FISHIOLOGY

I've been reluctant to write this but many had asked me to post how to take care of marulioides for maximum performance. The truth is you need to abused it, hence Marulioides care isn't exactly the correct terms to use. Channa Marulioides is found in most part of malaysia, lakes, pond, streams, rivers, but one thing most fisherman realized are those caught in swamp, I mean really dead stagnant peat swamp. Waters that are near black in color most time the fish had tremendous performance, beautiful colors and a lot of flowers. From this theory many tried replicating the conditions with low ph and so on. I've experiment many ways of keeping marulioides and I can concur to this, Low PH meaning Ph5 and below, I usually keeps mine ard PH4 or maybe lower, because my test kit can only measure till 4 and cant read anything lower. Low PH produce beautiful coloration. As for the bunga, yes everybody wants to know this, there is no tricks, just lots and lots of experiment. It i...

I would like to introduce you guys on sphagnum moss to replace ketapang leaves. S.moss acts the same as ketapang, will give you black water and reduce PH. But it has a special property thats advantage to other softener, s.moss is able to reduce TDS in your tank water. Simply put them in a fine netted bag, tie it and dump the whole thing in the water. You may add some pebbles to sink it. replace every 2 months. Buy them at any plant nursery, will cost you around RM10 for the whole bag. Economical yet useful. This is how I do it, i dont even bother with the pebbles the darn thing will sink in a weeks time. This is my sump tank btw.

I've kept Arowana for more than10 years and i would like to share something I've accidentally discovered about the function of the A shape on the cheek of the Arowana. The A sign on the cheeks functions. Turns out the bone in front of the A symbol is actually an expandable plate to help the fish swallow large preys which otherwise they cannot fit into its head skull. Notice the cheek plate now opens up to allow it to take large prey. Close plate and open plate comparison Interesting isn't it, I discovered this after 10 years of Arowana. Main reason I've never seen this was because 10 years ago a golden crossback like this would easily cost RM4000 a pc which is a fish you don't simply take risk. Fast forward 10 years later it only cost me RM400 for the same thing and this time keeping the fish is more enjoyable without the pressure and I can do more experiment with it.

Today I went and checked out a batch of wild caught Toman Bunga claimed to be from Kahang Johor. Well I'm no Kahang or Johor expert but those fish shows real potential. Flowers are already sticking for an 8" fish. The finnage batik do look like Johor Var. And the dull coloration is also a Johor traits, plus the sticking flower further strengthen this.  They will not sell individual fish so what a waste I can't have them. Just sharing here for you guys to cuci mata. 8" fish starts sticking flower is something you dont see very often.

Channa Marulioides most time need a super low PH to thrive and show off the best of the fish. Usually I keep them in the range of 4PH - 5PH. It could be lower but my tester can only go as low as 4PH. And how do you know that you've gone below 4PH? when you start seeing poo stays the same and wont break down thats when you know you've gone too low. When you're bringing a new maru home make sure you checked the PH that the fish was being kept at. Most of the time maru perish due to PH shock than from diseases. PH shock is the no.1 maru killer. If buying from a fellow hobbyist always request the seller to bring the PH back to at least 6PH or better at 7PH before collecting the fish. How do you keep maru in low PH unintentionally? Usually hobbyist keeps maru at very low PH. Some do it intentionally some do it unintentionally. Traditionally everyone tells you not to do water change too frequently.  Even when nobody tells you this you'll soon learn by experience when yo...

Channa Marulioides var Kalimantan Mac 2018 update, it is near 8" now, this month the fish had gone darker, not sure if because the PH had dropped tremendously that caused the darker coloration, I did notice the tail end had started to blackout or could be just the darker color made it this way. The inside of the pectoral fin starts to show orangy, I'm not certain if this is indeed the sign I'm waiting for. If the fish continue its progress this way then it is very possible to be another var. of sp. Borneo. The head is long the fish is slender like all other C. Marulioides except the band, pattern and color resembles sp. Borneo. I would stare at this fish at least an hour daily trying to figure out what it is. The kalimantan specimen wears amazing stripe pattern, loud band that stretches down to its belly. Since coming back to Channa Marulioides half a year back, I'm only keeping Maru from Kalimantan. They have so many amazing var never seen before. For the p...