Gar TANKMATES - Share your experiences

sbuse · Feb 12, 2011

South american lungfish - Lepidosiren paradoxa

Members' experience : sbuse

Species & Size of Gar:
22" florida gar

Size of tank:
180gal

Size of tankmate:
14-15"

Duration of cohabitation:
2 months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: adds verioty to the tank, cleans up scraps

Cons: none

Other Comments: not a bad combo

Members' overall compatibility rating : 10/10

Madding · Feb 13, 2011

Stingray - Potamotrygon

Collective Members' compatibility rating : 5/10

Members' Experience : Madding

Species & Size of Gar:

- Tropical Gar - 18"
- Tropical Gar - 20"
- Florida Gar - 18"

Size of tank:

500g, 8' x 4' x 25"
150g, 4' x 2' x 30"

Size of tank-mate:

- 1x 7” Hystrix Stingray (male)

Duration of cohabitation:

5+ months in the 150g, about 1 month in the 500g

Comments:

Pros: Stingrays have been known to co-hab with gars without issue. I kept this Hystrix with some of my smaller gars (3x 12") and some of the larger tropicals (18", 20") in the 150g while I was waiting for the 500g to be ready. There were never any issues in the 150g. Stingrays stay at the bottom while your gars are all over the place.

Cons: Stingrays are greedy and can compete with gars for food, also getting in the way of the powerful jaws of the gar while trying to cover food. Stingrays also hold the threat of stinging a tankmate with the tail stinger (very unlikely to happen). The Hystrix stingray is smaller than most freshwater rays, making it less ideal to keep with bigger predators. In the 500g, the gars began picking on the Hystrix. Finally one of them bit its tail entirely off, possibly swallowing the stinger in the process. Hystrix survived about a day without its tail before dying in hospital tank.

Other Comments: I want to note that in a smaller, overstocked tank I experienced no problems with this combo. After moving the larger gars and several tankmates over to the 500g, gar aggression became more widespread and tankmates were targeted. I am not sure if the Hystrix and gars would have remained fine together in the 150g.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 2/10

Attempt the gar/stingray combo at your own risk.

Members' experience : Xander

Species & Size of Gar
- 4x ~24" cuban gars
- around 14"" - 21" florida gars

Size of tank
I've mixed them in tanks from 5x3x2 & 6x4x2.

Size of tankmate
Ranged from 14", 10" & 2x7".

Duration of cohabitation
estimated 3 months of cohabitation on 3 seperate occasions.

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: They do help clean up the gars uneaten food.

Cons: large rays may eat smaller gars, large gars will tear small rays apart.

Other Comments: because of the amount the gars eat, and enthusiasm with which the do it...either the rays get spooked and refuse to eat or the gars just consume too much before the rays get to touch anything and this really craps out the water since rays need to be fed twice a day

Members' overall compatibility rating : 8/10
(Water-2, spooking-2, boisterous-2, elicting aggression-1, misc (feeding regime)-0)

Other members' comments

always4lora;4890233; said:
I;ve tried the above combo with a florida gar and a marbled motoro, the gar got covered by the ray and i was left with a head in the tank the rest had gone. The gar also left a nice bite mark on the ray. Personally wouldn't try it again unless i had a really large tank.

Madding · Feb 13, 2011

Marbled Pim Catfish - Leiarius marmoratus

Members' Experience : Madding

Species & Size of Gar:

- Tropical Gar x7 - (14", 16", 18", 19", 20", 24", 26")
- Florida Gar x2 - (17", 20")
- Cuban Gar - (28")

Size of tank:

500g, 8' x 4' x 25"

Size of tank-mate:

- 1x 17” Marbled Pim Catfish

Duration of cohabitation:

Almost a year.

Comments:

Pros: Catfish are fast-growing tankmates that are too big to be eaten if you time the growth to that of your gars. They eat anything the slower gars miss, and they only stay at the bottom of the tank in a secluded area (provided you give them one). Mine does not care about my gars existence at all.

