Gator gar question

760fishaddict

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2014
431
26
46
yucca valley
Do they normally chill on the bottom of the tank for a while does any one have any experience with them
 

760fishaddict

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2014
431
26
46
yucca valley
Ok cool That's good to kno. Have any of you successfully got your gars off feeders? If so how did u do it how long is to long to starve him
 

Oddball

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
MFK Member
Apr 27, 2005
22,350
2,814
9,480
65
Bama
Never starved any of my gars to get them onto sticks. I just feed them live by dropping single gut-loaded (just fed with a good flake and crushed carni-vore sticks) feeder minnows in the same corner of the tank until the gar begins to anticipate being fed in that corner. That takes about a week. Then, I start the following week by dropping a minnow then, dropping a carni stick. I repeat the alternating minnow/stick routine until the gar stops spitting the stick. Usually only takes a few days until the gar actually eats the sticks and I can cut back on minnow drops. By the end of the 2nd week, the gar is only getting daily sticks with live gut-loaded minnows only occassionally.

This method has worked every time on my spotted, longnose, FL, tropical, gator, and cuban gars.
 

760fishaddict

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2014
431
26
46
yucca valley
Ok cool sounds like a plan I did a similar method with my pk bass. My gar is new to the tank and is hesitant to eat anything as of now just becuz his new environment I dropped about 25 feeders in the tank and he only ate about 4 over the corse of about 3 hours from what I read that is not normal eating behavior for that species but today is only day 2 in the new tank so I'm glade he ate at all.
 

760fishaddict

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2014
431
26
46
yucca valley
Well its a little harder then it sounds this guy is all rdy 15 inches hes had nothing but feeders sense day 1. All my other had zero interest in the feeders my aros, clown knife, arapiama all had no interest in them they have never had them before my red tail and shovel nose cats loved them and the gar picked off a couple but I normally dont do feeders to many negatives not too many positives with them.
 

Oddball

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
MFK Member
Apr 27, 2005
22,350
2,814
9,480
65
Bama
I fed my young gator gars 3 days on, 1 day off. And, just enough to give them a smooth slightly rounded belly. At about 30" and on, I switched to just every other day. This kept the gars somewhat active (as much as a gar can be labeled 'active') without the bulbous look, around the head, that aquarium gars can get. Strictly regulating their feedings kept them looking like healthy wild gars (IMHO).
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store