WoW, 3 of my GAR fishes...!!!!

[vinson lim]

yaya, i got 3 Gars was about frm 17 ichs to 19 inchs.
its a Florida or Spott ...? Im not realy sure, some said it was Flo, some told it was Spott, lol.
Feed them livefeeder(goldfisher), sometimes chicken fillet, beefheart(cut) once in a while
They grow damn fast, bought them 1 year ++ ago, less than 5 inches that time.
They were in my 5ft tank now. (5x2x2) how many gallons? i dunno.
Pic are below..... enjoy guys. :naughty:

[sma]

nice looking gars. 5x2x2 is a 150g

[vinson lim]

eh? did i post 4 pics? i only saw 2 pic only for now....
? ? ? ?

[Bsixxx]

all very nice
fat and healthy looking
:D

[vinson lim]

gar eating.... hehe.

[pmtuneman13]

What's the difference between an alligator gar and a florida gar? I've seen alligator gars around here (ocala area) about 7' long. Very intimidating when you are swimming in the river with them.

[mercury904]

What's the difference between an alligator gar and a florida gar? I've seen alligator gars around here (ocala area) about 7' long. Very intimidating when you are swimming in the river with them.

yeah he might think you are a feeder goldfish:ROFL:

[vinson lim]

yeah he might think you are a feeder goldfish:ROFL:


pls wear a GOLD colour swimsuit then.:ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:

[vinson lim]

GUYs, mine are FLORIDA or SPOT ?
help me up pls.

[Nabbig2]

What's the difference between an alligator gar and a florida gar? I've seen alligator gars around here (ocala area) about 7' long. Very intimidating when you are swimming in the river with them.

Alligator gars grow waaaaaaay bigger.

[demjor19]

What's the difference between an alligator gar and a florida gar? I've seen alligator gars around here (ocala area) about 7' long. Very intimidating when you are swimming in the river with them.

ummm....when was the last time you saw a 7' florida gar?

[pmtuneman13]

I didn't say it was a florida gar... It was an alligator gar... and it scared the hell out of me. I thought I was bait for a minute... I saw it early this year. It looked about a foot larger than my friend under water and he is about 6' tall. It was in the rainbow river in the Dunnellon area, west of Ocala.

I thought that what people were calling florida gars more closely resembled an alligator gar. To me they look very much like what I know as a longnose gar. This question was a clarification. People want to call everything an alligator gar down here. And thanks for wishing I were fish food guys.:grinno: - that would be a very ironic death indeed.

[E_americanus]

probably big longnose gars, although the size was exaggerated to an extent. alligator gars are somewhat in the panhandle, but not in the area of Florida which you are describing.
it can be hard to estimate the size of moving fishes in the water, so they could have been large Florida gars too (again, with the size slightly skewed larger than reality). hope that helps; it's always cool to see big gars in the wild!--
--solomon

[pmtuneman13]

I was snorkeling, not looking down through the surface distortion. It looked like an alligator. It had a flat, broad head.... at this point I don't care if anyone believes me ... it's not worth the effort. and do your research about alligator gars americanus. They are in many rivers in central florida.

[vinson lim]

ok, looks like its real then....
i thought u was kidding in the early stage...
sorry man.
When was this incident happen? this year ?

[BushFishRox]

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/descript/alligatorgar/gar3.JPG

[fivespeed302]

nice pics, thanks for sharing

[Polypterus]

It just had to happen....Someone has to post the Bubba stupid grin pic... :irked:

As for Gator gar and central Florida...There is a chance that some have been illegally stocked there but this is not their natural range and Solomon is correct on their natural distribution. I have personally never seen a vouchered record of an Alligator gar in central Florida yet...Along the Gulf coast is a different matter but not inland.

[E_americanus]

I was snorkeling, not looking down through the surface distortion. It looked like an alligator. It had a flat, broad head.... at this point I don't care if anyone believes me ... it's not worth the effort. and do your research about alligator gars americanus. They are in many rivers in central florida.

"It looked like an alligator. It had a flat, broad head...."

flat broad head can be used for pretty much any gar, except perhaps a longnose.

"and do your research about alligator gars americanus."

i'm not trying to brag, but trust me when i say i have very likely done much more research on gars than you have done ;)


given richard's statement, there is a chance they could have been illegally introduced, but again, vouchered specimens and no data exist showing them in this range.
talk is cheap, buy an underwater camera and snap a photo next time :) --
--solomon

[demjor19]

... it's not worth the effort. and do your research about alligator gars americanus. They are in many rivers in central florida.

maybe you should understand the people you are bashing a little better. E_Americanus and Polypterus have done more gar research than probably anyone one this forum.

and speaking of research...who was the one who could not id between L. Platyrhincus and A Spatula?

like polypterus said. they may have been illegally stocked there, but it is not their native range. they def. could thrive there, but they dont belong there. florida has many such fish.

[demjor19]

"It looked like an alligator. It had a flat, broad head...."

flat broad head can be used for pretty much any gar, except perhaps a longnose.

