Lungfish finally eating!

[blackthumb]

Well,it finally happened! He's eating.
I have never been so happy to do water changes or clean up digested food matter. I defrosted a whole cocktail shrimp(21-25 size) and sliced it in half,placed it in front of him with the night light on and he slowly crept over and suddenly, it was gone! so i placed the second half in and it was gone!
I don't know how much a large LF can eat but i'm not pushing my luck for now.
Blackthumb

 

[E_americanus]

Well,it finally happened! He's eating.
I have never been so happy to do water changes or clean up digested food matter. I defrosted a whole cocktail shrimp(21-25 size) and sliced it in half,placed it in front of him with the night light on and he slowly crept over and suddenly, it was gone! so i placed the second half in and it was gone!
I don't know how much a large LF can eat but i'm not pushing my luck for now.
Blackthumb

congrats! that's a good start and i wouldnt push it either. a large annectens definitely doesnt need to eat every day, so i would maybe offer the same amount with a day fasting in between, or two days. also offer up a variety as the fish begins to eat. you can easily bump him up to two full pieces of shrimp, but as you were getting at, it's better to start things off gradually. good luck, and sounds like your lungfish is settling in well!--
--solomon

 

[santoury]

Just give him what he wants Their appetites DO vary widely. And that is true for each fish, as well. Sometimes mine will eat a lot, and sometimes they will eat 2 or 3 fooditems and stop. Let your fish tell you.

 

[E_americanus]

Just give him what he wants Their appetites DO vary widely. And that is true for each fish, as well. Sometimes mine will eat a lot, and sometimes they will eat 2 or 3 fooditems and stop. Let your fish tell you.

fish appetites do vary widely with the individual, but you have to keep in mind how things work in the wild (i.e. take into account the ecology of the fish). most predatory fishes are opportunistic feeders, lungfishes are no exception. although they may sometimes feed to satiation, in many cases predatory fishes will not (even community fishes will do this from time to time...hence overfeeding a fish to death).

it's much safer to start with a lower amount of food and work up, than to feed the fish until it stops eating. this can be very bad for the fish. for example, several gars i have kept, one species in particular (Cubans) will eat and eat and eat...then the next day they will throw up their food all over the tank, which can wreak havoc on the biofilter/tank condition in general.

bichirs and lungfishes and many other predatory fishes can easily do this (and do), couple this with water changes or a shift in pH, ammo, temp, and they can go into shock or again, throw up their food (RTC's are notorious for this).

these may be some extreme examples, but the baseline lesson is still applicable, YOU should determine how much your fish eats, not the fish. it's far better to underfeed than overfeed, and as i said, large lungfishes (and large predatory fishes in general) do not need to eat constantly or every day.--
--solomon