who has the largest florida gar?

[jsodwi]

I have an 18" in my 750g

 

[Vicious_Fish]

My Florida Gar is in the 17-18" range. I've had him for 10 years and I don't think he's gonna get much bigger.

 

[Jayzao]

At these sizes what is the minimum tank size to even consider buying an 8" Gar to get started?
150, 180? At least, right?

 

[scalesandfins]

who! garmy! we must unite as one!

 

[Planetnicolas]

my bad what I wanted to say is that I think its possible just that it wont happen over night or in a week

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

At these sizes what is the minimum tank size to even consider buying an 8" Gar to get started?
150, 180? At least, right?

mine started in a 25g. then moved it to the 125g. should have had a step in between

 

[BigJ]

Ok, we do have experts. they work with gar for a living.
next, they grow larger in the wild than in captivity. for example, a gator gar can get nearly 10ft in the wild(not quite 10) in captivity a YOY gator gar can maybe get to 5ft in captivity but few hav ever reached 4ft.

We are not talking about catching huge floridas then throwing them in a tank and saying iv got the largest. talking YOY ur most likly are not gonna hit 24" plain and simple. and if u do its gonna take awhile. a long while.

I understand all this.. Any of the people your talking about have a 750 gallon with drip system? That drip works Magic on fish.. Its pretty amazing.. Not trying to fight... Just wondering? Hopefully the guy's that work with gar ect... Will chime in... JMO 24'' for any gar is pretty possible. Maybe im dead wrong?

 

[creepyoldguy]

I understand all this.. Any of the people your talking about have a 750 gallon with drip system? That drip works Magic on fish.. Its pretty amazing.. Not trying to fight... Just wondering? Hopefully the guy's that work with gar ect... Will chime in... JMO 24'' for any gar is pretty possible. Maybe im dead wrong?

No expert here, and I haven't been on this forum long, but I can't say that I've ever seen a yoy over 18" yet. Although, I can't say that any have come from a 750 with a drip system. I believe if it does get over 18",by the time it does, this thread will be long gone!

 

[E_americanus]

In my opinion this is a common mistake. I like to put the fish directly into a large tank and let them be. Water quality is much easier to keep under control and its much less stressful on the fish. One move and their good. Just my opinion and experience.

it's not a common mistake with gars, and actually works better for some species because it will prevent them from breaking their backs and also help with finding food more easily. as you said at the end, it's your opinion and experience, so i'll give you that of course; it works with many other fishes, but with gars it's actually a different story.

i'll try to write more later, but in short, a captive YOY FL gar will not reach 24" overnight...or even in a year...likely not in 2 years. a captive raised from YOY FL reaching 24" is extremely rare, and i'm actually yet to see one (not saying it is impossible, but i'm yet to see one and it WILL take a long time).

you can try to powerfeed and grow them to a large size early on, but you won't hit 24". also keep in mind somatic vs reproductive growth. gars (and most fishes in general) donate more energy to somatic ("regular") growth early in life...they need to get up to size to avoid predators, survive winter, etc etc. once they are at a certain size, which is regulated by several factors, primarily the endocrine system, they switch from donating energy to somatic growth to reproductive growth.
once the gar is donating energy towards reproductive growth (development of the gonads), it will not grow as fast or as large. if you get it up to the size where this switch takes place too quickly, it is likely that your gar won't reach it's max size potential.

does that make sense? please feel free to ask questions so i can clarify further if necessary

--solomon

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

To the OP(and BigJ), there is ur expert^

We have another that might chime in.

Ps like solomon said, its actually not good for gar to throw them directly into a large tank. They run a higher risk of breaking thier backs plus its harder for them to get food.