Gar will not eat

903Herp

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 23, 2014
261
38
31
North east texas
Hello everyone,

I am new the forums and new to gars. I have a baby spotted gar about 4" that I picked up saturday morning. Sadly he is not eating. I have offered him small feeders, blood worms, chopped tilapia, night crawlers, shrimp pellets and raw beef liver. Nothing seems to interest him. I am worried that he is not going to make it and I do not want to lose my little guy. I have tried feeding with tongs, tooth pics, hand feeding, dropping the food in and leaving. I have tried these methods with both the lights on and off. Any advice on how to get him to start eating or on what to feed him? Is it normal for them to go this long without eating when they are this small? Should I go ahead and take him back to aquarium that I got him from? My water parameters are 78degree temp. 7.2 ph ammonia,nitrites and nitrates are all good. All my other fish are just fine and eating machines. (No the gar is not getting out competed for food.)
 

fwprawn

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2011
3,441
7
38
New England
The other fish probably are stressing the gar - and therefore, yes - outcompeting by intimidation.

I would give him a 10 gallon tank all to himself to let him settle in, put some feeder guppies in - keep the tank unlit, a few plants - and once he gets started, you can get him well-fed, then move him back in.
 

fwprawn

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2011
3,441
7
38
New England
You're also probably stressing him too, with trying to make him eat - hand-feedling, toothpicks, etc - those could be scaring him as well.
 

903Herp

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 23, 2014
261
38
31
North east texas
Ok, I have a spare 10g and filter so I will try that and see if I cant fatten him up a bit. How long should I keep him in the 10g? From my research they grow really fast to 8"-10" and then slow down but I cant see me keeping a fish that size in 10g lol.
 

cnel124

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 30, 2013
650
0
31
Bangkok
Just put feeders in, he'll eat when he's hungry enough. Put him in that 10 gallon to, don't let him shoot into the glass of a big tank and break his back.

Move him to the bigger tank when he has outgrown the 10 gallon, what are the dimensions of your larger tank?
 

903Herp

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 23, 2014
261
38
31
North east texas
The larger tank is currently a 45g not sure on the dimensions. I also have a 300g tank in the works.(if something happens I have arrangements for him to go to my LFS who will take great care of him) the other fish are as follows. Please note that all of these are babies and not full grown or even close.
1 albino tiger oscar
1 red tailed shark
1 texas cichlid
1 jack dempsey
1 lake malawi cichlid
1 CAE
1 tire track eel
1 gold gourami
2 pictus cats
1 albino channel cat
2 spotted rapheal
3 striped rapeal

Also I regular put a bunch of ghost shrimp in there for my eel. Like I said all of these fish are young and small. I realize that its a good bit of fish for my size tank that is why I am working on the monster tank :). Before people bash me for my stock I will say once again all of these are small with my 5" tire track eel being the largest in the tank. They will be moving to a new home in a few months.

Also I moved the gar into a large bucket for tonight while my 10g gets cleaned out.
I am really sad that I did not do good enough research and now my baby gar is paying the price. I really care about all my animals to the point where I have a name for every fish tank. And want to provide the best for them that I can.
 

Ninjabadger

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 12, 2014
26
0
1
Henlow, UK
My new gar took 2 weeks before he was taking food regularly, we need to space out the feeding a little as the feisty ones get all the initial tank food then we wait and feed Sparks afterwards. He's now munching like the best of them.
 

Devzev

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 22, 2014
151
11
33
nyc/nj
My gars are not on live food. I have them on hikari tropical sticks. They float on the surface and the gars snatch them. Much easier than feeders


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

903Herp

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 23, 2014
261
38
31
North east texas
Well good news he has started eating. After I put him in quarantine tank and added feeders. In the past 2 days he has eaten 9 feeders. Sad news however I was at my LFS the other day talking to the freshwater specialist there and he informed me that there was a mix up. In the tank they had 2 gars. I thought I purchased the spotted gar, however it was actually a baby alligator gar. Since I am no shape form or fashion able to house a full grown gator gar and do not have the funds to purchase a tank that large I am selling him back to the LFS. Thanks everyone for the reply's.
 
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