African Lungfish - Harvey

[sweet~nichole~marie]

So, I thought I would share one of my non-cornsnake pets. This is Harvey, an African Lungfish. I have had him for several years and in that time he has doubled in size. I'm not really sure how old he is (or if he is really a he!). He lives in a 125 gal tank in our living room with his "friends" (goldfish snacks ) He has a great personality, very aware and comes to the surface whenever we are near his tank, begging for food. He will eat shrimp from our fingers but we need to be careful he doesn't accidently take a digit or 2 in the process!

Lungfish are interesting because they are one of two types of Sarcopterygiians living today (all others have gone extinct). The other type is the Coelecanth. Sarcopterygiians are the lineage of fish that all land vertebrates evolved from. That's right, one of Harvey's ancestors were one of the first verts to crawl up out of the ocean and take up residence on land. They have a functioning lung and "crawl" through the water instead of swimming. And they are so cool!!!!

Harvey is a little over 2 feet long and around 4-5 inches in diameter. He eats goldfish, frozen seafood (shrimp, mussles, octopus, squid, etc), veggie pellets, snails, and whatever else we might think to give him. Enjoy!

Hmmm, is there any food up here?


Look deep into my eyes, you want to feed me . . . .


Hello, feed me please, I am a starving fish . . .


Go ahead, stick your fingers in the tank, I don't bite . . . I promise . . .


As you can maybe tell, Harvey's main hobby is eating

 

[Hypancistrus]

VERY nice lungfish!! I love oddball fish. I have several bichirs and eels, but the lungs are way too big for my little townhouse. I do love seeing pis though. Do you have a full tank shot?

 

[whippet]

Eeek he has lips! I so need one of those! Lauren....we can make roooooom!

 

[Hypancistrus]

Eeek he has lips! I so need one of those! Lauren....we can make roooooom!

Nope. A 125 would fit in the basement, but then the next stack of cages would not.

 

[ratsncorns]

I think lungfish are so cool. I TA'ed an ichthyology class in college and the section on Sarcopterygiians were one of my favs!

He looks hungry, why dont you feed him LOL!

 

[LBoz]

A lungfish in a 125? God help me, I have to stop logging on to this site.

 

[Criosphynx]

I love him! They live an eternity if I remember correctly. I love how they "walk" with their little stick "legs"

 

[LBoz]

VERY nice lungfish!! I love oddball fish. I have several bichirs and eels, but the lungs are way too big for my little townhouse. I do love seeing pis though. Do you have a full tank shot?

Et tu, Lauren? Really???????

 

[Truly Rare]

I watched a thing on the tv the other nite about how the africans catch these, and what damage they can do and how they cook them. Very interesting, nice fish though, I wouldn't want to eat him, but keep him is pretty cool.

 

[Nanci]

That's a starving fish if I ever saw one. Feed the poor guy!!

 

[sweet~nichole~marie]

I think lungfish are so cool. I TA'ed an ichthyology class in college and the section on Sarcopterygiians were one of my favs!

He looks hungry, why dont you feed him LOL!

I taught Biology of Fishes and Systematics of Fishes when I was working on my Master's in Fisheries Science. I am a total fish junkie. I absolutely love lungfish and coelecanths. There is a great book called "A Fish Caught in Time" which is all about the rediscovery of the coelecanth back in the 1930's. He is such a monster . . . he begs for food just like a dog!

VERY nice lungfish!! I love oddball fish. I have several bichirs and eels, but the lungs are way too big for my little townhouse. I do love seeing pis though. Do you have a full tank shot?

I love the oddballs, also. Bichirs are very cool, I have a baby one in one of my classroom tanks. I also like ropefish. I love the primitive bony fish with their little nose plugs. I had a ropefish in college my roommate named "Satan" ~LOL~ I really love all the labyrinth fish, also. I think it is so cool how gouramis 'taste' everything with their modified pelvic fins. I told you, I am a fish junkie!

I'll try to get a full tank pic, though I warn you, it is not that interesting. I leave a lot of open space for him to wander. Just a rock cave, some drift wood and java ferns . . . .he doesn't seem to eat those! The various bulbs I had in there, he thought they were pretty tasty ~LOL~

I love him! They live an eternity if I remember correctly. I love how they "walk" with their little stick "legs"

I'm really not sure how long he will live since I'm not sure how old he was when I got him. But I hope he lives a long, long time! Considering that people seem to think 50-100 years, he may end up being one of those pets I have to will to someone ~LOL~

I LOVE how he moves, also. He doesn't swim like a normal fish. He really does walk along on his fins. You can totally see an ancestor of his coming up on land

I watched a thing on the tv the other nite about how the africans catch these, and what damage they can do and how they cook them. Very interesting, nice fish though, I wouldn't want to eat him, but keep him is pretty cool.

Me neither!!! He is too cute and has too much personality to eat! I can believe the damage, though. They have bony plates instead of teeth that they use to crush clams and mussles. I have heard of bigger ones delivering quite a nasty bite. Luckily, Harvey is one of the species that only gets 3 ft max . . . some species get 6 ft!

That's a starving fish if I ever saw one. Feed the poor guy!!

Yep, he is a sad case. He is so abused and just wasting away . . . I tell you, I need to build a pond just to breed goldfish for him! We buy 30-50 goldfish at a time depending on size and most are gone is the first week or so! He is a piglet, hehe . . . but I really do love him. I originally thought I would put him in my classroom as a teaching tool during evolution, but I ended falling in love with him and can't bare the thought of him away from me (pathetic, I know) . . . .plus, totally liabilty issue if he bites a student! ~LOL~