What to feed my new 32' Afro Lungfish

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JackBaneNapier

Feeder Fish
Sep 24, 2011
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Oregon
I have loved the lungfish since i was a kid and i just saw and bought my first lung! he's 32' and was in a 55 gallon tank and now is in a 125 and will soon be in a 200g. Now i know what meats to feed it but i have know idea what plant food to feed it? can someone help? heres a
video of him.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7V2uvn1L8c&feature=colike :nilly:

Ps. OH! and i have only had him for two days and he seems ok swimming and all and last night he took a big ****! ( WOW ) but ever so often he sits sorta laying in a corner of the tank! sometimes laying on the gravel in a corner or laying on a corner with his head close to the surface? this is not most of the time. maby less then 40% of the time
 
Plenty to choose from. Hikari massivore, Hikari jumbo sticks, Hikari sinking wafer or Hikari algae wafer. If you don't want pellets and save more money, you can also try smelt, tilapia fillet, shrimps/prawns, squid and many more seafoods. Also feed some veggie diet such as carrot, zucchini, lettuce, coli flower or brocolli. Veggie diet will prevent it from developing lateral line erosion. Once they get use to feeding it will come to the surface and beg for food. I usually hand feed mine. So many people think lungfish are lazy and inactive but place in a large tank and they act like hungry puppy.
 
That's a great looking fish you've got JBN! I bought mine at about 10" and had him for about 13-14 years until a serious water problem (the local water companies fault) killed him. He was a full 36" when he died.

I never worried about providing veggies in his diet. Which is not to say that I shouldn't have, I just never saw any advice to do so, and he never displayed any health issues. Well, except for the severe case of ich he had when I bought him, which led to me being able to buy him very cheaply! ;)

His diet was very meaty, earhtworms, conditioned feeder fish (quarantined and gut-loaded), pieces of fish fillet, squid, crayfish, the occasional frog (careful to avoid non-toxic species), and stuff like that. He did get some veggies at first in the form of algae tabs because I originally tried to keep him with a large common pleco, but he hated that sucker with a passion and I had to remove it for fear of it's life. I had the tabs for the pleco and didn't want them to go to waste, so I gave them to the lungfish and he did eat them.

What I did to help ensure his proper nutrition was to feed whatever live foods I gave him, including the worms, feeder fish, crickets and grasshoppers. I would shove high quality pellets and even flake into the pieces of fish fillet and squid. All in all, he was fat and healthy, and I can second what King-el said about their responsiveness. I imagine that you could put small pieces of vegetable into his meatier foods to be sure that he gets them, maybe some algae tabs, dried algae/kelp, cucumber and the like.

Although, once mine hit a little over 2 feet in length, his feeding pattern changed somewhat in an odd way; the instant food hit the water he could smell it (they have incredible senses) and he would just start biting EVERYTHING until he found the right thing! I'm talking the wood, rocks, everything! I had to take the slate out of his tank for fear he'd hurt himself, but that mouth is so powerful that I never saw any injury whatsoever. I did shield the heater though!

You've got yourself a pet that should, barring accidents, be with you for a life time.
 
Wow, beautiful!

In terms of feeding, the problem for me anyways is that something like Massivore is really expensive (especially when you have lots of big, bottom dwelling fish!), like 44.99 per 1 lb bag. I get XLG Sinking Trout food, which is the same size and only 2% less Protein (45% vs 47%). And the best part? 50 pound bag costs ... 50 bucks!

In terms of veggies, I'd just try dropping various things in an seeing what he eats.
 
SimonL said:
Wow, beautiful!

In terms of feeding, the problem for me anyways is that something like Massivore is really expensive (especially when you have lots of big, bottom dwelling fish!), like 44.99 per 1 lb bag. I get XLG Sinking Trout food, which is the same size and only 2% less Protein (45% vs 47%). And the best part? 50 pound bag costs ... 50 bucks!

In terms of veggies, I'd just try dropping various things in an seeing what he eats.
Click to expand...

Large bag of massivore can be expensive and even at 2.2 LBS it only last 2-3 days as all my fish eats a lot. I also use trout pellets or koi pellets with close nutrional value to the Massivores. They are also at 50 LBS and cheaper than 2.2 LBS massivore. Also some koi pellets have more vitamins compare to massivore and higher fiber content which is good if you lungfish won't eat veggies as it will get the fiber diet from the koi pellets.
 
WOW ........ just wow !!!! That's def. a show piece for the home to impress the family members and friends . Although I would personaly probably just stare at it all evening after work while drinking a cold beer ! I can not wait till mine gets that size . That's funny you keep a school of small tetras , rosbras ? I actually keep mine with 15 splashing tetras !!!! I keep waiting for him to inhale them but since I feed it just about every night , perhaps its too lazy ...
 
OH MY GOODNESS! it is HUGE and so PRECIOUS!!!! I can't wait till mine get that big !!! :D (South American is about 10" and African is about 12")
 
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