gar twitching/not eating

the lion who ate the sun

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2014
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georgia
Hey guys. My smaller gar, 10", is spending a lot of time at the front of the tank twitching and moving strangely. He is also refusing all food, but occasionally eats a ghost shrimp. Ghost shrimp will often swim right up to his snout, and he will ignore them. I'm starting to get worried, he has been doing this for a few weeks now, and has behaved strangely since he arrived. Any advice? My hospital tank is currently being used to rear axolotl babies, but I have plenty of large buckets, should something need to happen. I don't want to separate him and/or medicate unless it is absolutely necessary. I dosed the tank with salt during my last two water changes to see if that would help. Doesn't seem to have done anything. Is this just normal behavior? My other gar is very calm minded. Nothing seems to bother him, but the smaller guy is stressed by my presence sometimes.

Thanks,
III
 

the lion who ate the sun

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2014
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georgia
Anyone? He ate today, but hasn't stopped twitching.
 

the lion who ate the sun

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2014
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georgia
Pristine, as always. No fluctuations to be spoken of since his addition. Whatever this is, it isn't a user error. 81° water. My other gar is in perfect health.
 

the lion who ate the sun

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2014
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georgia
Still looking for a solution to this issue. The larger gar had a miniature freak out session where he did precisely the same thing my smaller gar often does. I added a 12" congicus poly this morning, and this led me to believe that the twitching is stress related. I have a 300g tank that I am going to begin working on next week, but in the 10-12" range a 180g- 72x24x25 should be fine, right?

The tank is heavily aquascaped. Should I try removing driftwood, or positioning it so that it does not jut up into swimspace? Reposition my power heads to ease the current in their typical favorite spots, perhaps?

Its worth noting that I added some 100 gut loaded ghost shrimp to the tank on Monday, and for the first few days the twitching vanished. I think s/he was too occupied by hunting to remember to twich around like a lunatic. Bleh. Just not sure what to do on this one. He's doing it as I type this message. I just want the little guy to be happy. His larger counterpart acts like a dog around me now, and really seems to be enjoying the tank and all of the decor.
 

bacon

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 10, 2005
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The gym
That's too bad to hear. I have had a few different diseases with my gar and close calls. I have no real advice for your situation...But I always did water changes and add some aquarium salt. Good luck.
 

the lion who ate the sun

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2014
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georgia
Good news! I started trying talapia on Monday, and as I was spot feeding one of my congicus with a reacher grabber the small gar darted over and snatched it. I am now able to hand feed it slices of talapia, and can summon it to the top with gestures. The twitching has stopped entirely, as has all of the stressed behavior. The gar LOVE me! I have never had a fish that was so happy about my presence as these two are!
 

the lion who ate the sun

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2014
1,237
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georgia
In other news, the 300g 72x36x25.5 is here! I'm going to take my time working on finding a sump and all the other stuff I need at a decent price. Im going to break down and store my 180 when its finished, and the gar are appropriately sized. Unless I can convince the Missy to let me try my hand at raising a pair of marble rays, or perhaps a smaller species.
 
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