Broken Back Prevention with Gars!!!

Gr8KarmaSF;1456542; said:

Gars seem to suffer greatly from broken backs so I wanted to have a discussion among gar owners on how we can all prevent this common occurrence.

Past and present gar owners please share your thoughts, secrets, and advice on how to help prevent this from happening.

What can gar owners do to prevent this?

Another question to ask is why does it happen so often? Is it because tanks are often to small?

Do Gars feel less secure with no floating plant cover hence they are more likely to break their backs when scared?

What are the variables that make a gar less likely to break its back?

Please share!

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This is all IME w/my Gar...

I think to keep a Gar from Broke Back Mountain... ROFL is to let your Gar (fish in general) where their limits are. What I mean is, I have a poster on the back of my tank and it has some bright colors. On the sides of my tank, I had little glow in the dark rocks (from petco) and I glued them on to the tank (about 9 per side). Also on the back of my Tank, I have 2 powerheads with a lot of current pointing the long way of the tank. With all this being said, It gives my fish (I say all because none have nose damage or signs of crashing) a sence of when to stop. Especially in the dark. They feel the current and see some type of colors they seem to know when to slow down (for my Gar, he usually turns before the end of the tank). My payara has no damage what so ever on his nose!!

As for plants, I have no floating plant experience. I do have plants growing on my driftwood and some in a pot. Thats about it. Myself and my kids are always looking at the fish or giving attention, so I think they are used to seeing people close to the tank (I'm just guessing). Also I can say that the tankmates are not fast swimmers that might spook them but on the other hand when I had 2VATF'S they were constantly fighting and bumping into my Gar. Roscoe (my younger daughter named the Spotted Gar) would pay no mind. So I think it also has to do with personality of the fish

All in all, I try to think of the prob before it happens. So these are the things that I thought of doing so they know theor surroundings

Anyone else...

the main reason why gars break their backs is because they freak out and slam themselves into tanks. there are several causes for this
1-tankmates freaking them out.
2-they feel insecure
3 they just feel like doing it

1 can be easily avoided by firstly, not having tankmates that portray unexpected, sudden movements. these tankmates include bass, arowana etc. it would probably also be a good idea not to have any boisterous tankmates with gars(unless your gar is a Spatula) as this may result in bullying, and as a result, a brokeback gar.

2 can also easily be avoided by giving a gar the proper sized tank and furinishments. give small gars smaller tanks and slowly upgrade stepwise. floating plants do seems to calm yoy gars quite a bit. juvenile osseus seem more likely to have this problem compared to others. this prevents broken backs as the gar does not have enough space to gather enough speed to break it's back should it decide to ramm itself into the glass walls.

3 generally refers to shortnosed gar, in which i have only second hand info, and i hope polypterus can elaborate on.

Gr8KarmaSF;1456542; said:

Gars seem to suffer greatly from broken backs so I wanted to have a discussion among gar owners on how we can all prevent this common occurrence.

Past and present gar owners please share your thoughts, secrets, and advice on how to help prevent this from happening.

What can gar owners do to prevent this?

Another question to ask is why does it happen so often? Is it because tanks are often to small?

Do Gars feel less secure with no floating plant cover hence they are more likely to break their backs when scared?

What are the variables that make a gar less likely to break its back?

Please share!

Click to expand...

This is really a very complicated and multifaceted issue that is difficult to address in a forum post. (A chapter in a book maybe but not a forum post) despite what is commonly stated, the different Lepisosteid species each are quite different in husbandry and can not be pigeonholed. There is also individual variations in behavior from fish to fish that either make this issue more likely or less likely to occur.

The most simple solution to this is actually to just know your fish, However, here are some very simple actions one can take to reduce this:

1. House the fish appropriately for it size. Small fish do not need large tanks, it is best to gradually step up the size of the tank as the fish grows.

2. Do not house gar with boisterous aggressive species (In fact they are best off by themselves in small shoals)

3. Be aware that fast movements and or consistent activity keep small fish on edge and nervous. Reduce the level of activity and disturbance in the area you are raising small fish in.

4. Do paint or cover the sides and back of tanks and provide structural diversity in the tank in the form of wood rocks etc. It should be noted however that this should not interfere with movement it should just define barriers and break up impact directions should the fish spook into a fast start.

On floating plants: This really has no effect and will not reduce this from occurring. It can help with very small fish just to make them feel safer but it will not reduce their instinct to quickly dart off with any threatening stimulus.

Theres the short version...

3 generally refers to shortnosed gar, in which i have only second hand info, and i hope polypterus can elaborate on.

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that falls under individual variations in behavior... Platostomus are nuts and really do not like to do anything lightly. they smack at the surface to breach, aggressively attack feed, spook faster than any species and are in general fricking psycho fish with multiple personality disorder.

i think richard covered this topic the best that one could cover it. as stated every fish is different and each species is def. different...so the care level will very between them. i guess trying the things richard mentioned will improve your chances of preventing a broken back or spinal injury, BUT this WILL still happen to some people who take all these precautions...this too is comming from experience.

demjor19;1458065; said:

BUT this WILL still happen to some people who take all these precautions...this too is comming from experience.

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This is very much the unfortunate truth.. You can try many different prevention techniques, but there seems to always be one or two that regardless of the level of prevention still wind up injured.

i had a 7" juvenile spotted gar injure his spine by getting freaked by a 9" senegal.

truely i keep mine with a lima shovel nose but my gar some how always knows wen to stop and never goes for fish or anything wen in a corner he goes slow i think it depends on wat tyope of fish u have in there some agressive fish are fine tho as wat i habve seen so far