Polypterus_36's Cuban gar thread

[koltsixx]

First, I am so sorry for taking so long to respond. Life has been stressful and distracting lately.

Unfortunately, I lost all of my cubans.

I kept my cubans with an aro, and sometimes I would feed the aro market shrimp I get at whole foods. I decided to give the cuban group (4 at the time) a shrimp treat, and they took to it right away.

The next day, 3 out of the 4 cubans had bloat and were floating at the top of the tank with their backs out of the water. Their stomachs looked like they were full of air. I immediately put them in a smaller container to give them a salt bath treatment. I changed the water on the container everyday and re-added the salt.
In the next week, all the cubans in treatment lost total control of their swimming and started to float upside down. I eventually lost all 3.
The 4th one was doing fine for the next couple of weeks, until I randomly found him dead after coming home from school... still not sure how he died. I had similar mystery deaths happen with my other cubans.

I never had problems like this with my other gar (2 Floridas and 1 tropical). They are thriving under my care and react fine when they eat the same market shrimp. But I now know for sure now that I won't be feeding that shrimp to my other gar and fish just to be safe.

I am so sorry to hear that. Is it possible the shrimp was bad? Bacteria or something else breaking down causing a gas release while digesting? Forgive me, I don't know if that's even possible. Just guessing because you mentioned bloating of the stomach. My experience with Gars is very limited and my knowledge probably even less so but from what you describe it sounds like a swim bladder issue. If so I have had some fish that are more susceptible to swim bladder issues then others and perhaps Cubans or at least these Cubans might have the same issue?

When I have an issue with fish maintaining their stability in the water column such as floating toward the surface when not actively swimming it was often cause by a feeding issue. You mentioned a salt bath, I'm imagining you mean regular salt? In this case I personally would have tried Epsom salts and if possible lower the water level, move the fish to a tank where you can lower the level or a floating container. I've had issues with fish dying or becoming stressed from overfeeding in the past so I started trying to be prepared. So now when a fish puts themselves in a compromising position by Bogarting/ Hogging food and developing swimming/floating issues, I've had success with doing what I described above.

I know for Polypterus, people don't recommend feeding shrimps as a main diet due to thiaminase. I'm not sure how well gars handle that. I personally don't give my gars shrimp too often. I feed mostly pellets and once in awhile I'll give them tilapia/swai fillet or smelts.

Still going strong after 4 years. Hopefully many more years to come. ??
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Those are some thick beauties!