African Lungfish, The Best Pet Fish?
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Lungfish are crazy! The West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens) is an impressively large fish that can survive for years with no water. They obviously have lungs. This is an amazing fish. But, is it a good pet? Is the African lungfish the best pet fish for you?
#clintsreptiles #lungfish #thebestpetfish
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This lecture demonstrates why Clint is so superb at teaching. He gives us all the facts in such a way that not only is it easy to understand but it's fun! Thank you as always Clint!👍👍👍👍👍
YES! I'd be a hell of a lot better and more knowledgeable about science related things if Clint was teaching!
Honestly its always the science teachers that are the coolest and best.
I love Clint's excitement as he explains concepts, like the evolutionary development of lungs in this video. It's an awesome example of how fascinating and entertaining science can be. Clint is a master of teaching just through sharing his passion for it. Thanks for sharing your love and knowledge of zoology!
Thank you! This is the coolest stuff in the world. It amazes me that some people manage to suck all of the fun out of it.
For a weird lung having wizard fish, his face is kind of cute ☺️ and the patterns on his belly are really pretty!
So cute!
Thought you were talking about Clint for a second LUL
I really like learning strange animal facts. The swim bladder to lung evolution is something I can definitely dazzle my fellow nerds with. Keep sharing amazing animal facts please!
There are some animals I want to cover just so we can geek out about how cool they are.
It's the reason we have such lousy eating arrangements where food going the wrong way can kill you.
Velvet worms, at some point? :D
@@ClintsReptiles I'd definitely watch a whole series from you, devoted solely to rad animals even if it has absolutely nothing to do with pets.
@@PabloSanchez-qu6ib Isnt that a mammal thing tho? Reptiles can eat and breath at the same time iirc.
If I recall correctly, there's apparently some paleontological evidence that rather than lungs evolving from the swim bladder, it's actually the other way around. That fish first evolved a rudimentary lung to get extra oxygen from the air, and then it evolved into a system for controlling buoyancy, and that would eventually evolve into the lungs that land vertebrates have.
It probably has gone back and forth many times.
What the initial use for that bag of gas was is kind of unanswerable, and the thing I've taken from the debate is that the two uses aren't mutually exclusive, and aren't even that big of an evolutionary transition to swap between.
Yes, read the old essay by Stephen Jay Gould on this. Teleosts, the masters of the swim bladder, are very derived fishes. Lungs predate them and their swim bladders. More ancestral fishes like gar and sturgeon further show how this is true. The lung came first. I believe the old essay is “Full of hot air”
Out of all the amphibious bony fish I prefer mudskippers to lungfish, just because I think their process of slowly becoming second amphibians that is still ongoing is very cool. But lungfish are cool.
I'd like to cover them too!
@@ClintsReptiles Mudskippers make surprisingly good pets, they are incredibly interactive with their owners and its really funny to see them exploring their enviroment, but brackish water aquariums are somewhat difficult to deal with, so in my opinion it shouldn't be the first fish for anyone, but on the other hand they are surprisingly tough, so even though not super beginner level, it's still not a high difficulty fish, if their owners do their homework on water quality maintenance they should be fine.
@@rafaelalvessantos12 I was just wondering if you could keep mudskippers as pets, they're so awesome!
@Ludvig Renström SJFe So cool :)
Mudskippers do seem to be the "fish" that is most similar to amphibians in terms of lifestyle even though I'm sure that Clint will tell you that phylogenetically speaking the lungfish is actually the "fish" that is the closest to tetrapods including amphibians! lol
Fish can burp and fart, turtles can breathe through thier butts, and there is a fish that can drown. Nature you are so bizarre.
Many fish can drown...poor sharks
Nd, another fun fact fish can taste food with their whole bodies as they have taste buds on their skin.
all fish can drown
@@yallfwj that happened in a bay near me too many fish = all of them dead
@@avidhossanmansur9830 Bull sharks pee in freshwater to make it a more tolerable salinity
Clint’s talk about swim bladders and natural buoyancy brought me back the good old days of being obsessed with Animal Planet and the science channel. Thanks for the rad lesson, Clint! I enjoyed every second of it!
"It hasn't rained in your town in 3 years."
So the greater Phoenix area..
Or here in Utah...
I'm in Tucson and I feel that
Colorado could be on the list as well.
