2 New Gars

Druthlen

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 25, 2011
10
0
0
Spring, TX
I have a 8 1/2 X 4 X 2 1/2 pond and that needed some life. So I purchased 2 6 in Florida Gars from my lfs. They are chilling and doing fine. After 24 hrs I fed them. They gobbled down the rosey reds hole. 2 questions: first how can a 6 in fish eat a 2 in fish and not be bloated as heck. Second, where do the bones go. Its a pond but I would like to keep it clean. Do they puke up the bones? Should I be on the hunt for corpses? Thanks
 

J.Lake

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 4, 2011
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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
they digest alot of the bones, poop out the others mainly.
 

Madding

The Ninth Holostei
MFK Member
May 11, 2009
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They digest the entire fish and then convert it to waste, no bones come out after going in. It's just the way that fishes stomachs work.

Small gars don't always do well in huge starting tanks, by the way. Gars are easy to spook and have a very big and fragile spine that can cause paralysis or death if they crash into something. It's better to step them up from small tanks as they grow, for instance a 6" gar gaining speed in a 8' pond is likely to go too fast and hit the wall, whereas in a 20g tank they'd be more aware of their borders and stop themselves. Also they need to eat a lot when young and its easier to target feed in grow-out tanks.

Just some helpful advice. :)
 

derekp

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 23, 2010
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austin texas
Madding;4925250; said:
They digest the entire fish and then convert it to waste, no bones come out after going in. It's just the way that fishes stomachs work.

Small gars don't always do well in huge starting tanks, by the way. Gars are easy to spook and have a very big and fragile spine that can cause paralysis or death if they crash into something. It's better to step them up from small tanks as they grow, for instance a 6" gar gaining speed in a 8' pond is likely to go too fast and hit the wall, whereas in a 20g tank they'd be more aware of their borders and stop themselves. Also they need to eat a lot when young and its easier to target feed in grow-out tanks.

Just some helpful advice. :)
^^^This guy has no idea what he is talking about. So what if he only has the most beautiful gars I have ever seen. Or only one of the sweetest gar setups I have ever known of. That just means he got lucky ;)

(listen to him...:D)

would love to see pictures of the pond and gars as well.
 

Madding

The Ninth Holostei
MFK Member
May 11, 2009
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Ambervikings91;4925298; said:
lol, gotta love gars
You know it, lady. :p
 

Druthlen

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 25, 2011
10
0
0
Spring, TX
The pond is very well, Starter. We did it ourselves the pond liner is all cut wrong oversized in some areas and small in others. We don't have rocks atm to cover the border so there are dingy bricks holding the liner down. And yes those are different liners all glued together, we got for free. The water fall is all bare without any landscaping making it more natural. Lots of mistakes but learned alot. Kinda ran out of money on the project. I dont have any pictures of the Gar yet. I have a under water camera and will take some of them. Interestingly I got in to put in some rocks and they were very interested in me. Not afraid at all. I noticed in the cooler the gar where in during transport they would thump against the side. I found this strange. Now they chill at the bottom of the pond and havent spooked yet thankfully. I dont have any tanks. On the problems of feeding. I just dumped 20 rosey reds in the pond. Put up some rock dwellings in the hopes that the roseys would hide inside and not get gobbled to fast. Your saying they will have trouble feeding? I dont have any tanks for the roseys so they either need to be bought every day, put in a cooler or put in the pond. If so how many should I stock. I dont want a population explosion that will ruin water quality. I cant spend very much on them but I also want to be a responsible fish owner.

A pointless side note I was raised on a ranch and we had a river that had gator gars in it. When I was young I was often sent with a 22 to shot as many as I could, because my grandmother believed they would eat the cows. Which did infact happen to one cow that got stuck in the mud. (I believe it died from being stuck in the mud and they were just eatting off its corpse but a child cant really argue.) For some odd reason this endeared them to me and I hated the chore. Now I love them and would like to keep them and watch them. And yes I know these arent gator gars but close enough for me.

P2280015.JPG
 

Druthlen

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 25, 2011
10
0
0
Spring, TX
Oh and the water is treated with 2 products that supposedly improve immune system, de-stress the fish, and detox the water. Dont know if I got ripped off for 11 dollars or if it is working.
 

Wiggles92

Dovii
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2009
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Not to doubt you, Michael (Madding), but I don't think that there is a high risk for the gars to break their backs in this particular pond because of its dimensions. I'm pretty sure that this is often associated with the gar having room to build up speed without realizing that there is an transparent aquarium wall ahead of it instead of more water. The gar thinks that it has room ahead of it to retreat to when in reality there is a solid wall; there shouldn't be any trouble with the dark opaque walls of the pond. Just to be safe, you should add a bunch of floating and sinking plants to give the gars plenty of cover so that they feel secure.

However, finding ample amounts of food may pose a problem for them in this pond, so be sure to stock plenty of little fish for them to eat. Plan on having a good 100 feeders or so in there at a time to ensure that these gars can easily find food; they will eat many feeders daily until they get to be a bit larger. You may also want to see about stocking a bunch of small minnows and small fish fry from a local stream or river in the pond. They'll be healthier for the gars than the rosy reds are, and they should hold up better in the pond since they are accustomed to the local temperatures. And, as always, be sure to properly quarantine and gut load the feeder fish before giving them to the gars; you don't want your precious gars to end up sick.
 

Druthlen

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 25, 2011
10
0
0
Spring, TX
*smacks face*

Well after googling gut loading and learning what it is.... I wasnt even planning on feeding them. The thought was whats the point there just gonna get eaten. I also didnt know that rosey reds destroyed vit B1. Seems I need a good livebearer. Any that are interesting?
 
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