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Understanding Indonesian Marulioides Variant

I would like to introduce you to some of the beautiful Channa Marulioides from Indonesia and at the same time clarify the complexity and the confusion as best I can.

what is Marsum, Marbor, kalimantan, borneo, sp borneo,

No.1 
Marsum - Marulioides Sumatera


Blue Marulioides not to be confuse with Channa Melanoptera

Channa Marulioides Sumatera variant is very similar to the Malaysian variant. There is also another var found there known as Blue Maru which is greyish blue in color.

No.2
Marbor - Marulioides Borneo known in Indonesia or Marulioides Kalimantan or Kali by Malaysian and Singaporean.



The double line


The 999/eee


The yy + double line

Now Kalimantan is very complex and has many variant. They comes in the 2 line bands form, the 999/eee form, the YY + double line form. But one of the key factors to tell them apart from sumatera, malaysia and thai variant is the middle exposure. 


The key to ID kalimantan is the expose in the middle of the band which is not found in Malaysian, sumatera and Thai variant.

No.3
Chann sp Borneo - Red Maru


Channa sp Borneo is found in Kalimantan and is believe to be an sp instead of a variant. Meaning we believe sp borneo is valid as a new unnamed species from the channidae family. 

Meantime that is all the information I can give you unless I've new discovery and will update again on new confirm variant found. I will not mentioned the location of the species found as most time the information's are unconfirmed and may lead to further confusion, so I'll leave the location aside.

I hope this will clear the air on Indonesia marulioides and please be reminded that many traders like to name their fish as sp this and sp that. sp is not the locality name, variant is the locality name. Meantime there is only 1 sp from the channa species in Indonesia and that is the Red Maru or Channa sp Borneo. 

This article only serves as a guideline and not the absolute to ID variant. As in all living things there will be oddballs and there will be crosses that somehow happened by chance or by human migrations. There are also farms that possibly crossed a malaysian n sumatra or a sumatra and kalimantan. We've to take into account all this possibilities.







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Comments

  1. ChongMay 28, 2021 at 5:27 PM

    Hi, may I know what minimum tank size require for a channa maruliodes red sampit to growth till its max length without the need to upgrade bigger tank. A solo red sampit in a 6x2x2 tank is it OK?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bun InvasionJanuary 29, 2022 at 11:44 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bun InvasionJanuary 29, 2022 at 11:46 PM

    Hi Moorish, Thank you for the info! I wanna ask, as i have a Red Sentarum as labled in the shop i got him from, So its safe to assume its either a Marulioides Borneo or a sp Borneo right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MoorishFebruary 6, 2022 at 6:06 PM

      I cant be sure as shops tend to be rather aggressive when labeling fish with names

      Delete
  4. Stylish CarrotsJune 16, 2026 at 7:54 PM

    Excellent post! The detailed information and beautiful photos make it much easier to understand the different Indonesian Channa marulioides varieties. For hobbyists looking to create a healthy planted aquarium setup, quality Aquarium Plants Supplies
    can make a big difference. Thanks for sharing such valuable insights with the aquarium community!

    ReplyDelete

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