I'd be surprised if they could survive year round in UK waters successfully, but who knows, more shocking things have happened. If released fish survive the summer months and don't get too cold then it certainly would be bad for native fish, but it's the same with any exotic predatory animal people release. Wish people would think a little longer before they go dumping unwanted animals.

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i do make you right the fish is not to blame,if i am honest they are such a hard fish in many ways.i have the samllest of the snake heads and it is a hard fish.i dont think they would have a problem with our climate.

yeah, the giant snakehead which is the 3ft one is actualy a sub-tropical fish and so can survive our winters. which is a problem.. THE OTHER SNAKEHEARDS ARE TROPICAL AND CANNOT.

so why ban them all?!?! arrgh. it pees me off

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the thing is we dont have very cold winters anymore,plus if someone put a snakehead in the water system at summer time it could do some damage.

they have got the name snakehead for a good reason.

Would that be Channa micropeltes? True, they are hardy, and the hardiest would survive for a while and would have the potential to cause a horrendous impact on the native aquatic fauna, but in my head it's no different to people with cats allowed to roam and take their pick of fauna to "play" with. I've been told Channa micropeltes wouldn't of been able to survive the cold up here, even if they are subtropical, perhaps during the summer months [and yes the damage would be horrible] but not overwinter without a bit of luck in the hardiness department. When the temperatures drop to a certain level it's highly unlikely they would be feeding. I don't know, as you say the climate is changing. As far as I was aware Channa argus was the cold tolerant Channa and even that species would struggle with UK water temperatures at times.

Regardless the dumping of Snakeheads into uk water sources is ridiculous, wish people wouldn't, it ends up with things like this happening and really doesn't make much difference apart from helping the "black market". Poor Snakeheads

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I kep snakeheads. As some of you know im having to downsize majorly. But I'm keeping the channa because I know i'll miss them and may not be able to get them in years to come.

As someone who kept channa argus i can safely say that they probably would attack you if it felt like it. Mine would certainly have a right go when you werent paying attention. all though the whole 'they will take over the world' bollocks is a bit excessive. They will eat anything in their way and probably attack pretty much anything

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Reps
1.1.0 leopard geckos
1.2.0 fat tail geckos
0.2.0 Bearded Dragons
0.0.1 Whites Tree Frog
2.0. Crested Geckos
0.0.1 Albino Horned Frog
Other Pets
1.1.0 Border Collies
4.2.0 Cats
Fish
1 Reef Tank
1.1 Parachromis Dovii, 0.0.6 Peacock Bass (2 Orinico, 2 Temensis, 2 Monoculus), 1.1 Crenacichla 'Cobra'

I was under the impression Channa argus was banned in the UK, at least from 1998, so i'll assume you kept them before that time? I know they're quite voracious and definately keen on consuming everything, edible or not, but I think i've always been under the very naive impression anyone who stocked any Channa species would actually inform buyers on this, and would at the very least thoroughly check out the potential buyer. As I said, very naive

I'd certainly be interested in hearing more on your Channa keeping experiences =]

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