Cons: Catfish get large in a short period of time (mine went from 4" to 15" in less than a year), and would be able to eat a smaller, thinner gar by now. Extra care in tankmates must be used. The barbels of the Marbled Pim are nearly 12" in length, making them easy targets for a curious or hungry gar. There was a period of about a month where the Marbled Pim would always be missing a barbel. Now it has been about five months with no barbels getting ripped off. The gar have apparently gotten used to the catfish or dismissed it as a possible food source. The Pim is a very greedy feeder and unlike many bottom feeders will not back down from a fight. It will steal food from the gars mouth in a quick duel that stirs up a ton of sand. There is always the risk of a frightened gar smashing into the glass during such an episode.

Other Comments: I am a big fan of large, ornate catfish and could not imagine my monster tank not having one. They are very personable and graceful to watch cruise along the bottom. Just be warned that the Marbled Pim can be very tempermental and by keeping them with gar in a small tank you run the risk of problems (both for the catfish [fin and barbel damage] and the gar [catfish could attack them or spook them]). I feel in my 8' x 4' 500g aquarium that there is enough room to make the combo work. JUST KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BARBELS! YOUR PIM IS VERY RELIANT ON THEM AND ACTS DIFFERENTLY WITHOUT!

Members' overall compatibility rating : 7/10

(in a tank less than 4 ft wide I would drop this down to a 5/10)

Piscine · Feb 18, 2011

Macrognathus siamensis - Peacock Eel

Members' experience : Piscine

Species & Size of Gar:

- 12" Fl / Spotted Gar

Size of tank:

36"x18"x16"

Size of tank-mate:

-8"

Duration of cohabitation:

3 weeks

Comments:

I thought the eel had escaped after I hadn't seen him in a while. I added the gar to the tank and 3 weeks later, I found that the eel had not escaped (in gar's mouth)

Members' overall compatibility rating : 0/10

koltsixx · Feb 27, 2011

Sabre-Toothed Tetra/Armatus - Hydrolycus Armatus

Members' experience : koltsix
Peacefully co-existing presently. The only problems I ever encountered was feedings. The Armatus are a much more effective predator than the Gars and would easily out compete the Gars for live food. A situation remedied by getting the Gars onto pellets. I haven't been able to get the Armatus to accept pellets which I guess is a mixed blessing, since it allows the Gars to get their fair share of food. Both Arm's and Short-Nose have reputations for being skittish, a trait I've been luck enough not to experience. I've never seen any aggression by either the Arm's or the Gars to each other as well. The Gars were originally 6 inches and the Armatus 5 inches when they were introduced to each other. It is worth noting that Gars especially Short-Nose Gars grow faster than the Armatus, the Gars presently are 14 inches(Short-Nose) and 12 inches(Florida) while the Armatus are both 10 inches. Whether this will eventually cause a problem remains to be seen.

Species & Size of Gar:

-1x Lepisosteus Platostomus/ Short-Nose Gar
-1x Lepisosteus Platyrhincus/ Florida Gar

Size of tank:

-125 Gallon

Size of tank-mate:

-10 inches

Duration of cohabitation:

-minimum of 6 months with both Gars

Comments:

Pros: No aggression, just straight predation. To me the best of both worlds evil looking fish that comm. peacefully. I hate worrying about losing stock to other stock and I don't worry with these two.

Cons: Only one I ever experienced was as said above the Gars being out competed for food. Gars just aren't as accurate or fast as a Armatus and if live is your only food item, the Gars will suffer for it.

