Rainbow Snakehead

The rainbow snakehead is the most vividly marked of the small Channidae. Its cylindrical body and flattened, serpent-like head carry an orange-brown ground colour scattered with red, turquoise and gold spangles, echoed as bright margins on the unpaired fins. Like all Channa it lacks pelvic fins and breathes atmospheric air through a suprabranchial organ, so unobstructed access to the surface is essential. Described by Vierke in 1991 and named for the explorer Heiko Bleher, it reaches around 17 cm — modest for a genus that includes true giants. The species is endemic to the Brahmaputra River basin in the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, where it is known locally as sengeli. It is benthopelagic, haunting sluggish, shallow, heavily vegetated water — ponds, ditches and quiet backwaters. North-eastern India is distinctly subtropical, and the annual swing between 14 and 28 °C is part of the fish's biology rather than an inconvenience to be smoothed away. An obligate predator, it ignores dry foods and wants earthworms, prawn, mussel and insect larvae three or four times a week. Allow 200 litres with a footprint of at least 120 × 30 cm; floor space matters far more than height. The lid must be escape-proof — these fish slip through the smallest gap — while still leaving an air space above the water. Juveniles coexist, but aggression towards conspecifics appears at maturity, so keep a single fish or a settled pair in 400 litres. A biparental free spawner, it breeds readily once given a cool winter rest. Never house it with smaller fish.