"and do your research about alligator gars americanus."

i'm not trying to brag, but trust me when i say i have very likely done much more research on gars than you have done ;)


given richard's statement, there is a chance they could have been illegally introduced, but again, vouchered specimens and no data exist showing them in this range.
talk is cheap, buy an underwater camera and snap a photo next time :) --
--solomon

you posted before me i guess.;)

[demjor19]

It just had to happen....Someone has to post the Bubba stupid grin pic... :irked:

isnt that almost humorous? they all have to do it i guess.

[Polypterus]

It is a very well known fact that Atractosteus spatula are found only in the Escambia, Econfina and Choctawhatchee basins in Florida. These fish have been of serious interest to the FWC for some time as the distribution is narrow and the status is rare in the state. These are a fish Florida has wanted to preserve and protect and a great deal of status reports have been made about them over the years. As a result distribution and occurance data within Florida is very well known to anyone caring to look for it. One outcome of this has been a legal season established for them and there status upgraded to Gamefish as far as legal protection goes.

There are no voucher specimens or reports from the locality listed either as naturally occurring or as a introduction..FWC has not listed it and USGS has not listed it as ANS locality..If the locality contained a population it would be known and listed by both of these organizations and would be known to avid gar fishermen and scholars.

Please be careful about using a statement like and do your research about alligator gars to people that live and breath these fish in more ways than just keeping them in glass boxes ..You might get burnt quickly.

[pmtuneman13]

I stepped on toes. Sorry. I don't like being called a liar. Search for Dunnellon, Fl on a map and look at its proximity to the panhandle and the gulf. It is a spring-fed river called the Rainbow, which is extremely rare for alligator gars to inhabit, I know this. I do these river floats nearly every month and I am used to seeing longnose gars every time. They are not the same. So I thought I would share my experience with you all. I'm not wrong here. Despite what you may read, what you can't see are all the photographs on local bait store walls with monster alligators gars that have been caught. They are pretty rare, but the locals know they exist. Don't try to discredit people you don't know... just because it goes against what you may have read, that doesn't mean that it is a lie. I am ashamed this thread went where it did... I feel sorry for the person who opened it and I apologize for commenting about what I saw.

[vinson lim]

I stepped on toes. Sorry. I don't like being called a liar. Search for Dunnellon, Fl on a map and look at its proximity to the panhandle and the gulf. It is a spring-fed river called the Rainbow, which is extremely rare for alligator gars to inhabit, I know this. I do these river floats nearly every month and I am used to seeing longnose gars every time. They are not the same. So I thought I would share my experience with you all. I'm not wrong here. Despite what you may read, what you can't see are all the photographs on local bait store walls with monster alligators gars that have been caught. They are pretty rare, but the locals know they exist. Don't try to discredit people you don't know... just because it goes against what you may have read, that doesn't mean that it is a lie. I am ashamed this thread went where it did... I feel sorry for the person who opened it and I apologize for commenting about what I saw.

its ok , dun mind at all actually...
All of us are monster fish keepers here, we are SAME kind.
PErhaps we can jst TALK and discuss in a better way.
ByDaWay, hope this discussion will end up in a Better way of coz.
Im a gar keeper, but i do not know mch bout gar fishes in others country.
Ok, any additional info frm u guys wanna share it out?
i love to read and know.

[perfection]

the gator gar has 2 rows of teeth on each side of the top bill

[demjor19]

the gator gar has 2 rows of teeth on each side of the top bill

the gator gar is not the only gar with dual rows of teeth.

[E_americanus]

the gator gar is not the only gar with dual rows of teeth.

exactly...

all gar species of the genus Atractosteus have two prominent rows of teeth on the upper jaw, but if you look closely (and this is what makes the key word 'prominent') even Lepisosteus genus gars have smaller secondary rows of teeth on the upper jaws.

either way, if you were snorkeling you wouldn't really be able to inspect the upper jaws of the gar seeing as gars rarely have their mouths open, and their attack speed has been timed at a mere 20 ms, which is quite fast :) --
--solomon

[vinson lim]

wowowo, timed at a mere 20 ms.......

[demjor19]

wowowo, timed at a mere 20 ms.......

if youve ever watched a gar attack it is extremely fast. i have never timed it personally, but i would take E_Americanus's word for it.

[vinson lim]

DEMJOR19, need yr help.
i know my GARs was not gator, cuban, tropica...
anyway, will they be a florida or spotted?
which... ?

[demjor19]

did you get them all at the same place at the same time?

i would put my money on florida gar although it is very hard to distinguish between the two. floridas are just much more common than spotteds in the hobby...so based on odds i would think it safe to call them floridas.

[E_americanus]

DEMJOR19, need yr help.
i know my GARs was not gator, cuban, tropica...
anyway, will they be a florida or spotted?
which... ?

i agree with jordan, but either way, they are Florida or spotted gars, and virtually impossible to tell apart without other information (source, collection locality if wild fish, and then DNA analysis since that apparently has been contested as of late as well).
this is why, as richard/polypterus had stated sometime back, it's best to just call fish like this Florida/spotted gars, when no other information is available--
--solomon

[vinson lim]

THNKS (jordan & solomon) for such info, hehe.

Well, i will jst put them as florida nxt time... =)

[redheaded stepchild]

hey vinson lim, how old are they?

[vinson lim]

hey vinson lim, how old are they?

less than 2 years old.

are u a GARs keepers as well ?

u new? haha, wellcome to MFK, hope u enjoy. ;p