cuban gar, tropical gar

ESJBond007

Feeder Fish
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How big to cuban gars and tropical gars get in a aquariam?
 

demjor19

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the cuban gets much larger than the trop. i think the cuban grows to around 4-5 feet long in captivity and the trop is around 2.5-3 feet.

i am sure richard or solomon could elaborate on this more.
 

Polypterus

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I differ all comments on Cubans directly to Solomon as I have not personally kept this species.

Tropicals are just as mentioned.. 2 1/2 to 3 foot with the potential to reach a larger size of around 4 foot. These fish 'plateau' out around 14 to 16 inches and then grow quite slow from there with average care..Feeding them heavier or not putting them through an annual cool down cycle will result in a larger fish initially but they still seem to slow down a lot around the 16 inch range for a first year fish.
 

E_americanus

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Polypterus;1038791; said:
I differ all comments on Cubans directly to Solomon as I have not personally kept this species.

Tropicals are just as mentioned.. 2 1/2 to 3 foot with the potential to reach a larger size of around 4 foot. These fish 'plateau' out around 14 to 16 inches and then grow quite slow from there with average care..Feeding them heavier or not putting them through an annual cool down cycle will result in a larger fish initially but they still seem to slow down a lot around the 16 inch range for a first year fish.
definitely agree on the assessment of the tropicals...richard and i have kept them in varying conditions (especially between the two of us, and amongst the fish in our care), and they all seem to plateau around the same sizes. in fact, fish that were brought in initially, from that "first" order back in 2005 are around 15-18" from what i have seen of people who still have theirs, or ones in personal collection as well as richard's.

i have high suspicions as to whether these fish would reach even 3' in captivity (as opposed to broodstock which are available at 3' size, and some other specimens which were possibly grown out in much larger enclosures), but only time would tell. the jury is still out and polypterus and i have many in-depth convos about gar growth in captivity...good examples of this are the rare finds of any shortnoses at 33", Floridas at 54", or longnoses over even 3' when it comes to captive raised fishes. even gator gars don't seem to be clearing much over 7' in public aquaria.


as for the Cubans, this is another fish which we discuss quite frequently. the fish that i have (or have kept in the past) are about 4 years old now, and still about 18" give or take. they are quite thick and definitely healthy, but they are growing quite slowly. they were brought in in 2004 at about 11-12"...so we're looking at 6" of growth over around 3 years.

in our discussions we have suspicions about the supposed 72" wild max of this fish, but it's also likely that the (probably) aquacultured specimens will not grow as large...there are also several other parameters to take into account with the Cubans, as they are by far the most challenging gar species i have kept (and richard can attest to this as he's been in close contact during the trials of keeping this species).

both great species, and seem to be easily kept in a 3' wide tank for quite some time...since these fish live for a long time, it's hard to say how long they can stay in this sized enclosure, but until we get evidence otherwise, we'll continue to advise people based on our current experiences. hope that helps, and feel free to ask other questions!--
--solomon
 

Polypterus

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xander13;1173643; said:
Polypterus;1038791; said:
not putting them through an annual cool down cycle/quote]

what's an annual cool down cycle?
This is a technique I use in gar husbandry that not many do. During the fall and into winter I allow a deep drop in temp to slow growth and metabolism in the fish. Gars are temperate species and as such this lets them slow down. With North American gars (Shortnosed, spotted, Florida, longnosed) this temp drop is allowed to go into the upper 50's lower 60's. For tropicals the lower to mid 60's.

IME this allows for a more robust fish that experience natural seasonal growth spurts rather than continued constant growth. Since it is my goal to document growth and morphology it works for me. This by no means needs to be done to keep a healthy gar.
 

demjor19

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Polypterus;1174268; said:
xander13;1173643; said:
This is a technique I use in gar husbandry that not many do. During the fall and into winter I allow a deep drop in temp to slow growth and metabolism in the fish. Gars are temperate species and as such this lets them slow down. With North American gars (Shortnosed, spotted, Florida, longnosed) this temp drop is allowed to go into the upper 50's lower 60's. For tropicals the lower to mid 60's.

IME this allows for a more robust fish that experience natural seasonal growth spurts rather than continued constant growth. Since it is my goal to document growth and morphology it works for me. This by no means needs to be done to keep a healthy gar.
that's very interesting. i have never heard of doing this. do you use a water chiller or room temp (unheated)? do these fish have any different behaviors compared to the ones that don't "cool down"?
 

Polypterus

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demjor19;1174273; said:
Polypterus;1174268; said:
that's very interesting. i have never heard of doing this. do you use a water chiller or room temp (unheated)? do these fish have any different behaviors compared to the ones that don't "cool down"?
Just room temp.. sometimes regulated with a heater. (I keep mostly NA natives so the room my fish are in can easily go below 50 degrees in winter).

Aside from reduced feeding and a slower metabolism there is no difference in fish that receive this treatment or do not. Temp controls much of what these fish do and how they do it. Lower temp lower activity...
 

xander

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okay, here there's no winter, it's pretty much summer all year round. as my tanks are in my(air-conditioned) room, would it be a good idea to leave it in warm(abt 26-27deg C) waters during the day and colder at night? say abt 18-20deg C? or would it be better to just leave the heater on at night?
 

Polypterus

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xander13;1174507; said:
okay, here there's no winter, it's pretty much summer all year round. as my tanks are in my(air-conditioned) room, would it be a good idea to leave it in warm(abt 26-27deg C) waters during the day and colder at night? say abt 18-20deg C? or would it be better to just leave the heater on at night?
In your case just leave things stable....Above seasonal cooling is just a technique I use and can get away with due to my climate. You really do not want to subject the fish to daily swings in temp as this is rather stressful..

In the cooling technique I use both the cooling down period and warming are done over weeks and months and are not sudden or quick. I should also note I do not have community tanks and all my fish are kept in species only conditions (usually).. This is just a technique I use in husbandry of these fish.. It is not needed for keeping gar healthy in a home aquarium.
 
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