Gar diets?

I just wanted to get some peoples responses as to what they are feeding their gar. I'm pretty sure mine are eating a well balanced, varied diet, but it never hurts to get more information and input from more experienced keepers.

Here's what mine are eating, in descending order of quantity and frequency.

Hikari Cichlid Pellets (cichlid gold and cichlid staple)
Hikari Carnivore sticks
Freeze Dried Krill
Fresh Market Shrimp
F/T Silversides
Live Feeders
Live Earthworms

I recently acquired some convicts, which I'm going to see if the gars (and other fish) will eat the young. That way I could breed my own for occasional treats, rather than using live comet feeders from the store.

Wow, no pellets for either of you guys? Mine slam pellets almost as hard as they do feeders... even the shortnose! The only ones I haven't seen readily eating pellets are the smallest shortnose and the spotted, but honestly I haven't really been watching since I tossed them into the tank.

Its been MUCH cheaper feeding them since I've started feeding mainly pellets, with the others given once or twice a week as supplements.

Lepisosteus platyrhincus;3762504; said:

ill have to try and get them on pellets. i cant put weight on my shorty maybe that would help

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Mine are all pretty skinny as well. They don't bulk up quite like the Florida's do. The only one of mine who's put on any weight is the biggest one, who is now pushing 17" . He's got probably 2" on the Florida's, but they definitely have more girth than him.

How long is your shorty?

Conner;3762528; said:

The only one of mine who's put on any weight is the biggest one, who is now pushing 17" .

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Which, btw, is a growth of 10" in 7 months!

Lepisosteus platyrhincus;3762576; said:

holy crap. my bigger shorty is the one that jumped but this guy is right around 14" maybe a little less. he has caught up to the 2 floridas that are 6 months older.
my big guy is still 17". hasnt grown at all which i guess is actually kinda good. lol.
bright side ur shorty is almost maxed for his captive size.
i want more but craig isnt on anymore. last i talked to him he was moving to florida.
. ur in that area... any idea if u could procure some? also spotted and some others are in ur area arnt they?

also i blame some of the girth lacking of the shortys on thier behavior. mine never stops moving....

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Yah, I'm pretty sure he moved to Florida. I plan on doing some exploring to see what I can find around here. I assume you'd want me to ship them if I found them? Not sure I'm up for that, although maybe I could get an lfs to package them for me...

My shorties are more active than my Florida's, but they still spend a lot of time just hanging out. They seem to take turns resting in certain places in the tank. I think the little spotted is probably the most active gar in the tank.

You need to post some updated pics of your gars... I haven't seen any in a while!