FishfreshwaterDemanding

Rainbow snakehead

One of the smallest snakeheads at around twenty centimetres, patterned in orange, blue and red, and among the few in the genus that can be kept as a pair in a domestic aquarium. It is an air-breathing predator with a strong pair bond and a habit of leaving open tanks.

Quick profile

Scientific name: Channa bleheri
Adult size: 15–20 cm (5.9–7.9 in)
Lifespan: 8–12 years
Temperature: 18–26 °C (64–79 °F)
pH: 6–7.5
Hardness: 3–15 °dGH
Minimum tank: 200 L (53 US gal)
Minimum length: 120 cm
Swimming zone: Bottom
Social: Pair
Diet: Carnivore
Overall confidence: moderate confidence

What keeping this species involves

Not difficult to keep alive and difficult to house: a pair-bonding predator that needs a large tank, a cool season, a sealed lid and no small tankmates.

Slow shaded streams, ponds and swampy margins with dense vegetation, cooling substantially in winter.

Identity and names

Common name: Rainbow snakehead
Scientific name: Channa bleheri
Family: Channidae
Order: Anabantiformes
Class: Actinopterygii
Also sold as: Channa bleheri, bleheri snakehead, dwarf snakehead

Adult size and growth

15–20 cm (5.9–7.9 in)

Typical lifespan in an aquarium: 8–12 years. Almost every animal sold in a shop is a juvenile, so the tank has to suit the size in the first line rather than the size in the bag.

Shape, which is what the compatibility engine reads instead of length alone: elongate with a large — a piscivore's mouth. A small snakehead with a full snakehead mouth.

Water and tank requirements

A pair of twenty-centimetre ambush predators that need floor area and separate refuges. Surface access and a sealed lid are additional requirements rather than alternatives.

Temperature (°C)

Rainbow snakehead

18–26

Scale: 0 to 36 °C.

pH (pH)

Rainbow snakehead

6–7.5

Scale: 4 to 9.5 pH.

Hardness (°dGH)

Rainbow snakehead

3–15

Scale: 0 to 30 °dGH.

The bands AquariumHQ publishes for the rainbow snakehead, each drawn against the full range this catalogue uses for that parameter. A narrow band on a wide scale is a specialist; a wide one is a genuinely tolerant animal. Source: AquariumHQ husbandry position for this record — an editorial range, not a measurement

Why these ranges: Assam lowland water with a genuine cool season. A winter period in the high teens is part of the species' year and is associated with better condition and with spawning; constant tropical temperature is not what it experiences.

Where these figures come from

Habitat class

Lowland floodplain

Seasonally inundated flat country — várzea, chaco, swamp margin — where the water body changes size, depth and chemistry through the year.

The habitat's defining feature is change, so a single band describes it badly. Species from here are generally tolerant of a wide range and intolerant of nothing much — which makes them easy to keep and easy to keep wrongly.

Conductivity: 40–300 µS/cm
Flow: still
Dissolved oxygen: low
Seasonality: strong

These are figures for the KIND of water body, not measurements of this species. They are AquariumHQ’s summary of the general limnology and are given wide because the water is.

TemperatureReasoned on this record: This record states its own reason for this band. See the water section.
pHReasoned on this record: This record states its own reason for this band. See the water section.
General hardnessReasoned on this record: This record states its own reason for this band. See the water section.

Requirement	Value	Notes
Temperature	18–26 °C (64–79 °F)	Stability matters more than hitting an exact figure.
pH	6–7.5	A stable pH outside the ideal band is usually better than an unstable one inside it.
General hardness	3–15 °dGH	Check your supplier's published figure before choosing species.
Minimum volume	200 L (53 US gal)	A floor, not a recommendation.
Minimum footprint	120 cm long × 45 cm deep	A pair of twenty-centimetre ambush predators that need floor area and separate refuges. Surface access and a sealed lid are additional requirements rather than alternatives.
Water flow	low	Match the outflow to this rather than to the filter's rating.
Lid required	Yes	This species jumps.
Structure	Dense planting, wood, caves and floating cover, with unobstructed surface access and a heavy, gap-free lid.

Behaviour

Lies still among cover and strikes at very short range rather than pursuing.
Surfaces at intervals to breathe air, which is obligatory — a snakehead denied surface access drowns.

Telling males from females

Males are slimmer with a more pointed head. Females are deeper-bodied in condition. Neither is reliable in young fish.

Feeding

A predator of insects, crustaceans and small fish. It takes frozen and prepared food readily and live feeder fish are unnecessary.

Diet type: Carnivore
Staples: Frozen bloodworm, Prawn, Earthworm, Frozen mysis, Sinking pellets
Avoid: Live feeder fish, Mammalian meat

Breeding

Strategy: Paternal mouthbrooding after the eggs float free at the surface
Difficulty: challenging
Parental care: mouthbrooding

Both parents guard the fry after release, which is an unusual degree of care and makes the pair bond worth preserving.

Tankmates and compatibility

Assessments are derived from stored traits by the compatibility engine, with the reasoning shown. A verdict is a statement about probability, not a guarantee — individual temperament can override it.

Risk this species poses to common tankmates
Towards	Risk	What it means
Small fish	near-certain	Anything that fits in the mouth is at risk once this species reaches adult size.
Adult dwarf shrimp	near-certain	Cover reduces losses but rarely prevents them where the risk is high.
Shrimplets	near-certain	Determines whether a shrimp colony can grow rather than merely persist.
Snails	moderate	Applies to snails you wanted as well as snails you did not.
Long or trailing fins	none	Fin damage is an entry point for secondary infection.
Plants	none	Tough species such as Anubias and Java fern survive most grazers.

