This species is clearly unsuitable for the home aquarium given its eventual size and natural behaviour, and we know of only a handful of private aquarists with the facilities required to house it long-term.

The grouping currently contains four species but is in urgent need of review with a number of additional taxa thought to exist and B. yarrelli possibly representing a synonym of B. bagarius.

While some laterally-striped members of the genus look very similar to one another the combination of silvery body, dark-edged scales and dark caudal peduncle blotch set C. reticulatus uniquely apart.

The names Crossocheilus tchangi, Epalzeorhynchos coatesi and E. stigmaeus are all now considered synonyms of the species but were erected because the fish vary, most often in minor aspects of patt…

Predominantly a riverine fish favouring clear, well-oxygenated, running water with substrates of sand or gravel and often present in rock and boulder-filled headwater streams.

In the Mun River, close to the Pak Mun dam, Thailand, sympatric species included Hampala dispar, Cyclocheilichthys apogon, Osteochilus hasseltii,…

Generally considered to have an enormous natural range extending from Iran to Taiwan and Bali, with records existing from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

However there exists significant evidence to suggest that C. gachua as currently understood represents a complex of similar-looking species, and a taxonomic review of the group is clearly required.

C. micropeltes is also referred to as ‘Indonesian’, ‘red’, or ‘redline’ snakehead, the latter names in reference to the appearance of juveniles which often appear in the ornamental trade despite its unsuitability for home aquaria. It is somewhat hyperbolised in the media as a fearsome, invasive “monster” fish with a reputation for killing more fish than it can eat, and even the occasional human, although in reality…