Does anyone know of anyone who ever kept a lung fish and simulated the dry season by letting the water evaporate out of the tank to see the fish go into its hibernation state in and under the mud. Then bring it out of its hibration when the "rain" comes back to see it spring back to life. I am wondering if this can be done in a home aquarium? I have not owned a lung fish yet but I saw a documentory on them as a kid and knew I wanted one some day. I would like to try it since its such a great evolutionary advancement but it might be just a dream I have and I will have to be satisfied with watching it on TV done by mother nature particulary since it may not be worth the price, its life, and or the money I pay to buy my pet.
Lung Fish dry season...
- Thread starter BostonRickB
- Start date
BostonRickB;4757691; said:
And the cost of an aquarium to house the beast when it gets larger.
I have a feeling that a lot of aspects are never touched upon on this. I would think, that even in dry season, the mud does not dry and stays as wet mud.
Also, I haven't heard anything about the success rate of lungfish hibernation. I would imagine that a large amount of lungfish die every time this happens when compared to other animals that hibernate.
If you ever wanted to try this, make sure you document it well and I am sure it would be a unique and valuable experience.
lungfish go into a hibernation and yes the mud they bury down in can completely dry over because once they dig down they for a mucus cocoon around their bodies that keep them from ever completely drying out, and yes there are alot of deaths during hibernation,
I myself used to think about letting my old hibernate, it actually wouldn't be to hard to accomplish
I myself used to think about letting my old hibernate, it actually wouldn't be to hard to accomplish
I have heard of it being done many times.That is how they get the African Lungfish for the aquarium trade,That I have seen on t.v.The locals find the dried up rivers and look for the air holes that they breath threw.They dig them up in a ball of dried up mud,than put them in a tank of water and the ball melts and soon a lungfish swims out and you have a beautiful lungfish ! I always dreamed of having a Australian Lungfish for 44years but they are protect on the Cities list.There was a man that got permits from the Australian government and Cities for breeding them in captivity and micro chipping them for export.I have 4 of them and they are getting big.All of them are over 2 feet long,
Pat
Pat
My question is , what is the temperature when these rivers dry up ? Hibernation is what a state of certain fauna goes into when temperature is lower than what the animal can metabolize . The term dormancy is a very broad term and simply means " state of dormant " which has no temperature limitations . I would have to go with , lungfish go into a state or dormancy . I would fair to guess that lungfish would not survive in freezing temps nor there close to .
Thanks for the feedback. I have a bunch of tanks up and running now so maybe this will be a project in my future when I have more time. I will post my progress if I ever get to try this.
Technically it's not hibernation but aestivation...those little details. If you do it please document it cuz it would be very interesting to see what happens.
Btw dont know if you checked out the Sticky on it: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142852
Btw dont know if you checked out the Sticky on it: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142852
I personally wouldn't try it with any of my lungfish; I've heard that lungfish don't always survive aestivation in captivity...