Any pair in the catalogue can be assessed with the compatibility checker.

Welfare considerations

Points where the way this species is commonly sold or kept differs from what it actually needs.

Snakeheads are prohibited outright in a considerable number of jurisdictions, and the prohibitions frequently cover the whole genus rather than the large species that prompted them.
Jumps hard and pushes at loose lids. Escapes are among the commonest ways keepers lose snakeheads, and the fish can survive some time out of water.

Problems to watch for

Most problems in a tank containing this species are general rather than species-specific. Start with the troubleshooting index and work from the observation rather than from a guess at the cause.

What AquariumHQ does not yet hold

Species-level disease susceptibility is modelled in the graph and is not yet populated. Health pages will not be published until each condition has veterinary sourcing, because health content written without evidence is the most harmful thing this product could publish. The gap is recorded in the coverage report.

Where it comes from

Native range: India — the Brahmaputra basin of Assam and adjacent Arunachal Pradesh
Habitat: Slow shaded streams, ponds and swampy margins with dense vegetation, cooling substantially in winter.

What the checklists say

4 distribution statements retrieved from GBIF checklists. Establishment means is reproduced from the source where it states one, and left unstated where it does not — a record of presence is not a record of origin.

Status	Places	What this means
Introduced	1	A checklist states the species arrived here with human help. That is not a statement that it is established, harmful or illegal.
Recorded as present, establishment means not stated	3	The source records the species as present and does not say whether it is native or introduced. AquariumHQ does not fill that in.

No checklist AquariumHQ holds positively calls this species native anywhere, so the native range above rests on AquariumHQ’s own reading of the literature rather than on a cited checklist.

Legal status and responsible practice

Restriction note

Snakeheads of every species are prohibited from import and interstate transport in the United States under the Lacey Act, and are restricted or banned in a number of other jurisdictions including parts of Europe and Australia. The listings are usually genus-wide rather than species-specific; check the local position before acquiring any Channa.

What AquariumHQ has recorded, by jurisdiction, with the instrument each entry comes from and how far the check went. Ecological risk and legal status are separate: a species can be ecologically risky and legally unrestricted, or restricted where it could never establish.

US

Prohibitedimport

Channa bleheri is named individually within the genus-level snakehead listing. Importation, transportation and acquisition of live fish or viable eggs are prohibited. Being a dwarf species that reaches twenty centimetres makes no difference to the listing.

Instrument: 50 CFR § 16.13(a)(2)(iv), injurious wildlife listing under 18 U.S.C. 42

Checked against the instrument · last checked 2026-08-29 · An editor has read the current text of the named instrument and confirmed this species' entry on the date shown.

EU

Not verified by AquariumHQpossession

The consolidated Union list was read in full on 2026-08-29 and lists only Channa argus among the snakeheads. No restriction on this species was identified in that instrument. That is not a finding that keeping it is lawful in the EU: member states legislate separately and have not been checked here.

Instrument: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1141 (consolidated text 02016R1141-20220802)

Checked against the instrument · last checked 2026-08-29 · An editor has read the current text of the named instrument and confirmed this species' entry on the date shown.

Never release aquarium life into the wild

Aquarium animals, plants, and aquarium water must never be released into ponds, rivers, canals, drains or the sea — not even in a country where the species is sold freely. Released fish and invertebrates establish populations that displace native species, and released plants and water carry pathogens, parasites and fragments capable of spreading without any animal at all. If you can no longer keep an animal, rehome it through an aquarium society, a retailer that accepts returns, or another keeper.

Rehome through a local aquarium society, a specialist retailer or another keeper.
Unwanted plants go in household waste or a hot compost heap, never in a watercourse or a garden pond.
Never empty a bucket of tank water into a drain that discharges to open water.
If an animal is beyond rehoming, ask an aquatic veterinarian about humane euthanasia rather than releasing it.

Legal status is recorded from the sources named and was correct on the verification date shown. Rules change, and sub-national rules often differ from national ones. Check the current position with the relevant authority before acquiring, selling or moving any animal or plant.

Evidence

Every stored value with the kind of support behind it and where to check it. Evidence type and confidence are separate axes: an editorial position held confidently and a measurement held tentatively are different things.

Claim	Value	Evidence type	Confidence	Source
scientific name	Channa bleheri	Observed / measured	high confidence	Catalogue of Life; GBIF — Global Biodiversity Information Facility
native range	India — the Brahmaputra basin of Assam and adjacent Arunachal Pradesh	Observed / measured	moderate confidence	GBIF — Global Biodiversity Information Facility
adult size	15–20 cm	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
lifespan	8–12 years	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
temperature	18–26 °C	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
ph	6–7.5 pH	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
general hardness	3–15 °dGH	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
minimum tank volume	≥ 200 L	AquariumHQ editorial position	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
minimum tank length	≥ 120 cm	AquariumHQ editorial position	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis

Last reviewed 2026-08-10. Values labelled as an aquarium-literature consensus are AquariumHQ editorial positions rather than measurements — see how evidence is handled.

Why we say this

What each figure on this page rests on, and how far that is from being independently established.

Every figure on this page has a provenance. Open any claim to see what AquariumHQ holds for it, which sources say what, and what a claim of that kind actually needs. Different claims need different evidence: an accepted scientific name is settled by one authority, while a legal restriction needs a current primary instrument. A single source is often the right answer rather than a thin one.

scientific nameAquariumHQ's own position, externally checkableBased on a verified authoritative source.

AquariumHQ's own position on a claim an external source could support.

What this kind of claim needs: accepted scientific name and classification — 1 authoritative source in an appropriate context. Checked against gbif on 2026-08-29. One authoritative backbone is what this class requires.