I have a florida gar that is about 8-9 inches im feeding my fish omega floating small ciclid pellets. i have a few ciclids in the tank that get along with my gar too. well when I feed my fish the gar will just eat non stop he wont stop eating, hes also very lathargic mainly staying in one spot at the top of the tank and not move around to much. he looks healthy hes not getting picked on either.
Will a gar eat its self to death?
- Thread starter canadian.fish
- Start date
I think any individual fish has the capability of doing so. Especially on something with high caloric content like pellets. Also, pellets are made from dried meal, so they need not be fed in the same bulk as moist/raw foods, which are mostly water. Similar to dry dog or cat food vs wet or raw. At the least it will get fat and you will limit its lifespan and cause health problems. So you need to make sure to limit its food supply.
Looking at the nutrition info for your pellets they're 10%+ fat which is a bit high. I can't seem to find any calorie info.
Pellets are a more complete meal than meats and live food but you cannot just feed as much as they want, anymore than you can let the average labrador retriever freefeed at the bag.
My original one doesn't eat a huge amount before he's full, so he limits his own food intake, and we feed him fairly low fat foods like tilapia filet. But some won't do that. I've seen some VERY obese gars.
As far as lethargy - They mainly float, but he should be active part of the day, and usually float slowly across the tank rather than one spot. You say he's not getting picked on, but gars usually aren't safe with cichlids. If he's sitting in one spot maybe it's to avoid being picked on.
Looking at the nutrition info for your pellets they're 10%+ fat which is a bit high. I can't seem to find any calorie info.
Pellets are a more complete meal than meats and live food but you cannot just feed as much as they want, anymore than you can let the average labrador retriever freefeed at the bag.
My original one doesn't eat a huge amount before he's full, so he limits his own food intake, and we feed him fairly low fat foods like tilapia filet. But some won't do that. I've seen some VERY obese gars.
As far as lethargy - They mainly float, but he should be active part of the day, and usually float slowly across the tank rather than one spot. You say he's not getting picked on, but gars usually aren't safe with cichlids. If he's sitting in one spot maybe it's to avoid being picked on.
#1 cause of deathI think any individual fish has the capability of doing so. Especially on something with high caloric content like pellets. Also, pellets are made from dried meal, so they need not be fed in the same bulk as moist/raw foods, which are mostly water. Similar to dry dog or cat food vs wet or raw. At the least it will get fat and you will limit its lifespan and cause health problems. So you need to make sure to limit its food supply.
Looking at the nutrition info for your pellets they're 10%+ fat which is a bit high. I can't seem to find any calorie info.
Pellets are a more complete meal than meats and live food but you cannot just feed as much as they want, anymore than you can let the average labrador retriever freefeed at the bag.
My original one doesn't eat a huge amount before he's full, so he limits his own food intake, and we feed him fairly low fat foods like tilapia filet. But some won't do that. I've seen some VERY obese gars.
As far as lethargy - They mainly float, but he should be active part of the day, and usually float slowly across the tank rather than one spot. You say he's not getting picked on, but gars usually aren't safe with cichlids. If he's sitting in one spot maybe it's to avoid being picked on.
Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
^+1 it is not death by overfeeding in one sitting, it is death due to obesity, which takes time. I feed my fish once every 2-3 days. A fish will keep on eating until it gorges itself because it instinctually doesn't know when it's next meal will be, but you do. Do your fish a favor and watch its diet for him, you will be rewarded with more years of enjoyment if you do.
I do not think they will kill themselves by overeating. My 14" FLG is in a 125 wide. He is the only inhabitant. He is still on low food and with the tank being so large, I regularly keep 5 feeders in there. I have watched him myself eat on or two when I first drop them in there, but then even if one swims right in front of his face he doesn't go after it. Even with a constant supply of food in there here only eats 2-4 feeders a day depending on size of feeders. But if you do a feeding schedule of only every 2-3 days, I can understand how the gar would try to stuff as much as he can because they're opportunistic. But ime my FLG stops when he's full.
It's a known fact ^^
It doesn't come from one overfeeding instance but rather the culmination. Over time the fish develop fatty organ deposits and that's how they die. You may not be able to overfeed it to death in a couple weeks but eventually a unhealthy diet will catch up, especially with a bigger fish that has a slower metabolism! My shoal of rbp get a once a week serving of fresh fillets, and a handful of pellets twice a week.
If you don't breed your own feeders or quarintine them, your risking serious health or parasite problems. Not worth it, unless you don't care about ur fish...
Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
It doesn't come from one overfeeding instance but rather the culmination. Over time the fish develop fatty organ deposits and that's how they die. You may not be able to overfeed it to death in a couple weeks but eventually a unhealthy diet will catch up, especially with a bigger fish that has a slower metabolism! My shoal of rbp get a once a week serving of fresh fillets, and a handful of pellets twice a week.
