Peacock Snakehead?

[Davo86]

ok, went to a LFS this morning and came across a tank with a pair of snakeheads, They were jet black in colour with similar markings to a pleuro but were much more streamlined in shape,
The guy in the store only knew them as peacock snakeheads and said they got to about 15"

The nearest thing i can come up with is that they were juvi Channa marulius
and if that was the case I am really glad I left them in the store

 

[dave_oddballs]

the only Channa iv seen listed as peacock is c.marulia and a couple of times c.pulchra listed as Burmese peacock snakehead. there would be a noticeable difference between the dwarf channa juvi's like pulchra and juvi marulia, the body and mouth shape being the main differences.
pulchra wouldn't or shouldn't be listed as getting to 15" when they max at around 30cm/12" and marulia get considerably bigger.
but just by the shape alone you should be able to work out if its a dwarf or not and when you know this it will more or less half the possibilities.

 

[Davo86]

the only Channa iv seen listed as peacock is c.marulia

Thanks dave, I was pretty sure it was one of the big boys,

 

[dave_oddballs]

the big ones are nice looking fish, thought about one for the 7 footer but they really limit what else you can keep and thats not something i want to worry about. its a shame most of the big channa go to people that have no chance of accommodating them as adults! ah well, never mind ey.

Dave

 

[gasmask]

This is a picture of my Juvinile Marulius for you to compare:

And yep, as everyone here has said, they grow crazy large!
Mine has almost doubled in length from the picture shown, and is enjoying it's Autumn/winter indoor break before it goes into the pond.