help my Lungfish's contentness

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0scar

ichthys enthusiast
Feb 16, 2003
41
0
6
San Francisco, CA
still need help on Lungfish

I'm placing this post under 'bottomdwellers' so we get a better idea of what theme I'm going with. With my own delving a bit, i've come to the idea of a thick layer of fine-grain sand, layered over a little mud? (smooth, to dig in and bury himself)... scattered snail-shells (to resemble home near Lake Tanganyika, also part of posible diet?)... rocky set-up with caves (to hide and reside in like Africa)... Vallisneria for my plants (from Africa), maybe some javamoss and duckweed (to filter out light from my flourescent)... plenty of filteration (i've got two emperor filters running on a 40g)... and a steady diet of frogs and african chiclid fries, maybe freshwater shrimp and snails (live food always a plus, but these would more closely resemble a natural diet)

My Lungfish, Aeri, is about 7 inches long and young in a tank all by himself, until he grows out to accompany my Oscar, Arkady. Until then, or if ever, I would like to make Aeri as comfortable as possible. He would appreciate any ideas that could better stimulate his day-to-day life, better his health, or even some fun tid-bits on training a lungfish to be more pet-like...

If anyone has any information on other plant types indigenous to the Rift Valley in Africa, or are preferable for Lungfish, or all bottom-dwellers in general. Please, do help.

How much water should I keep in the tank? Should i keep it filled, so Aeri has more room to grow? Should I allow the water level to drop so he can't escape and air isn't too far away when resurfacing? I have a cover, but do i necessarily need it? Should I turn off one of my filters? Can Lungfish eat Snails commonly sold in LFS? I heard veggies are also good for Lungfish... does anyone know of ANY veggies that he might possibly eat? Or which veggies are detrimental to his health?
 
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OrionGirl

No freelancing!
Aug 14, 2001
14,053
342
143
Poconos
Real Name
Sheila
First--that 40 will be very, very short term. Even the 55 won't work in the long term--an adult lungfish will make a meal of an adult oscar, and these things produce large waste. I babysat one overnight before delivering it to OK, and I honestly thought a cat had left a deposit in the tank instead of it being from the lungfish. He was close to 3 feet long, 4-5 inches diameter, and heavy. In a 55, he looked pathetic and unhappy. To the best of my knowledge, he was only about 4-5 years old. He now has his very own 200 ( I think, might be a 300) tank, all to himself.

I would avoid substrate that could be eaten--snail shells and such are not a good idea. I'd rather see the fish trained on to prepared foods (cichlid pellets are great), with live or fresh food as an occassional treat. Veggies, chunks of fish, shrimp, are all good choices. The plants are likely going to be short lived--this is a fish that moves a lot, and they'll be knocked around. Substrates of mud will probably drive you crazy--that digging action will kick it up and make the water murky. Straight sand would be better, and make clean up easier.

You will want to cover the tank to prevent escapes. While they can move around some, a roaming lungfish is going to get covered in dust and dirt, potentially getting scratches that may become infected.

As for training--the lungfish I babysat would surface and beg, belch at you when unhappy, and loved being petted. He'd wrap around your hand, like a cat. I think it's mostly a matter of spending a lot of time with the fish, so it's used to you. Iwouldn't try enticing it closer with food--they can bite, and as an adult, that's pretty serious.
 

0scar

ichthys enthusiast
Feb 16, 2003
41
0
6
San Francisco, CA
Okay, so no mud, no snail shells. Deep sand, preferably fine-grain as not to be too rough on his skin. So, if no plants, I guess that means to go with fake ones? People say vegetation is good for Lungfish, is it good for them to hide, to drown out the light? Accroding to some of the posts in this forum, garlic is a mighty fine treat, so if anything will be prepared, it will involve garlic and most probably beefheart... but i'm still a naturalist, i'll still feed my baby mostly life foods. the LFS i got this guy from, fed him a strict diet of feeder fish. I believe he's already accutomed to live foods. He didn't touch the beef i gave him last night. Is Duckweed dangerous? Duckweed is always one of my favourite to get... but I guess i won't be able to use it anyway, since i have filters running... but i was wondering if duckweed is bad due to the fact it covers the surface of the water... and if i have too much duckweed, it might weigh down my fish's nose when he surfaces to try and breath... i'm just guessing... So far... all I know to get are african chiclids, frogs, shrimp, and fine-grain sand... introducing a cave system, is it necessary?
 

RTR

AC Members
Oct 5, 1998
5,806
0
0
Braddock Heights, MD
Deep sand for a high-waste producer seems a dangerous choice. Shallow sand at most would be my choice. Sand is not a low upkeep substrate.

Floating plants would offer shading and some sense of secutity, but don't let them cover the surface fully.
 

0scar

ichthys enthusiast
Feb 16, 2003
41
0
6
San Francisco, CA
Okay, how about this setup? About two inches of sand, a few round stones for decor, a clay pot for cover as a cave, a couple well planted Vallisneria plants for shade, and some java moss hanging from floating corks.

For his diet;
Prepared: Garlic n' Salt [on beef or poultry], and any non-cloudy Veggies (speaking of which, what veggies are right for an underwater snack?)

Live food: Lk. Tanganyika chiclids, Frogs, Nightcrawlers, and Freshwater Shrimp? (or anything but commercial feeder fish)

If anyone has a pet Lungfish, and has a decor that his or her fish absolutely loves... anything for their amusement. Please shoot your ideas this way. A bored fish is a suicidal fish, I want to stimulate my fish's mind.
 
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nel

Registered Member
Dec 10, 2006
1
0
0
How's Your Lungfish?

I can see that previous postings stopped over a year ago. I have had a lungfish for 12 years and she was at least 5 years old when I got her. It seems to me that Oscar was setting himself up for some frustration with all of his plans--with the sand and plans for feeding the lungfish garlic. I was just wondering how it all has worked out over the year. My lungfish loves a bubbler--she likes to be tickled. But probably once every month or so I have to re-bury the bubbler under rocks because lungfish dig like crazy. My fish is now approx. 30" long and lives in a 200 gallon tank.
 
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