@@Toastedtasty42 I just want it to rain so I can go shooting in the desert. Damn Forrest service and Fish and Game and BLM have the entire wilderness shut down to shooting for "fire restrictions" despite the fact that bullets don't cause fires.
About to say the same thing lol
Oh man, the lungfish actually chewing those food pellets (or whatever it was) made my day. Doesn't look fishy at all!
It does look mutch more like a amphibian with its wibbily fin legs too
I love the passionate explanation of a swim bladder! Never change Clint.
To think that Clint’s Tegu lizard for example is actually more closely related to the lungfish than the lungfish is to any other fish including the coelacanth is mind blowing considering that lungfish (dipnomorpha) and tetrapods (tetrapodomorpha) are both part of the rhipidistia clade!
Tegu? Clint himself is more closely rated to the lungfish than other (nontetrapod) fish.
Wizard fish?!? Sounds stinkin' rad to me!!!
Indubitably! It was so nice getting to talk with you again this week! Keep being amazing!
Loved the swim bladder explanation! I used to keep fish, but I never learned how the swim bladder works.
Also, there are weird wizard catfish that live in southwest Florida, and sometimes they like to fish-waddle across the road and give me a heart attack 😂
I've been in the reptile trade my whole life and I think that you have the best show on UA-cam. Always the most informative and scientific with no bells and whistles and you never glorify yourself like all the others do. Thank you for your good service sir!
Clint, from my 17 years of experience with lung fish in going to tell you that rocks are a bad idea for substrate unless they are big rocks. Mine would suck up rocks and throw them against the glass when he wanted a treat. He cracked the glass in a couple of tanks. He also hated heaters. I think they made a noise. He would bang the heater against the wall until it broke. I gave up on heaters after the first year. We used a whole bunch of polyhedral dice for substrate since that wouldn't break the glass or just no substrate. He never tried any people but he did drag a cat into the tank by her tongue once. Cat and fish were both fine but the fish wanted a rematch. The cat had been stalking him for a long time.
No mention of 'Granddad'? The longest lived lungfish in captivity lived in the Shedd Aquarium, he was brought in for the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. I had the honor to see him several times when visiting the aquarium. He's a massive dude.
He likely didn’t mention Grandad because the video wasn’t about Australian lungs.
These fish are like living dinosaurs and almost impossible to kill . Mine climbed out and was on the floor the
whole night, my cat chewed some of its fins off but I put it back in the tank and it's been fine since.
You are literally everything my animal- and biology-loving brain wanted to see my whole life, not gonna lie! Your excitement and super funny explanations are such a treasure, I think you could get everyone interested into in animals and biology. Five year old me who was constantly glued to the screen when any sort of nature documentary was on would‘ve given anything for a TV show like your channel. And here I am, 27 year old me, glued to my phone when one of your videos is on 🤧🥰
Awww
Best bony fish impression ever, hands (fins?) down; both accurate and adorable!!
Its like a proto-amphibian! What a cool animal, I never considered how the lungs could have developed from the swim bladder - but when you mention it, it makes perfect sense!
There's also a theory that swim bladders evolved from lungs. Though from this video they could have been used as both from the beginning.
With that being said, it was beyond informative and I learned a lot. Not a surprise. You are quite good!!
Great video. But you did forget to mention that the Eastern and west African lungfish are often sold as the same animal which can be an issue cause the western can get up to 6 feet long.
That’s would be a surprise
Clint and people like him are a golden standard of educational videos. Brilliant. Perfect!
Clint teaches biology better than high school does
It’s literally his job, he has a PhD
@@ar8590 That's why he's so good at it 😌
It's kinda how learning biology in university is nothing like biology in high school
The teachers are all passionate about their subject so the classes (except biochemistry, f biochemistry) are pretty damn interesting. You don't have a guy who likes fish talking to you about rocks but a guy studying fish telling you about fish
If they maxed out at like 6-12” I’d be all over it, cuz they’re stinking rad! But I’m not in the market for a 100+gallon tank at this point. Great video! Phylogenetic videos on relationships for fish to mammals &/or reptiles coming soon I hope!?
I plan to cover something like that on Clint Explains if not here as well.
Smaller Polypterids max out at around 12 to 14 inches.
I think the gilled lungfish stays about 12"
I've had a west african lungfish for over a year now and I loooove him! They're so fun and have such a weird personality!
You are great clint. The best thing i love is your way of representing the animal .
