New Lungfish Coming This Weekend

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Well, my lungfish will be here Saturday and i think his/her tank is ready,it's an annectens about 30" long and i hope that a 120 gal. tall is going to work untill i can find money for a larger tank.
About feeding this alf,right now he is feeding it tilapia fillets and not sure of what else.
I am not sure how often to feed this fish but some advice from you folks would be helpful. The water is well water run through a water softner,so the water is moderately soft,ammonia 0ppm,nitrite 0ppm.nitrate 30ppm ph 7.6 7.8 depending on water change cycles.
The tank has natural gravel about 3/4" or so,with some heavy pieces of bogwood for decoration and maybe a large rock or two,but i don't want to over do it and lose valuable swimming space.
About water changes,how much/how often and what temp. would help keep diseases at bay?
All and any comments are welcome and appreciated.

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[santoury]

Congrats on a nice pickup. You can't go wrong with an annectens. Having 29 lungfish at this moment, I think I can help you out

Water changes are frequent - When they eat, they eat a lot, and they poop a lot. They are somewhat susceptible to getting skin diseases/fungus if their water parameters get out of whack.
A "Tall" is a bad choice for a lungfish. They prefer easy access to the surface for breathing.

Annectens are prone to begging - you can feed him as often as he wants, but do keep on top of water changes. I change my water every 2 to 3 days, and that is with a "normal" feeding schedule of feeding fish pellets, prepared meats/fish every few days. the annectens seem particular to the large freeze dried krill as well. Out of all my lungfish, the annectens species are the most voracious. They are also unfortunately the more aggressive species and often cannot be kept with tankmates. They have quite a bite, so watch your hands/fingers. They are faster than you think.

If you do the aforementioned water changes, they are great at room temperature - they do best under "natural" conditions, so to speak. The filter output should *not* be strong, as it conflicts with their ability to swim/breathe easily.

If ANYTHING, the lungfish is more likely to either drown, or get himself out of the tank, than get a disease. At this size, (30 inches) he will need at least an inch or two of breathing space between the water and the hood.

My collection includes 3 of the 4 african species and the south american species, ranging from a few inches to a few feet long, so feel free to hit me up for more info.
Jude

 

[E_americanus]

congrats on the new lungfish!

i would agree with the comments posted above, and you can take your own variations on a lot of the suggestions as you see what works for your specific situation, lungfish, and tank setup.
i have kept the P.annectens lungfish for several years (was the first species i picked up) and have really enjoyed this species.
in the case of your setup, at least until you can get a larger tank, i would go with moderate feedings and frequent water changes. a lungfish of this size does not need to eat very often, and you will be fine to feed it just 2-3 times a week, with several pieces of tilapia fillet (if you want to keep with what he was being fed before), but may also want to mix it up with some shrimp pellets, earthworm sticks (kensfish.com makes a good earthworm pellet that i have found all lungfish species to enjoy), carnivore pellets and some vegetable matter (algae wafers and veggie sticks are a good supplement to their meaty foods, and seem to go a long way towards healing up/preventing lateral line erosion, which African lungfishes are prone to).

with a feeding schedule of about 2-3 times per week, i would suggest a 50% water change every other week, or more frequently if you can do so. lungfishes will do very well with frequent large water changes. filtration should be high, and be prepared to net out large waste matter from the lungfish if the filter doesnt seem to be picking it up.

i've kept all of the African lungfishes, and found the annectens and the aethiopicus to be most aggressive (dolloi seems to be the most shy, and the amphibius seems to be the most sociable...still...) i highly suggest keeping any african lungfish species in its own tank as you never know when they will strike at a tankmate. if you are looking for a lungfish species that gets along with tankmates, you may want to consider the South American lungfish or the Australian lungfish (both of which can be kept with a variety of tankmates).

floating plants do well with lungfish setups, and planted species seem to be readily uprooted (and sometimes eaten); i've kept lungfishes on a variety of substrates, but currently have kept my Africans on a heavy sand and they do very well on it. sounds like your gravel will work out well though, so stick with what works!

good luck, and let us know if you have any further questions--
--solomon

 

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Hey Jude (was't that a title of a song?) Well anyway, i can't apologize for having a 120 tall tank as my wife bought it for me for x-mas as a gift! I really didn't want to be an ungratefull slug and say thanks,but no thanks.
And now to the business at hand. I had a smaller annectens at one time in ca. And it did pretty well in a 40 long for about a year,then we had to move to Wa. state. SOOO,here we go again!
MY setup is utiliuzing 2-Fluval 404's with adjustable out flows to slow down water movement,two 300 watt heaters set at 80 deg,for now,two 32 watt lights,a 15 watt moonlight all on timers for my conv. I can lower the water level down some if he/she has trouble reaching the surface for air.
I also have a spare 100 gal. in my garage,but i don't want to sacr. gallonage for conv.
Thanks for all your input on feeding,my last alf was fed mostly night crawlers and raw shrimp and did remarkably well,and yes it did poop a lot. One thing though,i was growing some java fern in the same tank as the Lf and they were out of hand! I had to move ferns to all of my other tanks as it grew really fast.(good fertilizer!) Well i have to get ready for work as it is 06:33(sigh) thanks again

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[Jason]

Everyone pretty much summed it up, they are by far the hardiest fish i've ever worked with but its no reason to skimp on the water changes mine gets changed about 70% once a week. mine is also about the same size as yours and i keep it in 9 inches of water in a 120 (the center brace is cracked so i cant fill it all the way up safely).

mine gets smelt, crayfish, fillets...pretty much anything, he's even tried to subdue and eat my hydrovac.

at that size i just want to add...never ever ever risk getting bit a good bite will ruin your day.

also make sure your heaters are shatter proof, protected or not in the tank (inline heaters or in sump).

they'll break them with out even thinking about it, they look lazy but can seriously move some water when they want.

Jason