lowest water temp for gars

[Wiggles92]

something i have been kicking around for a while is the outdoor gar pond. i am in MN and i will be collecting some wild longnose and shortnose if i can find some. i have some good leads on spots so we'll see. anyways, they are from around here and everything freezes up so i think after they are of some size they'll be fine in it, would this be a good asumption? my other question is how would one go about conditioning some gators to have in an outdoor pond in MN? would one have to have an opening for them to surface in? i have read that they can use their gills in times of freeze over witch makes sence since they are found in some lakes around me aswell.

i haven't fully planned out every deatail of the pond, but something like 10'x20'x4' i may go 6-10' deep in the deeper section for the winter perpose. i have also been thinking of a product i saw that wouldkeep a part open all year. not at 100% finished product yet. i am mainly looking into if gators would be possible witch would help me to decide on dims and depth.

Okay, so you're looking at around 10,600 gallons if you do a 4' section that slopes to a 10' section.

I'm not sure about the alligator gars being fine in there over the winter, but the longnose and shortnose gars should be fine even without access to the surface. As for conditioning any of the gars for surviving over the winter, get them in there during the summer in order to give them time to adjust to living in the pond. They will put most of their energy into fattening up for winter as fall comes around, so be sure to feed them heavily to let them build up the necessary fat stores and such that are needed to make it through winter. The reason for letting them fatten up is that they will not feed once the water cools to a certain temperature. I forget what the exact temperature is; Solomon and Richard would know what it is, though.

For example, I had my two YOY longnose gars in my 500 gallon goldfish pond over this past winter. I put them in there in early August, and my parents and I made sure that they always had feeders available in order to allow them to fatten up for winter. I had to return to college for Fall Quarter in August, and I didn't get to check on them again until November; they were still alive when I checked them that time. During winter, I didn't put any holes in the ice; I just left it as it was for the most part. I got a chance to check on them at some point during the winter when the partially thawed and once again early in March; both gars were still alive.

not sure if i am reading this correctly, but gator gars do not currently and did not historically range into MN. will comment on other pond suggestions later. good luck with your collecting either way--
--solomon

He's probably seeing longnose gars, huh? Are there any know introductions of alligator gar in Minnesota?

 

[sbuse]

not sure if i am reading this correctly, but gator gars do not currently and did not historically range into MN. will comment on other pond suggestions later. good luck with your collecting either way--
--solomon

thanx for the luck! if i find alot and if your interested i could send you some for research if you'd like. i just would like to find some for my tanks/ponds, but i hope to find more. in the spots i am looking in they have shortnose and longnose.

i was thinking gators could work due to ohio being similar in climate to mn, though i know they weren't/aren't here. i was thinking it then read that it could be plausable so this made me think more. i guess for my pond i am just wondering if gators could be able to survive the cold winters here.

i know of other gars doing the trate you highlighted in red, but idk if gators can do it. i will be haveing and indoor pond, i may just have the gators in there. i would like to have them in the outdoor setup since they would have more room, but if they couldn't take it i wouldn't do it.

if that helps to clear up what i was getting at/ment in my ramble.

 

[sbuse]

Okay, so you're looking at around 10,600 gallons if you do a 4' section that slopes to a 10' section.

I'm not sure about the alligator gars being fine in there over the winter, but the longnose and shortnose gars should be fine even without access to the surface. As for conditioning any of the gars for surviving over the winter, get them in there during the summer in order to give them time to adjust to living in the pond. They will put most of their energy into fattening up for winter as fall comes around, so be sure to feed them heavily to let them build up the necessary fat stores and such that are needed to make it through winter. The reason for letting them fatten up is that they will not feed once the water cools to a certain temperature. I forget what the exact temperature is; Solomon and Richard would know what it is, though.

For example, I had my two YOY longnose gars in my 500 gallon goldfish pond over this past winter. I put them in there in early August, and my parents and I made sure that they always had feeders available in order to allow them to fatten up for winter. I had to return to college for Fall Quarter in August, and I didn't get to check on them again until November; they were still alive when I checked them that time. During winter, I didn't put any holes in the ice; I just left it as it was for the most part. I got a chance to check on them at some point during the winter when the partially thawed and once again early in March; both gars were still alive.



He's probably seeing longnose gars, huh? Are there any know introductions of alligator gar in Minnesota?

thanx for the info. i was talking about the longnose and shortnose. i was just thinking about adding gators as i have wanted them for a while. i must have mixed it all in one big garbled mess, but thats how it was in my head.

i haven't heard of gators here other then the fishermen that think that all gars are gators cause that the only one they know of.