Love From india 🇮🇳❤️
When you discuss fish and other aquatic animals that need to be kept in an aquarium you should replace handalability with how easily you can cohabitate them with other fish
Maybe compatibility would be interesting. But it's also worth knowing whether a fish is going to be bitey. Arowanas and lungfish seem a little tricky to handle. Some of the big cichlids will draw blood, too. I've seen people keeping gars in aquariums, but I'd definitely be afraid of them.
If you're looking for monster fish and can provide the cooler water they'd need, I'd think about centrarchids (sunfish, crappies, and bass), but be ready with a big enough tank. You might get by with a 75 gallon for a green sunfish (extremely aggressive). You could even keep a few bluegills together (only a little bit scrappy though significantly larger) in a 200 gallon. But a largemouth bass is going to need an enormous aquarium. Almost all of the centrarchids are rough customers, but they won't hurt their keeper even if they did try to bite. Oh, and they can jump, so you need a good lid. And of course, you'd need to check your local wildlife laws to find out which ones you are allowed to keep.
I loved e explanation of how many fish have a functional long, even though not everyone often thinks of it that way.. great video as always!
Man, this wizard fish is stinkin' rad. In a couple of clips in the video, the fish waved at the camera and I loved it. :D
I had one of these for 17 years. Kirby was amazing. So sweet, loved to sit on your hand and would take food right from your hands. He went to school once a year to teach about himself.
I landed on this video from a look at today's wikipedia picture of the day. It was a grey triggerfish and the description talked about it being a ray-finned fish. I read about the lobe-finned fish and thought it would be AWESOME to have one as a pet so I googled that and lo and behold: one of my favorite youtube channels talking about exactly that! Awesome video guys :)
The patterns are so cool!
...and thank you for no long drawn out introductions (like everyone else does)
I don’t know why this was recommended to me but now I want a lung fish
Anyone else also a biologist and just comes to hear Clint be enthusiastic about stuff you already know and love? I love it when he covers animals I don't know, but I also love it when he covers the ones I do know.
I personally really enjoy it as a student because he often brings my attention to lizards I've never heard of, but then want to study. Like i definitely want to study emerald tree skinks now.
I'd love a betta fish video, maybe they're not cool like a shark, but I like them. They're quite available, but is it the best pet fish for me? I'd also love a top 5 aquarium plants for people who aren't good with plants.
1. Anubias (all varities)
2. Java fern
3. Amazon frogbit
4. Cryptocoryne wendtii
5. Marimo moss balls.
These are all pretty bulletproof
Do not get a moss ball right now any bought after I believe February need to be destroyed. Look into it
2:15 Clint pretending to be a fish filled my heart :D
I just love lungfish so much, and I'm so glad I found your video in them! I love your channel and the way you teach
I used to own one of these. They are not for beginners for sure. They get huge and mine became very food motivated. So my hands became food items to it too. A very interesting and cool fish but this one requires some extra knowledge.
Lungfish and bichirs are my favorite fish to interact with. And they are the handleable compared to other fish.
If you want a fish like the lungfish that doesn’t get as big but also has lungs get a bichir (there’s bichirs that get 40+ inches I’d recommend a senegalus only get about 10 inches 15 if you’re lucky and get good genetics)
Also they live for 20 years so expect a commitment and they will take that long to get full grown but you can have your very own fish from 250 million years ago
I’d love for you to make a video on the there are 15 different species all different patterns finlets etc senegalus, polli, weeksii, conginicius, delhezi, palmas palmas, lapardei, buettikoferi, teugelsi, ornatipinnis, retropinnis, mokelembembe, bichir bichir, endlicheri, ansorgii. But the only one you’ll find are the delhezi senegalus endli and ornate unless you have a importer from africa
I’ve personally owned buettikoferi(gorgeous but a angry lil thing), delhezi, senegalus, and ornatapinnis(most people favorite pattern)(people say they’re aggressive but mine are like puppy dogs but also like dogs they establish a pecking order)
I love these fish videos! 😊
Clint explains the bag of chip incident so well it's like he experienced this himself. Lol.
I never bothered to really research facts about lungfishes, but learning about swim bladders and their evolution to lungs is pretty interesting! Mad respect for this video about a cool fish.
He’s the best at what he do. I love it
Clint have literally explained lung evolution in the most didactic way without even using images
I am a scuba diver Clint but you lost me somewhere around the air bladder. 🥴But I still watch cuz I love listening to you talk.
