Has anyone actually seen your lungfish attacking its tankmates?

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ml543213

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 28, 2012
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China
Hi there,
I am new to the forum and would like to learn from you guys about lungfish.
I have an aethiopicus (so I believe) for 6 months in my office - I bought it because of the many fascinating stories about its behavior and temper etc. It measured 18cm when first came to my care and as of today, its body length is just over 32cm ;)
Shame to admit - yes, I have added countless tankmates to its tank and indeed lost all of them.
My losses include:
3 cleaner fishes
4 frogs (xenopus)
1 fighter fish
1 axolotl
not to mention at least 2 dozens of neon tetras

What intrigue me is that: I have never actually seen my aethiopicus harassing or attacking its tankmates. The fish appears to be shy and completely oblivious towards its tankmates during daytime. What I found are the remains - unwanted body parts that the lungfish spat out when I go to work in the morning.

Hence, I wonder if lungfish really behaves differently when the light is off? Do they turn aggressive at night? Has anyone managed to capture your lungfish attacking its tankmates on video??

Thanks so much.
 
My annectens would attack almost instantly. I'm confident though, that some individuals might prefer waiting until lights-out.
 
It might be that as soon as the fish settle in to sleep is when your lungfish likes to hunt, although it seems adding a betta fish, plecos, and tetras with any 12 inch fish runs the risk of them almost guaranteed to become feeders since they all tend to be very small except the pleco, especially when first bought. I never had a lungfish but similar fish like my ornate bichir and dolphin mormyrid seem to be most comfortable hunting at night; opportunistic is the word.
 
ml543213 said:
My losses include:
3 cleaner fishes
4 frogs (xenopus)
1 fighter fish
1 axolotl
not to mention at least 2 dozens of neon tetras

What intrigue me is that: I have never actually seen my aethiopicus harassing or attacking its tankmates.
Hence, I wonder if lungfish really behaves differently when the light is off? Do they turn aggressive at night? Has anyone managed to capture your lungfish attacking its tankmates on video??

Thanks so much.
Click to expand...

Lung fish are night hunters, even if you feed them well.

None of the fishes that you mention are compatible with a Lung fish.
 
hey mate I have had a few M.I.A in my tank due to my Lung fish. they include, Figure of 8 puffer, tyre track eel, peacock eel, fire eel, 2x bamboo shrimp, silver shark, 8 neon tetra and an angel fish. Hes got a very expensive diet all of these fish I never thought he would eat as there quite quick but they have to sleep. I grew a silver shark to 4-5 inches I a 120l tank before putting it in my 250l an then woke up to find it floating round decapitated with a very familiar bite mark. hes also nipped my 16 inch paroon shark aswell. I believe it has a lot to do with its sensory glands that run along its face to the lateral line of the fish.
 
I very much agree mine is now housed in a 720l with 2 Oscars, giant snakehead, giant gourami, two paroon sharks, birchir, giraffe cat, black shark, jack dempsey and clown knife. all a much more considerable size
 
You still have not realised you should house these alone?
 
I saw mine bit a big African cichlid (when the cichlid tried to grab a piece of food from the lungfish). The lung latched onto the cichlid's head and took a big chunk out of it.

That's when I knew...without a doubt...that African Lungs must be alone.

Matt
 
My lung.... During the day 3 large mouth bass and 1 black aro. May i add he was pellet trained and fed daily. He couldnt even eat the fish whole. He would only bite off the head or tail. I came
Home and almost cried when i saw him eating my black aros head


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