The Mighty Alligator Gar.

[demjor19]

unfortunately, as richard can tell you, that gar is no longer at the belle isle aquarium. the city of detroit folded on the aquarium a couple years back and closed it. the giant gator gar, 'hal', died while in transit to another aquarium. richard used to take care of the fish personally. definitely a beast...and i'm sure he would share more about the fish as well--
--solomon

awww...now that you say that...i remember reading about this monster dying while being moved. thats really too bad. id love to hear more about this guy!

 

[KenyanSandBoa]

Yeah...I checked on the site where I go the picture and it did mention that. That's too bad.

 

[dovii88]

imaging swimming in the water wit that thing

 

[LegendAtlus]

Laf, the all mighty Alligator gar is put into a tank for my amusement!

 

[wcc963]

now i know they are rare at that size but i have seen plenty of fishing shows and videos of people catching 4'+ alligator gars. now i have NOT researched laws/regulations on removing wild caught fish from the states and areas where they do get that big. has anyone ever put one in their ]V[OSTER tank or pond?

 

[jooster78]

like!

 

[Zoodiver]

Catching big ones is more work that it's worth. Aside from transport, you'd still have to get them eating - which is a real challenge. Much easier to start small and let them grow up under human care.

As for swimming with them, we had several gator gar at the aquarium in MN in the 220,000 gallon (two were pretty big - 6' range). We did public dive programs twice a week that allowed you some real 'face time' with them.

 

[wcc963]

Catching big ones is more work that it's worth. Aside from transport, you'd still have to get them eating - which is a real challenge. Much easier to start small and let them grow up under human care.

As for swimming with them, we had several gator gar at the aquarium in MN in the 220,000 gallon (two were pretty big - 6' range). We did public dive programs twice a week that allowed you some real 'face time' with them.

true, but how long does it take them to break the 4' mark... if im not mistaken some of the larger ones have been aged at over 100 years which would put them at 20 years past the average life span of humans

 

[HungDang]

true, but how long does it take them to break the 4' mark... if im not mistaken some of the larger ones have been aged at over 100 years which would put them at 20 years past the average life span of humans

a 5' is estimated around 15-20years! 4' should be more than 5 years!

 

[HungDang]

Laf, the all mighty Alligator gar is put into a tank for my amusement!

you dig up a 4 years old thread just to spam a comment like this?