I had one years ago. Lived 20 years. Loved to eat snails the best. Even big mystery snails, but we'd take the little nuisance snails out of the other tanks and put them in his. He preferred tetra type (jungle) water. He also liked floating plants to rest in. We mostly fed him live black worms and brine shrimp.
Aside from all of the educational information, Clint really brightens my day up. Thanks ❤️
I'm a short time viewer, but that intro was the best I've seen.
Your Arowana impression was superb 😂 Great video!
I know I say this every time, but I can't get enough of the fish videos.
I just LOVE your energy Clint.
Like a kid on a sugar high
I just finished watching your video about silver arowana, which dissappointed me because I would've loved to see a video about asian arowana, which is one of my dream fishes, but then I find this video about african lungfish! AL is like my second favorite dream freshwater fish. I love the fact that they are more related to coelcanth (props my favorite non-aquariam fish) and tetrapods than to other "fishes". Great video^^
Since Asian arowanas are banned in the USA, I don’t see him doing a video about them
This video is really cool Clint and crew (scaled and otherwise), thanks for sharing!
would be cool to see Koi fish analyzed in this fashion
Also pro tip, if you fast forward through it looks like he is conducting an orchestra. Lol love your enthusiasm Clint.
Nobody had ever explained the evolution of lungs FROM SWIM BLADDERS nearly as well as that 😮 your students are so freaking lucky man. Thank you.
Dojo loaches are a great example of fish that can fart. They also have swim bladder lungs, and whenever the inhale too much air they fart it out to sink. Can be pretty startling the first time you see it
That was a great explanation of where lungs came from. Heading out the to LA Zoo in a few moments to see their giant lungfish.
This was really enjoyable. As a fish hobbyist it's nice to see you branch out to other pets. It would be cool to see you do a video on Cichlids
Clint geeking out is my favorite part of the channel.
Also, I feel like a pond will be a perfect enclosure for a lungfish.
Now I want a pond lol
I used to keep betta fish, which unlike other fish I have kept I could not use a air stone. This was due to them having a labyrinth organ, which allows them to breathe directly from the air, and the surface of the water must be relatively stable for them to do so. They are truly beautiful creatures and so fascinating.
They had one of these for sale the last time I was at my favorite tropical fish store. It's such a wonderful fish! Unfortunately, I do not have an enormous fish tank nor am I currently able to get one, but if I could I would love to have one of these some day.
Just here wishing Clint had been my science teacher. He makes me want to know more, instead of wanting to be done.
2:15 What a convincing imitation.
The bag of chips example seemed very very specific there Clint 😉
Great vid as always though.
if i were to ever get a fish i think i’d get one of these guys. they just remind me so much of tiktaalik i love it
Hey Clint, a bit off topic but as we know you LOVE common snapping turtles. And as such I believe you'll enjoy Gizmo the common snapping turtle videos from Jeffrey Perico. Rarely would I call a snapper cuddly, but he truly acts like a puppy.
He is super amazing!
You sound so dang excited explaining how vertebrate lungs came about, hell yeah!
I owned one years ago. It was really cool. I didnt like him a first but he grew on me and let me pet him. When we rehomed him my hubby thought he would reach in and pick him up. It tried to bite him. So they knew the difference between my hubby and I.
I remeber the first time I saw one of these in a "documentary" (not sure what else to call it) series by BBC called Walming with Dinosaurs. And they showed it being dug up during a drought, being torn out of its mucus cocoon, and then eaten.
On a side note, I just lived how you looked like you were having fun demonstrating how fish swims with a swim bladder
Very educational. I enjoyed watching. Alas I however can not shake the feeling I'm watching Ray McKinnon do fish chat lol.
I love your videos keep up the good work
Been waiting for this one!!!!! I love lungfish!
You should consider doing an episode on the snakehead fish! They are in many ways the stuff that nightmares are made out of, and becoming an invasive species in my home state of Illinois!
Wow these fish are so cool! The idea of having a fish in a mud cocoon is incredible!
Clint, I had learned that swim bladders probably evolved from lungs, sometime in the late Silurian. Both are derived outpockets of the gut. The original lungs of "lobe-finned" fishes evolved to deal with seasonal droughts and crawling to other pools. The theory is that they radiated into two directions in the late Silurian/early Devonian: ray-finned fishes (with swim bladders), and tetrapods (think tiktaalik --> acanthostega-->icthyostega, etc.). So cladistically, tetrapods are more closely related to lungfish than they are to bettas. Thoughts?