If you don't breed your own feeders or quarintine them, your risking serious health or parasite problems. Not worth it, unless you don't care about ur fish...
Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
ime fish in general can overeat.. i feed pellets spareingly... most pellets expand which ime is the most dangerouse part of feeding. obesity will kill long-term.. but overexpanding pellets in an outwise full stomach can do internal damage and kill before you even know there is a problem. my gar also stop when they are full.. sadly this means almost 100 feeders tog et the job done, lol. but they will leave feeders if they are full. can you overfeed on pellets? absolutely! live food? imo no.
tbh your gar probablly acts the way it does because it is being bullied. my gar swim all around and only stop to hang around when napping.. they are extreamely active fish.. and i own a few species so its not just one species i'de compare it too.
BTW F1.. your biased oppinion on feeders is starting to get exhausting. I feed live feeders.. i care very much for my fish. I'de dare say i care more about mine then you do yours because I understand more about husbandry then you do, because I've taken the time to learn the facts. LIVE FEEDERS are HEALTHY when fed properly.. Gar are PISCIVORES... they eat fish in the wild. they are NA natives excluding trops and cubans.. and eat fish with thiasamine in their native habitates.. so goldfish when healthy are perfectly acceptable foods. The only fat gars are pellet fed gars ime, and from research. the only reason i feed pellets is the feeders i feed do not have all the healthy feeds in their digestive tracks my gars would also ingest in the wild.
tbh your gar probablly acts the way it does because it is being bullied. my gar swim all around and only stop to hang around when napping.. they are extreamely active fish.. and i own a few species so its not just one species i'de compare it too.
BTW F1.. your biased oppinion on feeders is starting to get exhausting. I feed live feeders.. i care very much for my fish. I'de dare say i care more about mine then you do yours because I understand more about husbandry then you do, because I've taken the time to learn the facts. LIVE FEEDERS are HEALTHY when fed properly.. Gar are PISCIVORES... they eat fish in the wild. they are NA natives excluding trops and cubans.. and eat fish with thiasamine in their native habitates.. so goldfish when healthy are perfectly acceptable foods. The only fat gars are pellet fed gars ime, and from research. the only reason i feed pellets is the feeders i feed do not have all the healthy feeds in their digestive tracks my gars would also ingest in the wild.
I 100% agree with MonsterMinis.
@F1 Vet- When in the world did I say 1)I don't quarantine my feeders and 2)I don't care about my fish? That has nothing to do with OP. My feeders are quarantined for a minimum of a month and treated for parasites, ich, or whatever else. They are fed a premium diet and are not put into the tank with my FLG unless they are active, bright in color, have good appetite, and responsive. I absolutely love my FLG. He is my #1 fish. I have dropped weak feeders in before and he won't touch them. He can tell they're weak or sick so he doesn't even bother them. So dont make assumptions based on absolutely nothing. Also just an addition I don't feed just goldfish. I do a mixture of goldfish and shiners. I'm not new to fish. I take care of my fish better than myself.
@F1 Vet- When in the world did I say 1)I don't quarantine my feeders and 2)I don't care about my fish? That has nothing to do with OP. My feeders are quarantined for a minimum of a month and treated for parasites, ich, or whatever else. They are fed a premium diet and are not put into the tank with my FLG unless they are active, bright in color, have good appetite, and responsive. I absolutely love my FLG. He is my #1 fish. I have dropped weak feeders in before and he won't touch them. He can tell they're weak or sick so he doesn't even bother them. So dont make assumptions based on absolutely nothing. Also just an addition I don't feed just goldfish. I do a mixture of goldfish and shiners. I'm not new to fish. I take care of my fish better than myself.
Like I said, so does one of mine. But they don't all.I do not think they will kill themselves by overeating. My 14" FLG is in a 125 wide. He is the only inhabitant. He is still on low food and with the tank being so large, I regularly keep 5 feeders in there. I have watched him myself eat on or two when I first drop them in there, but then even if one swims right in front of his face he doesn't go after it. Even with a constant supply of food in there here only eats 2-4 feeders a day depending on size of feeders. But if you do a feeding schedule of only every 2-3 days, I can understand how the gar would try to stuff as much as he can because they're opportunistic. But ime my FLG stops when he's full.
View pics around the forum. There are some very obese gars that will eat until they nearly explode.
I do agree that it's easier to overeat on pellets, and quarantined fish may be healthier if you're not good at regulating their intake (personally I prefer frozen for convenience). Plus they can feel full, but not get the same calories they would from the same amount of fatty dried pellets. They're also having to actively move and hunt to ge them.
On the other hand you can still make a ravenous gar fat on fish if you use fatty feeders like goldfish and he gorges himself daily. Probably not as obese as on pellets though, since pellets will always pack way more calories into a smaller item.