Other Comments:Those which much more experience with Gars, suggested I stay away from mixing these 2 fish. I had no choice due to tank availability and got lucky. I totally respect their opinions and probably wouldn't have risked it if I didn't have to. They are getting along just fine now and I do want to continue their co-habitation to see if I can successfully keep them together long term. How ever I suggest anyone thinking about trying the same, do so expecting the worst. As I said those with more experience suggested against mixing Arm's and Gars for a reason. In general Short-Nose Gars are very skittish and many who have kept them can attest to sudden death's caused by spooked Shorties breaking their back on a tank wall. Between this and the Armatus reputation for aggression, their own skittish behavior and the sudden jerky moves they make while defending territory or prowling can be a recipe for disaster for both fish. If you are daring enough to try such a mixture I can offer some suggestions. First make sure the tank is a high traffic area of your house. Young fish are adaptive and will be less skittish as they grow the more exposure they have to stimuli. That's one of the reason's I think my Arm's and Shorty are so calm. I doubt I hit the lotto 3 times and got the exception to the rule with all 3 of them. I think it has to do with my tanks location and the frequency of my water changes. Which is the second suggestion I'd give, I do anywhere from a 25%-50% water change every 2 days. Depends on how much I feed them and other variables whether it's 25% or 50%. Fortunately and Unfortunately they all have become so used to me that I was regularly bitten by my Gars and Armatus during WC's. I've since become more attentive and actively chase them when they get too close with my Gravel Vac. I try to let them know whose boss, but have little success they just aren't that afraid of me. Last suggestion is I keep my tanks cool like low 70's to 75 at most. It slows the metabolism and growth rates, but I think it's benefits are worth it. I've noticed increases of aggression seem to go hand in hand with temperature. The metabolism speeds up increasing the need for food and the aggression goes up since that's one of the prime reasons for fish aggression-food demand. Plus I think it increases skittishness. I also think at least for the Armatus it's the secret to keeping them, though it's only a theory so far. I think due to our covered tanks no matter how much water agitation you try to create with power heads it just doesn't create the oxygen content a growing Armatus needs. I'd go into more detail, but I run off at the mouth enough. Also this is a Garticle so I think I strayed off course to much. So I apologize and hope what I did write helps. Though again I say I am by no means a expert, I consider myself a novice at best. So take my advice with a grain of salt.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 8/10

sbuse · Feb 28, 2011

Red tail tinfoil barb- Barbus Schwanefeldi

Collective Members' compatibility rating : 6/10

Members' experience : Sbuse
Species & Size of Gar:
6-10" Florida Gar

Size of tank:
180gal 6x2x2

Size of tankmate:
3-8"

Duration of cohabitation:
8 months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: cleaned up the leftovers, added color and activity to the tank.

Cons: very very excitable, spook easy and inturn spooking the gar. very agressive at feeding.

Other Comments: looked good in the tank, not agressive tward the gar, but if one was smaller then the gar it will be eatten by the gar. they would frenzy at feeding time so it was stressfull on the gar at times. miine just stayed at the bottom till they were done then would go up for some food.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 6/10

screaminleeman · Mar 9, 2011

Weather Loach - Misgurnus angullicaudatus

Members' experience :

Species & Size of Gar:
1 x Longnose Gar ~ 15"
2 x Florida Gar ~ 10" & 12"

Size of tank: 160 gallon pond

Size of tankmate:
10 x @ ~ 5" - 7.5" range

Duration of cohabitation:
1 day

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: Absolutely none

Cons: To date I have never witnessed anything attract (not one bu two different species of) gar so very intensively. I am not certain that it should be classified as aggression, in that eight of the ten were eaten within minutes or jumped out of the deck pond! I was able to re-home two of the jumpers.

Other Comments: I paid $1.10 per weather loach again 5" - 7.5" range and easily all thicker than a #2 pencil. Rosey red minnows run $0.13 each at the local petsmarts. There is a lot more "meat" and probably more nutrition in one of the loaches than 8 rosies combined. :ROFL:

Members' overall compatibility rating : 0/10

I give a zero chance of cohabitation between species, but discovered the weather loach to be a second to none culinary delight.

Ancient_Fish_Master · Mar 9, 2011

Jardini Arowana - Scleropages Jardini

Members' experience :

Species & Size of Gar: Florida Gar (6"-14")

Size of tank: 130 gallon

Size of tankmate: 15" Jardini and Various bichirs ranging from 6" - 15"

Duration of cohabitation: 4+ months (maybe longer)

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros:
Jardini left the florida gar alone, even during feedings. The jardini had no problem with the gar steeling food out of its mouth. None of them got spooked eachother, even when the gar goes up for air.