Great video as always!
Had a South American Lungfish for about 10 years and he was a great pet.
Much less bitey than the african ones.
Then i went on vacation and he opened the lid of his aquarium despite multiple pounds of weights i put on there and dried out on the floor.
Great animals, but don't be as stupid as me.
They can move a lot of weight, do not underestimate them!
Is that a west African lungfish? Unusual markings looks awesome!
There was a lung fish at the Shedd Aquarium Chicago which lived for nearly a century.
It was called Grandad, it was the oldest zoo animal in captivity at the time of its death.
The lung fish munching on his food is really cute tho 💖
I just discovered your channel and im hooked. I really digged the common snapping turtle video, changed my views on them. I want one now
Wizard Fish is a great band name.
I appreciate you mentioning the fact that they are all wild-caught imports. That is my biggest gripe with the aquarium hobby. Even though many fish easily reproduce in captivity (especially live bearers like guppies and mollies), others can be hard or almost impossible to get to reproduce (let alone in sufficient numbers to meet demand and/or at competitive prices). Some of these include very popular fish, like kuhli loaches and otocinclus. Both of these tend to do really well in the home aquarium, but for every fish that survives the journey from being caught, kept at a holding facility, shipped across the world to a wholesaler, and from there to the retailer, I'm sure there are several that perish along the way.
I'm pretty sure kuhliis are farmed, but your point is about the stress of shipping. The stress is the same whether they're wild-caught or farmed in Asia. Kuhills and otos are difficult at best to breed in an aquarium, so there's never going to be enough domestic breeding to sustain the demand. And I've never heard of farming otos. I guess I'm nitpicking, but I agree with your point about the stress in transport. I'd say there are more than "several" that perish along the way.
Hey Clint love the video lungfish are amazing fish 👌. And I would love to give you one or two of my baby monitors they’ll be hatching soon and as far as I know I’m the only one in United States to successfully breed them and not just once but 3 times. Now I have 3 clutches of 85 eggs in total and would love to give you one or two if your interested??
How cool! What kind of monitors are they?
That would probably be amazing assuming that I have a suitable enclosure. What species??
Savannah monitors I know they are common but not captive bred and really want to give some to great homes and I’ll be keeping most of them. I hate that they taken from the wild in such huge numbers and wanted to help the species I love so much and have been working with for over 25years now. As far as I know It’s only been done a few times and mostly by accident luckily I have some great friends around the world that helped me get this far. Sorry for going off topic but yea if you are interested I’d love to send you one or two and should be hatching out in next month or two it’s hard to find info on incubation so that’s estimating.
Or if you know any die hard Savannah monitor people I’d really want to chat with them because I’m only giving them to people that already have Savannah monitors in hope to breed them in the future. So if you don’t have a Savannah already your not getting one of my precious babies unless I already know your stinking rad 👍
Check out animal1guy he has a male savannah and loves monitors
One of my biggest dreams to care for one of these at one point. aint happening but boy do i love these fish
9:20 imagine trying to explain to your friends that your fish drowned
CLINTS FISH DANCE WAS IMMACULATE 😂😂😂😂😂
So cool! I’d love to see an episode on mudskippers too c:
I do especially love the Australian Lungfish. They look so prehistoric 😍
Also regarding fully aquatic Animals: I would love to see a Video about the Fly River Turtle. One of my absolute Dream Reptiles to own someday. But I'll definitely need to own a House first. They get huge and are definitely no Animal that you can easily move with
Swimming Clint wasn't a thing I thought we will ever see. But here we are
His re-enactments are so great 😂
Hi Clint, another awesome best pet video !! Please can you make one on an African Rope Fish ?
Came for no reason learned about how my lungs evolved. Subbed.
There has to be a new category called geekness. Where Clint rates his excitement about the animal.
I've always thought lungfish are stinkin' rad. Thanks for confirming that even more 🙂
Two other particularly cool eel-like fish that are available in the aquarium trade are reedfish and fire eels.
Also electric eels but that's not something that's reasonable for most people because the handalability is probably a negative value.
As a Zoology student, I wish I was in Clint's class. Billions of times better than my lecturers
This is nerdy fun! Awesome!