Gars and Tankmates

[Aquai]

Hi all,
Just been to an LFS and seen a really nice Gar which is going really cheap as it has fin damage and stunted growth but he looks awesome non the less.
Now i'm in the process of setting up a 240 and if i were to get him he'd be going in that but with tankmates, including Dats, Jardini and some cats as well as my precious FRT.
I'm not all that clued up on gars and their aggresion etc so what's the general consensus?
I'm also not 100% sure they had it labelled correctly, they've labelled it as an alligator gar, but to me it looked more like a spotted, the closest picture i've seen is in Loubard's pictures here but a little darker... And he was about 10" long and a bit chunkier than loubards (perhaps from stunted growth?)...
From his damage he'd lost his front left fin and his tail was stunted (and new growth by the look of it) but he was very active at the front of the tank, trying to get our attention, but to be honest i think he'd have difficulty striking any tankmates in his current condition (how quick/if at all will he heal?)
Any suggestions/ideas/answers are greatly appreciated

 

[Aquai]

Also just found this picture as Demjor19's avatar (hope you don't mind) that looks similar to what i saw today...

 

[demjor19]

the tankmates you listed (aside from the dat) are not good at all for gars. the avatar shot is a Florida/Spotted by the way, but that photo really isnt a good one to ID by.

also please explain the stunted growth. i'm curious as to how you know it is stunted.

 

[xander]

sounds like a spotted/florida gar in need of rescue. the fins should grow fine if the fleshy part was undamaged. aggression wise these gars are generally docile towards fish 2/3 of their mass or greater. although aggressive/skittish fish such as the jardini, catfish and are generally bad tankmates. the frt won't be that great of a tankmate either.

size wise a 240 should be fine for life (assuming the tank is a standard 240)

look up www.primitivefishes.com they have a great ID guide or post a pic here if yr still unsure.

hope that helps

 

[demjor19]

sounds like a spotted/florida gar in need of rescue. the fins should grow fine if the fleshy part was undamaged. aggression wise these gars are generally docile towards fish 2/3 of their mass or greater. although aggressive/skittish fish such as the jardini, catfish and are generally bad tankmates. the frt won't be that great of a tankmate either.

size wise a 240 should be fine for life (assuming the tank is a standard 240)

look up www.primitivefishes.com they have a great ID guide or post a pic here if yr still unsure.

hope that helps

generally this may be true, but i still cant put my 16" silver aro in with my gar...they just take shots at her every time she swims by. this was my second attempt at placing her in the 180 with no success. im sure her color and body shape attract the gar, but she is as big if not bigger than the two doing the damage.

 

[Aquai]

also please explain the stunted growth. i'm curious as to how you know it is stunted.

Well his nose is shorter than it should be and where the tail is regrowing (it's been bitten off twice apparently) it's growing back slightly lower than it should be (looking at other gars) it also looks very stocky for its' size...

size wise a 240 should be fine for life (assuming the tank is a standard 240)

It's 6'x2.5'x2.5'

 

[xander]

generally this may be true, but i still cant put my 16" silver aro in with my gar...they just take shots at her every time she swims by. this was my second attempt at placing her in the 180 with no success. im sure her color and body shape attract the gar, but she is as big if not bigger than the two doing the damage.

i think it's the "silvery fish rule" here right?

Well his nose is shorter than it should be and where the tail is regrowing (it's been bitten off twice apparently) it's growing back slightly lower than it should be (looking at other gars) it also looks very stocky for its' size...


It's 6'x2.5'x2.5'

then should be fine for a long long long time if not life.

 

[demjor19]

Well his nose is shorter than it should be and where the tail is regrowing (it's been bitten off twice apparently) it's growing back slightly lower than it should be (looking at other gars) it also looks very stocky for its' size...

It's 6'x2.5'x2.5'

how big is it?

 

[Aquai]

It's about 10" but about 3" deep. But was speaking to the shop owner, they're pretty well known place around here for oddballs, rays, snakeheads etcetc, and he reckons it's not gonna grow much bigger than 2' because of the damage it's taken (i can't see it getting bigger than 1.5' tbh)

Went back earlier and pretty sure it's a gator gar tho

 

[Jakdarippa]

Never take the LFS word, they aim to sell and most couldnt care less how big the fish gets long as its sold. on another note, I have currently have 3 tanks..one housing a giant gourami, one housing a red snakehead and mubana and the largest houses 3 alligartors and a very very fiesty flowerhorn... no problems whatsoever,,the flowehorn killed every fish i put it in with except the lucky mubana (although it kept charging at him like Tom and Jerry) it tolerated him for the most part. the snakehead hangs out with mubana and havent shown any problems thus far,,, The gars and flowerhoen seem to have mutual respect for each other and never gave each other any problems. Giant gourami seems content on its own and eats just about anything you give it.. even seems to like hob nobs. I'll be posting pics soon.. you might remember me from my old posts.. well the gars are bigger and the tank was upgraded to a 3 meter ..