Shortnose gar update

[demjor19]

Last night I was finally able to get the shortnose to take a few chunks of shrimp. Tonight he ate a whole one....I'm going to let this settle in him and feed again this weekend. He has actually started to contend with the other gar for pieces of food. I've noticed a big difference in his energy level as well which is a good sign. We'll have him healthy in no time and he is going to be fitting in well with the rest of the collection:)

[Polypterus]

Last night I was finally able to get the shortnose to take a few chunks of shrimp. Tonight he ate a whole one....I'm going to let this settle in him and feed again this weekend. He has actually started to contend with the other gar for pieces of food. I've noticed a big difference in his energy level as well which is a good sign. We'll have him healthy in no time and he is going to be fitting in well with the rest of the collection:)

Awesome Jordan!!!
I was really hoping that fish would turn around for you.. This is very good news...

[demjor19]

Awesome Jordan!!!
I was really hoping that fish would turn around for you.. This is very good news...

Thanks Richard! You know this has been one of my most wanted gar species for quite sometime now, so i really would have hated losing him...

It has actually been over 3 months since this fish has eaten, so this is a huge victory for me! I'll post some updated pics as the fish progresses.

[xander]

awesome!! props man. why was it so hard for him to eat? was it a wild caught specimen?

[demjor19]

awesome!! props man. why was it so hard for him to eat? was it a wild caught specimen?

thanks!

This fish was supposedly 3-4 inches long when first bought from the fish store (probably a wild caught specimen) and was roughly 3 years old when i aquired him. The tank he was raised in was quite disgusting and he was very emaciated from the time i aquired him. I have no idea why this fish was so difficult to get to feed...other than the fact it is a shortnose gar...i hear they are quite psychotic though...

[Davey_8313]

Congrats Jordan, that's good news. Glad to hear that. Keep us updated on him.

[demjor19]

Congrats Jordan, that's good news. Glad to hear that. Keep us updated on him.

Thanks man! Ive been nothing but smiles since this has happened.

[city_of_evil6661]

good to hear that the Platostomus is doing ok. how are the others from the pacu attack?

[demjor19]

good to hear that the Platostomus is doing ok. how are the others from the pacu attack?

Thanks! All fish are 100% from the Pacu incident.

[headbanger_jib]

hey demjor where are the pics

[jphillips2020]

Yes I agree maybe a undated pic would be cool

[channarox]

congratz jordan! :thumbsup:
we need pics!

[demjor19]

hey demjor where are the pics

There is nothing really to see yet. Just picture a 16-17 inch Shortnose gar that hasnt eaten in several months. After i get him fattened up, i'll post some before and after pics, but i have a feeling this will take some time.

[channarox]

i dont see many shortnose gars.
so some pics now would be great! :D

[demjor19]

OK. Since so many asked for pics...here are a few old ones (these are over a month old). The fish has lost even more body mass since then, but is looking much better since he's started feeding. Things are definitely on the up swing.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/KaraJ0/DSCN8067.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/KaraJ0/DSCN8071.jpg

P.S. sorry for the poor quality. These pictures were just quick snapshots i took a while back.

[channarox]

looks good.
love shortys.
never find them here. :(
cant wait to see some pics with him fattened up.

[demjor19]

looks good.
love shortys.
never find them here. :(
cant wait to see some pics with him fattened up.

thanks,

give me another month or two with him...then i'll show you a shortnose gar! :)

BTW...this was the first Shortnose i have seen in the hobby. So they arent all that common here either (unless you want to collect them from the wild), but even that's a pretty long drive away from me.

[channarox]

we dont even have any wild gar here. :D
a month it is!

[demjor19]

we dont even have any wild gar here. :D
a month it is!

I know!!! :p

[Vicious_Fish]

Glad to hear your gar is doing better. :)

[headbanger_jib]

too bad he took a long time to accept non live food he already looks quite thin, but if he is eating now then he should grow plump soon

[demjor19]

too bad he took a long time to accept non live food he already looks quite thin, but if he is eating now then he should grow plump soon

He wouldn't eat ANY food at all. I actually broke down a few times and offered live foods and he would not take them. This fish just decided it did not want to feed and that was it.

[city_of_evil6661]

Thanks! All fish are 100% from the Pacu incident.

thats good. every time i see a pacu now i have to just just walk away from the temptation of getting it from what the other 2 i had did to my longnose a while back. they were fin nippers. and almost completely took off one of my gars pelvic fins. i love pacu they are truely an amazing fish but i love gars way more and will never put them together again.

[CTU2fan]

Good news on that shorty Jordan, wow he was really thin. I didn't realize he hadn't eaten anything; I though he'd taken some feeder fish at least. Now that he's eating I hope some fat shorty pics will be coming :)

Glad to hear the pacu victims have recovered well.

[michael]

Im very hapopy to hear this!! I had the same problem with one of my cubans and I hope this guy turns out that way... My guy I got and didnt eat for 2 full months and was only about 5-6" and thin as a pencil. One day he just decided to eat and slowly ate more and more and now is a freakin pig!! He will be just fine I bet and is an amazing animal

[demjor19]

Im very hapopy to hear this!! I had the same problem with one of my cubans and I hope this guy turns out that way... My guy I got and didnt eat for 2 full months and was only about 5-6" and thin as a pencil. One day he just decided to eat and slowly ate more and more and now is a freakin pig!! He will be just fine I bet and is an amazing animal

thanks alot! and i'm sorry it took me so long to decide what i was doing with him.

this fish was actually past 4 months with no food consumption. i looked into when i got him and realized it was in the begining of May! He ate one or two small pieces of shrimp the day after i bought him and has had nothing since. I'm glad your cuban started eating too...it sux to watch them starve like that.

[demjor19]

Here are the latest pics of the Shorty! He is packing weight on much faster than i even expected!

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/KaraJ0/Monster%20Fish/DSCN9655.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/KaraJ0/Monster%20Fish/DSCN9654.jpg

[xander]

nice shorty!! great to hear everything is going well. my pacu was murdered by an unknown gar in the pond. har har.

[demjor19]

nice shorty!! great to hear everything is going well. my pacu was murdered by an unknown gar in the pond. har har.

Thanks. I am noticing an increase in activity and in his drive to feed every day. He's starting to get to the point where all i have to do is drop the shrimp in the tank and he hunts it on his own. Before i had to literally position the shrimp at the corner of his mouth in order for him to accept it. He's really making nice progress.

I'd like to see if we can correct his gill curl now.

[CTU2fan]

Good progress here, that's excellent. No all you need is a longnose...

[channarox]

very nice jordan!
hes gaining weight fast!

[michael]

looks great. Glad to hear he is doing better and I found me a pair now too. Going to pick up next weekend

[Davey_8313]

looks great. Glad to hear he is doing better and I found me a pair now too. Going to pick up next weekend
Those two in MD?

[demjor19]

looks great. Glad to hear he is doing better and I found me a pair now too. Going to pick up next weekend

Thanks for the good words guys and congrats on finding a pair of Shortys Michael! You may have the same issues i had for a while, but it will be well worth it in the end!

[michael]

yeah driving to MD next weekend