Australian Lungfish

[TheEelKing]

Just a few questions about this fish:

1) How dangerous is it to the owner? Say I wanted to do tank maintenance where I had to stick my hand in the tank, will this thing bite me? How likely is it to bite me?

2) How large do fish need to be in order to live with this species? Will jumbo clown loaches and severums work or do you have to have larger fish like clown knives and arowanas? Will even CK's and arows be safe with this fish? (If it will kill my CK, then forget it. I HAVE to have a CK. lol)

3) How large of a tank do they require to hold for life?

4) What are the chances of them never going psycho and killing off their tankmates?

I'm not saying that I want one, just thinking of maybe trimming down my stocking to 5-7 fish where I have a clown knife, arowana, fire eel, lungfish, large goby and 2 or 3 dats. I'm just considering my options here. I may just stick with my current stocking and not even consider a lungfish.

 

[srad_arizona]

Just a few questions about this fish:

1) How dangerous is it to the owner? Say I wanted to do tank maintenance where I had to stick my hand in the tank, will this thing bite me? How likely is it to bite me?

Aussie are gentle giants, they won't bite you. Don't worry.
I had kept till 26'' before it was sold, i will stroke it during water changes.

2) How large do fish need to be in order to live with this species? Will jumbo clown loaches and severums work or do you have to have larger fish like clown knives and arowanas? Will even CK's and arows be safe with this fish? (If it will kill my CK, then forget it. I HAVE to have a CK. lol)

how large depends on your large your aussie is. If your fish are top dwellers, it might be quite safe, as for bottom dwellers, the larger the bigger

3) How large of a tank do they require to hold for life?
For life? they can live till 100 years old, for 1st 3 years al least a 6ftx3ftx2ft.

4) What are the chances of them never going psycho and killing off their tankmates?

Chances are slim, as they are expensive and rare i rather they kill some prey rather than being bitten.

I'm not saying that I want one, just thinking of maybe trimming down my stocking to 5-7 fish where I have a clown knife, arowana, fire eel, lungfish, large goby and 2 or 3 dats. I'm just considering my options here. I may just stick with my current stocking and not even consider a lungfish.

aussie lung are my all time favourite

 

[jlnguyen74]

Australian fish is not psycho like you thought. AUL is gentle giant. Since AUL is giant, a tank with a footprint of at least 8ft x 3ft is needed. I wouldn't recommend jumbo clown loach or severum. Arowana and clown knife will work as long as they're relatively same size. For example 3-ft fish with a 7-in fish are not relatively same size! AUL may be hard to obtain sometime...

 

[bassmasterp]

Australian fish is not psycho like you thought. AUL is gentle giant. Since AUL is giant, a tank with a footprint of at least 8ft x 3ft is needed. I wouldn't recommend jumbo clown loach or severum. Arowana and clown knife will work as long as they're relatively same size. For example 3-ft fish with a 7-in fish are not relatively same size! AUL may be hard to obtain sometime...[/QUOTE]

What you mean Xtank has a tank full of them.. true that they are nice gentle giant.

 

[jlnguyen74]

What you mean Xtank has a tank full of them.. true that they are nice gentle giant.

That's why it's hard to obtain them!

 

[jdcampos]

What do you feed your australian lungfish? A friend of mine says they eat tubifex worms and frozen shrimps.

 

[N8sharpe]

Where'd you get urs

 

[Egon]

I've had one for a couple years now. They are gentle giants. Mine eats everything lol. Brussels sprouts to Tilapia Fillets. Any sinking pellet, shrimp, cucumber, lettuce. What ever meat you have in the fridge, hotdog, Bolognese.

My guy is very slow to react to food. My wife calls him Genius....... I have a long skewer that I poke food to and push down to its mouth. It would starve to death if I didn't hand feed lol. It seems to get real happy when eating almost like it's clapping its flippers.

Awesome odd ball fish for sure.

 

[Oddball]

Mine plows into kens sinking sticks. He also goes after earthworms, dwarf crays, raw shell-on shrimp, algae wafers, ...basically everything I throw in. I clean the tank with my hands in the tank. I just keep track of where the AUL is since I know what kind of bite thay have. He's never been aggressive to my maintenance or his tankmates (polys and trop gars). They may eat tubifex as very small juvies. Mine wouldn't even see food that small.



Plan on a big tank for these beasts:

 

[jim j]

dont you need a permit to keep them?