Walk the walk! Step up gar keepers!

ettfettbranamn;4524583; said:

Ok, I'm retarded.. probably.. I've raised aros to 24"+, 26" Channa, 17" Dat, 18" endlies, 24" Fire eel, 24" TSN.. I'm not saying this is big but I can say I'm pretty good at keeping my fish alive and growing..

so, my question is.. Where are all these 18-24" florida/spotted I hear so much about? I would like to see some not pond, but aquarium raised 18-24" gars capable of outgrowing silver aros (2 threads going on as I write states that their silver aro will be in danger because of these monster florida gars).. I may just be a bit grumpy since I never seems to be able to keep this effin spiecies alive but I state 2 things.

1. they max out at 16".

2. they grow slowly (I'm talking almost dat slow).


now prove me wrong with some tasty gar pics and inspire me to make the drive to the northern parts of sweden where the polar bears still roam free and the vikings rule the land to pick up 2 decent sized gars. I want them but I need some inspiration.

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Pejelajarto;4527663;4527663 said:

1. they actually get rather large quickly when well cared for under specific conditions and will Max out at larger than 16 inches. Naturally, Growth within the first two to three seasons is actually very rapid but punctuated by periods of slower growth (See #3).

2. The first year (Really 6 months) of growth is the most critical part of their whole life. Miss the boat with them in this time period and your stuck with a smaller sized fish from what could be their potential..

3. These are temperate climate fish. They are not Tropical. <-- Key thing people misinterpret and misunderstand about these animals.

Really these points have been stated for a long time now. Just for some reason people just keep ignoring this information or off hand discarding it to fit there community tank needs. They then turn around and for some reason are shocked at why their fish do not grow large or that there are not many Larger examples about. Really we (We being us Gar research people on here) have said the steps for years. You can easily look back on here and read these same three points mentioned numerous times.

Something not often mentioned is source stock and age of that source stock. In general I would not expect much from most LFS or online bought fish outright. Getting them directly from an individual like John (Snookin) whom can quickly get to you very "fresh" examples is an exception. In general in order to get the best size out of the fish it is best otherwise raised from a wildcaught example (caught not more than one week) or an embryo. In this manner there is no delay in feeding and growth and little stress within the critical periods of their growth and all factors can be manipulated and controlled.

Take or leave it as you wish but there it is..

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