Hey guys, I am making this thread to talk about and show progress on my new gar I recently rescued from a 30 gallon. You can find the rescue thread right HERE: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?546170-My-Fish-Sanctuary-(RESCUE-THREAD)
Anyways, He is around 13-15 inches or so and his name is Jerry GARcia! ((named after the singer in my moms favorite band "The Grateful Dead".))
for all the other info on him please go check out the link above... I have over 4 paragraphs describing in detail about the rescue... Hi best friend is "SCOOTER" the 14 inch sun catfish that he was rescued with... they still have a close bond and hang out together sometimes in their new 300 gallon mansion! It is really fun to watch this interaction between the two and it makes me even more glad I rescued both fish and not just one... I honestly did not think that fish were this smart as to remember which fish they grew up with and have a close bond on 2 completely different species... that is exactly what I love about this hobby, you learn new things everyday, and interesting behaviors are so cool and rewarding to view! anyways, on his first night, Jerry was being closely watched and investigated by my 26 inch clown knife fish... it was SO nerve wrecking to see a massive bulky predator come straight up and tough his nose to this cool "little" guy time and time again... Every time your heart sinks and you feel like "oh! he is gonna totally chomp him" But, it never happened... I NEVER interfered and I just let nature take its course... I figure, Even if I HAD stopped the knife fish a few times, he would still eventually kill Jerry if he wanted to... I went to sleep after 2 hours of watching... I just couldn't take any more stress... That was one of the hardest night to sleep I have ever had LOL! today in the morning I woke up really early because of stress...i just sat there silent for an hour or so thinking to myself if I should even go down the stairs to the fish room to check... I swear... just thinking about if it was there or not gave me a minor heart attack... I finally decided that I NEEDED to go and check... I slowly crept down the staris and when I looked around the corner I saw him swimming happily and i almost did a backflip in excitement! The knifefish topped checking hi out to! I think he has finally realized, "there IS a fish that I can't swallow!" LOL, but I just wanted to share that part of the story to show that gar CAN live with large predators... Oh, and, Everyone tried to tell me he would go after my tinfoil barbs cause they are "SHINY" well, he pays NO attention to them so, so far, so good!
keeping my fingers crossed!
ANYWAYS,
I will keep this thread updated as things happen... I still have the challenge of getting him off of live feeders which, I ACCEPT!
this is why i love this hobby. straight up. new experiances like this is why I keep fish. You can NEVER master fish keeping... no matter how experianced you are there is always new things to try, new experiances to have, and more cash to blow
Anyways, He is around 13-15 inches or so and his name is Jerry GARcia! ((named after the singer in my moms favorite band "The Grateful Dead".))
for all the other info on him please go check out the link above... I have over 4 paragraphs describing in detail about the rescue... Hi best friend is "SCOOTER" the 14 inch sun catfish that he was rescued with... they still have a close bond and hang out together sometimes in their new 300 gallon mansion! It is really fun to watch this interaction between the two and it makes me even more glad I rescued both fish and not just one... I honestly did not think that fish were this smart as to remember which fish they grew up with and have a close bond on 2 completely different species... that is exactly what I love about this hobby, you learn new things everyday, and interesting behaviors are so cool and rewarding to view! anyways, on his first night, Jerry was being closely watched and investigated by my 26 inch clown knife fish... it was SO nerve wrecking to see a massive bulky predator come straight up and tough his nose to this cool "little" guy time and time again... Every time your heart sinks and you feel like "oh! he is gonna totally chomp him" But, it never happened... I NEVER interfered and I just let nature take its course... I figure, Even if I HAD stopped the knife fish a few times, he would still eventually kill Jerry if he wanted to... I went to sleep after 2 hours of watching... I just couldn't take any more stress... That was one of the hardest night to sleep I have ever had LOL! today in the morning I woke up really early because of stress...i just sat there silent for an hour or so thinking to myself if I should even go down the stairs to the fish room to check... I swear... just thinking about if it was there or not gave me a minor heart attack... I finally decided that I NEEDED to go and check... I slowly crept down the staris and when I looked around the corner I saw him swimming happily and i almost did a backflip in excitement! The knifefish topped checking hi out to! I think he has finally realized, "there IS a fish that I can't swallow!" LOL, but I just wanted to share that part of the story to show that gar CAN live with large predators... Oh, and, Everyone tried to tell me he would go after my tinfoil barbs cause they are "SHINY" well, he pays NO attention to them so, so far, so good!
keeping my fingers crossed!ANYWAYS,
I will keep this thread updated as things happen... I still have the challenge of getting him off of live feeders which, I ACCEPT!
this is why i love this hobby. straight up. new experiances like this is why I keep fish. You can NEVER master fish keeping... no matter how experianced you are there is always new things to try, new experiances to have, and more cash to blow
