GATF vs Alligator Gar

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I would do both.

Side note. I want to see a captive gator over 60".

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I would do both.

Side note. I want to see a captive gator over 60".

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By captive do you mean specifically privately owned or is commercially owned OK?

The reason I ask is because there are two absolute giant gator gars at Bass Pro in Springfield, MO that are at least as long as I am tall and considerably thicker. I'm 6'3". I strongly suspect both of these fish are about 7' long.
 
By captive do you mean specifically privately owned or is commercially owned OK?

The reason I ask is because there are two absolute giant gator gars at Bass Pro in Springfield, MO that are at least as long as I am tall and considerably thicker. I'm 6'3". I strongly suspect both of these fish are about 7' long.

I mean privately owned. All the large gators at aquariums or cabelas or bass pros are all WC at that large size or just about. There is a lot of magnifying done by that glass also. I just don't think that our captive fish that we get at 3" will ever reach that size in our lifetime. No matter the size pond. I wish they would, but I think a more practical captive max size is in the 48" range if given the proper housing. Even true monsters out in the wild are hard to come by.

From what I can remember I think the biggest around is just about 36-40". I have personally seen and held wild freshwater fish (nongators) over 60" and they are very very old amazing fish. Just think that people are tossing impractical numbers around. Just like with arapimas or goonches. Have they been huge, yes. Will they get that huge in a private pond, not likely. The food, and other factors needed to reach these massive sizes we just cant replicate. I don't want some one to take this out of context and think that a gator, Pima or goonch is not going to get big, but just not as large as most talk up, at least in a pond/tank setting. That is kinda what I am getting at.

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I mean privately owned. All the large gators at aquariums or cabelas or bass pros are all WC at that large size or just about. There is a lot of magnifying done by that glass also. I just don't think that our captive fish that we get at 3" will ever reach that size in our lifetime. No matter the size pond. I wish they would, but I think a more practical captive max size is in the 48" range if given the proper housing. Even true monsters out in the wild are hard to come by.

From what I can remember I think the biggest around is just about 36-40". I have personally seen and held wild freshwater fish (nongators) over 60" and they are very very old amazing fish. Just think that people are tossing impractical numbers around. Just like with arapimas or goonches. Have they been huge, yes. Will they get that huge in a private pond, not likely. The food, and other factors needed to reach these massive sizes we just cant replicate. I don't want some one to take this out of context and think that a gator, Pima or goonch is not going to get big, but just not as large as most talk up, at least in a pond/tank setting. That is kinda what I am getting at.

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I'm inclined to agree with you Scott, I just wanted to be sure what you were referring to. :)
 
The OP said 750 in another thread, while asking some...interesting questions.
make me think he dosent have the tank yet, and might be planning to get it later.....the OP should get the tank first and then get the fish
 
I'm inclined to agree with you Scott, I just wanted to be sure what you were referring to. :)

Yeah I was just throwing it out there to kinda see if anyone has one close. As long as mine will continue to play along it will go into the 10x10.

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Given sufficient time and space, a gator gar could reach ten feet in length.


It takes 30 years for an alligator gar to reach 6'.

Young alligator gar apparently grow very fast; in Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas, fish
thought to be young-of-year in 1965 averaged 1.1 kg by July 30 and 2.9 kg by October 6 (Toole
1971). Growth of older fish is much slower, taking about 10 years to attain a total length of 1 m
and 30 or more years to reach a length of 2 m (Figure 1). Alligator gar mature between 950 and
1,400 mm total length (at age 10-14), with males maturing earlier than females (Ferrara 2001;
Garcia de Leon et al. 2001).
 
If you want a "pet" imo neither is ideal.. thought the gar is def more hardy as far as captive care goes. I'm not sure if those dims are big enough but if you want a "large wet pet" RTC's and other catfish are great for being interactive with their owners, harder to care for but not as challengeing as the tiger fish would be. Fire eels or tire track eels also would fit the bill... whenever looking into a large,expensive to maintaine pet ( big tanks are expensive in general to maintain, and then lareg fish well eat alot) ... do your research x100000 .... know as much as you can when you bring it home. there are also cuban and tropical gars that tend to get large.. but don't near the gators size that should do well in that size tank/pond.

and I agree w/ Scott... gators "home grown" rarely exceed 4' in captivity. this info given out multiple times in the past from some of our gar specialists, who i've yet to get poor advise from. Most gar species hit 1/2 their wild size range. lareg part of that is after their initial growth spurts when young just take that long to grow.
 
Well I am 100% sure that TL's Gators will reach a size of min 50". After only a few years of growing they were almost 40" and he is currently planing an even larger, better filtered pond. I think they are going to hit 48" in the next 2 years. After that, we will see.
 
Well I am 100% sure that TL's Gators will reach a size of min 50". After only a few years of growing they were almost 40" and he is currently planing an even larger, better filtered pond. I think they are going to hit 48" in the next 2 years. After that, we will see.

It would be cool if they did, but they are reaching the point of slowing down their growth. Also they are in an outdoor pool so they get some other advantages that indoor gars can't get.

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