Cons:
took a week for the Jardini to get used to the gar (got beat up a bit [fins got bit]) but after that, i experienced no aggression between the two. other than that, i experienced no other cons keeping the two together.

Other Comments:
Its a gamble keeping ANYTHING with jardini arowanas, but with time i had my Florida Gar with my Jardini, the Jardini showed no aggression or interest in the gar or bichirs in the tank, except for the initial introduction. With my Jardini it seemed to only hate other arowanas. Long term, the combo can work. if you plan on trying the combo out, make sure you have a spare tank to separate the fishes if aggression and fighting seizes to stop.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 8.5/10
(include experience on aggression, spooking, etc)

I think it's really awesome that AFM got his jardini to co-hab with a gar, but make sure you read his "other comments" section above and check the arowana sub-forum for more information on the aggression of jardini's. It is a safe bet that less lucky (aka most) people would give them a 2/10 for gars...

Madding;4953662; said:
I think it's really awesome that AFM got his jardini to co-hab with a gar, but make sure you read his "other comments" section above and check the arowana sub-forum for more information on the aggression of jardini's. It is a safe bet that less lucky (aka most) people would give them a 2/10 for gars...

exactly...have done it, have seen it in other scenarios, and have read countless reports...i wouldn't give it more than 2/10 on a good day. works in some circumstances, but as we beat our heads against the wall constantly (regarding this saying) on this forum - the exception should not be taken as the rule.--
--solomon

screaminleeman · Mar 10, 2011

Black Diamond Cichlid - Paratilapia polleni

Members' experience :

Species & Size of Gar:
LNG 13"

Size of tank:

135 gallon 6x2x2

Size of tankmate: 5"

Duration of cohabitation: 2 Months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: The Tahiti black sand has brought out an incredible striking coloration in the polleni. This fish was nearly killed by a slightly larger polleni, nursed back to health, then homed with a equal sized Butterkoferi which in turn very nearly killed the polleni. I nursed it back from the brink of death and homed it with a tiny Cuban cichlid that very quickly nearly killed it. After nursing it back from the brink of death for a third time I placed it with a much larger red-hooded severum. The Polleni became the fish that very nearly killed the Severum. I was so peeved I was going to "cull" the polleni and use it for fish food, but I decided to place it in the 135 for either the LNG or the two foot + Oscars to eat. That is now over two months ago. The Polleni seems to "adore" the gar and is always "hanging out" with it near the top of the water column. The much smaller Polleni will fight (and beat) any other fish in the tank (which makes less than no sense to me), but it will not let ANY OTHER CICHLID in the tank anywhere in the vicinity of the gar. These two inhabit the extreme top end of the water column of the tank, and only allow the extremely peaceful giant Oscar to occupy this water column (but even this is at the far opposite end of the tank. It occurred out of total desperation, and I would HIGHLY suggest the greatest caution placing gar with ANY cichlid, but with that said this combination individuals seems to be a match made in heaven and is seriously making me consider keeping this polleni and this LNG growing out together far longer than I had anticipated.

Cons: None to date, but two months is too short to draw major conclusions from.

Other Comments: I would like to attempt a similar sized Florida in growout with these two.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 6/10

paulabear · Mar 18, 2011

Red Tail Catfish

Members' experience :

Species & Size of Gar: 1x Lepisosteus platyrinchus - Florida gar
1x Atractosteus spatula - Alligator gar

Size of tank: 2 x 1 x 1.5 ft

Size of tankmate: 15cm

Duration of cohabitation: 2 months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: The cats are pretty aggressive for food but at the bottom of the tank, while my gars are silent hunters usually at the surface.

Cons: Nil

Other Comments: Nil

Members' overall compatibility rating : 9/10
(include experience on aggression, spooking, etc)


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Gar TANKMATES - Share your experiences

sbuse

Feeder Fish

Madding

The Ninth Holostei

Madding

The Ninth Holostei

Piscine

Feeder Fish

koltsixx

Global Moderator

sbuse

Feeder Fish

screaminleeman

Jack Dempsey

Ancient_Fish_Master

Jack Dempsey

screaminleeman

Jack Dempsey

paulabear

Feeder Fish