers in North America...Some people are irresponsible and stupid.

yeah i couldnt believe that show also showed a korean super market in Los Angeles that was illegally importing them

They're very popular, and according to the guys at the Chinese food place near me, pretty tasty too. Not only are they commonly eaten over there, but they're a popular sport fish since it puts up a hell of a fight reeling them in.

At this point, I'm not sure if it's irresponsible and stupid people anymore, MC. The damage is done, they're out and in the wild and can leave the water. It be foolish to think that a number of them didn't make it out of those lakes that got poisoned into different bodies of water. They haven't come up recently but the fish and game guys were telling me end of last summer that people were still catching them in PA now and again and that half the time they're getting away before they get killed.

yeah i dont think most people that go fishing have tackle for a snakehead dont they have some huge teeth? i bet most people are catching them in lakes were there is mostly bass or bluegill and people dont have steel leaders

I don't know if it's the tackle issue or the holy crap factor when some one pulls one of them out and they just cut the line. Some people from what they were saying just thought they were actual snakes and since PA has a number of poisonous ones most folks don't wanna mess with 'em.

yeah if i pulled one and didnt know what it was i would definetly cut the line but what they need to do is cut it up and throw it back

I wouldn't want to pit some of the old fogies I've seen out fishing wrestling with an adult snakehead. They'd end up needing stitches.

yeah fo sho plus if some retard gos noodling and comes up with one of those he's scfrewed lol

Nah. He'd just come up without his finger is all. Teach 'em to ever go noodling again.

yeah that would be funny i have always wanted to go noodling

Since you set it up oh so easy for me.

Does that mean your a retard?

i might be one to some people lol retard/redneck

Nah. You're a bit nuts, but your worlds better than the last young'in on here.

With all the snappers in my area I think the people that go noodling are damn insane.

yeah it is insane one day i looked up some vids on youtube and these people were crazy and i think u would have to be drunk to noofle serouisly lol