 

[Wiggles92]

thanx for the info. i was talking about the longnose and shortnose. i was just thinking about adding gators as i have wanted them for a while. i must have mixed it all in one big garbled mess, but thats how it was in my head.

i haven't heard of gators here other then the fishermen that think that all gars are gators cause that the only one they know of.

Ah, okay. Like I said before, I'm not sure on the alligator gars, but the longnose gars and shortnose gars should be fine.

Did you plan on filtering this pond?

 

[sbuse]

Ah, okay. Like I said before, I'm not sure on the alligator gars, but the longnose gars and shortnose gars should be fine.

Did you plan on filtering this pond?

i planned on mostly filtering it with plants like cattails, lilly pads ect. i will have a large flow pump going through sum sort of bio media aswell. this pond is still a little ways off yet, but i want to have all the details worked out before i get to the point when i can do it.

the gars i find this year will go in my tank with my monster florida and smaller florida. then after the pond is ready i don't know if i'll put some of them into the pond or get more for the pond.

 

[vanSharktail]

I found this old thread really interesting and was wondering if anyone had updates in the last 3 years.

We had to remove our ~1700 gallon pond after 45 years in use due to construction, and will be rebuilding it bigger this fall or next spring. Final form should be about 15 ft wide, 10 ft long, depth up to 4 ft at deepest (about 2000 gallons or so, in-ground). Will be filtering with an aerated bottom drain through a waterfall, planted and floating veg, and using a floating heater in winter, so water quality should stay great. It gets pretty cold in Maryland in winter though, teens/20s F are common at night, sometimes lower. Summers can run up to 105+ daytime though. Old pond stock has never suffered being completely frozen in by a sheet of ice, but we will begin heating and waterfall-ing through winter to keep it open.

I would like to house some kind of gar(s) in there year round - longnose, short nose, or spotted. How have all of your cold-weather gars held up?? Do you have any specific gar species other unique fish recommendations for this pond? I'm growing out Chinese Hi-Fin and Comets now. Orfe seem popular, but I'd rather have something like sunfish or needlefish or something else different than usual goldfish. I also want to keep a breeding population of minnows, mollies, and/or mosquitofish fish going for feeders in addition to the goldfish babies. THX!!!

 

[screaminleeman]

I found this old thread really interesting and was wondering if anyone had updates in the last 3 years.

We had to remove our ~1700 gallon pond after 45 years in use due to construction, and will be rebuilding it bigger this fall or next spring. Final form should be about 15 ft wide, 10 ft long, depth up to 4 ft at deepest (about 2000 gallons or so, in-ground). Will be filtering with an aerated bottom drain through a waterfall, planted and floating veg, and using a floating heater in winter, so water quality should stay great. It gets pretty cold in Maryland in winter though, teens/20s F are common at night, sometimes lower. Summers can run up to 105+ daytime though. Old pond stock has never suffered being completely frozen in by a sheet of ice, but we will begin heating and waterfall-ing through winter to keep it open.

I would like to house some kind of gar(s) in there year round - longnose, short nose, or spotted. How have all of your cold-weather gars held up?? Do you have any specific gar species other unique fish recommendations for this pond? I'm growing out Chinese Hi-Fin and Comets now. Orfe seem popular, but I'd rather have something like sunfish or needlefish or something else different than usual goldfish. I also want to keep a breeding population of minnows, mollies, and/or mosquitofish fish going for feeders in addition to the goldfish babies. THX!!!

Update on 20 or so Florida gar acclimated in numerous different ways and homes during warm months for varying times.

I have exactly ZERO Florida Gars left. The best "wintering" I had was two years ago (Extremely mild winter) 5 of 14 survived. With the current "global warming" last year was the coldest winter in recorded history in Maryland? I have never placed a Florida gar under 12" into the farm pond. They simply cannot survive Maryland winters "unprotected"!

I placed Logan (my first ever LNG) in the pond three years ago at 20" +. such a beautiful 30+" monster now it is indescribable. Success in 1 out of 1!

I had 10 YOY LNG last year in a pre-formed pond that lost power and froze over thick. (I used a hand mall to bust the ice and found 8 gar that I brought inside in Rubbermaids. I figured the two missing were cannibalized. I unfortunately found one of those two that I missed restoring the ponds in early spring that did not make it.

I have never seen either Bowfin after the first winter either.


Maryland is famous for our Blue Crab that has been the Chesapeake Bay pride from the pre- C. Columbus days. It is a shame that with global warming many experts are predicting that the state mascot will likely go extinct with this coming winter if it is similar to last years historic cold.

I would not count on "global warming" to facilitate being able to keep Gars in more northern environments from their natural ranges unless you have lots of money to throw away!

Not sure what part of MD. you are in. I have unlimited green sun fish I want to somehow get out of my pond that you are welcome to. I might also be tempted to part with a male bowfin, as well as a young long nose gar.