West African lungfish

Care at a glance

Overview

A large, long-lived oddball reaching about 100 cm, it needs at least 800 litres with a heavy, secure lid and constant surface access for air breathing. Keep it at 25 to 30 C and pH 6.0 to 8.0. It has a powerful bite and will eat tankmates, so it is almost always kept alone. Feed meaty foods such as fish, prawns, mussel and earthworms, and keep fingers clear at feeding time.

In the wild

The West African lungfish is a long, eel-shaped air-breather with thread-like paired fins and smooth, slippery skin. It breathes air with paired lungs and will drown without access to the surface. In the dry season it burrows into mud and seals itself in a mucus cocoon to wait for rain.

Good to know

Protopterus annectens belongs to the ancient family Protopteridae and reaches around 100 cm. It can survive months of drought by resting in a hardened mud burrow, breathing air through a small opening. Its lineage is more closely related to land vertebrates than to most other fish.

Did you know

A lungfish can survive years sealed in dried mud, breathing air and living off its own muscle until the rains return and free it.

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