Is it normal?

[Spatula]

Alright, well let's not derail the thread with all this legality crap. The fish is already in the state so the concern now is keeping the fish alive and happy.

How are your water parameters now and when do you plan on bringing home the Gar? Also you were asking about filtration. Do you have any filtration in place now or are you waiting to buy?

 

[bahamaqt00]

Already brought one of the two gars home now I have another thread in the media lounge if you want to see pictures. Our water params are good. We are getting the nitrite problem under control and building nitrates. Ammonia is <.25 (just a little over zero) She is already eating krill yay. About ready to bring her husband home in a couple of days

 

[E_americanus]

Alright, well let's not derail the thread with all this legality crap. The fish is already in the state so the concern now is keeping the fish alive and happy.

How are your water parameters now and when do you plan on bringing home the Gar? Also you were asking about filtration. Do you have any filtration in place now or are you waiting to buy?

i agree that fully derailing is unnecessary, but the highlighted phrase is inaccurate in this case. although, i believe in your case i could see why you would say so. laws on keeping various fish species are not always appropriate, but in most cases are made with control of invasives/exotics in mind, or trafficking of threatened species...because a lot of people look at these rules as "legality crap" is a major reason why there is a strong push for legislation against much of aquarium fish keeping...so you're essentially shooting yourself in the foot.


to the OP - i wouldn't add any other new fishes to your tank until it's under control in terms of water quality...it doesn't sound like it's fully cycled yet as you have high ammonia (anything over zero is bad, and 0.25 is actually pretty high and can be very stressful to most fishes and lethal to others). nitrites and ammonia should be zero, nitrate level is relatively unimportant.--
--solomon

 

[bahamaqt00]

Yeah I will definitely not add anymore fish until I get it under control. It is getting better everyday so hopefully it won't be too long. Yes, I believe the problem is I didn't cycle it for long enough, which was a big mistake on my part. Do you think the gar will be okay as long as it keeps progressing and not get any worse?

 

[USFallingFire]

I agree with Solomon that almost all of the true gar you find in shops are Floridas, even though they have them labeled as a bunch of different fish. .25 is dangerously high for ammonia, especially for any period of time, so if the fish must be in there, I would keep doing 15% water changes daily til it goes down to 0. Good luck.

 

[USFallingFire]

Oh, and as far as your filtration question goes, as with any predatory fish, you need good filtration. A turnover rate of at least 6 is ideal.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

.25 is high,b ut what are ur ph and temp? this affects the lethality of it
i keep low ph for this reason(all my tanks not just my gar tanks) even though i never have ammonia in most of my tanks. higher temp makes it more leathal as well.
let me find my chart......

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

unfortunatly the URL that my chart was being hosted on is no longer in service
it was a good chart too
basicly lower temp and lower ph means lower amounts of ammonia formed and more ammonium. meaning lower ph and lower temp translates to less lethality

 

[bahamaqt00]

Oh absolutely, I have been doing 25% water changes per day for about a week now. The ph is at about 7.2 and the temp is low 80's about 79-82 (cant really see the thermometer too well)

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

at those temps and ph ur ammonia is bad but not horrible.