I am worried about my 14" alligator gar, I recently built a 600 gallon plywood tank and got it all cycled and ready for fish. I bought some large fish from a friend as they out grew his tank, I figured I would move the smallest one first and give him time to adapt. First we had an incident getting him out of my friends tank as he jumped out on to the floor for about a 4ft fall. I then transfered him 10 minutes to my house, the ride and intro into the tank went very smooth. I don't see any damage from the fall, he only has some fin damage on a lower fin which I would think is stress from moving. He is the only fish in the tank besides feeder gold fish which is his normal diet. The goldfish will come right to his mouth and he will not eat them. He does move around the tank alot but sometimes stays in a spot for a while, he looks healthy just not eating. Is 5 days normal or should I be concerned. Also I matched his ph level and my water quality readings are spot on
Moved a 14" gar and hasn't eaten in 5 days
- Thread starter Niners4952
- Start date
A lot of carnivorous fish can go weeks without food. It may want something different. Try rosy reds, or frozen meet.
It can take older fish a few months to settle into a new tank, at that size I wouldn't worry about him not eating for 3/4 weeks, also might be a good time to get him on a different food, feeder goldfish aren't good for them
Thanks for the replys what other food do you suggest, when you say frozen meats what exactly do you mean, ive always just feed mine feeder goldfish
IMHO there is no need whatsoever to endanger an alligator gar by feeding it goldfish.
fugupuff
would disagree and if I were you I'd listen to him. But I am me, so I stubbornly disagree 
I've always fed all my gars frozen-thawed cuisine of aquatic origin, seafood, and such, pellets, etc. They are all easy.
Anyhoo, back to the topic - I've had several such occurrences with falls of gars, incl. alligator gars, etc. It will come around. They are tough as nails. Does he still gulp air from the surface? It should - it's the norm.
Two extreme examples IME:
1. My alligators spend like 5-10 h on my basement floor having jumped through a pond cover. Founds them barely alive. They came around.
2. Once I drove a bunch of fish, ~300 lbs and ~hundred of fish, for 45 hours from NY to FL and I pinched the air hose. All perished but my two 2.5' alligators. Without acclimation I threw them out of the "fish morgue on wheels" into native local water, a small local pond. They came about fine.
***********************************************************
Hope you tested your new build long term (1-2 months at least) with live testers.
fugupuff
would disagree and if I were you I'd listen to him. But I am me, so I stubbornly disagree I've always fed all my gars frozen-thawed cuisine of aquatic origin, seafood, and such, pellets, etc. They are all easy.Anyhoo, back to the topic - I've had several such occurrences with falls of gars, incl. alligator gars, etc. It will come around. They are tough as nails. Does he still gulp air from the surface? It should - it's the norm.
Two extreme examples IME:
1. My alligators spend like 5-10 h on my basement floor having jumped through a pond cover. Founds them barely alive. They came around.
2. Once I drove a bunch of fish, ~300 lbs and ~hundred of fish, for 45 hours from NY to FL and I pinched the air hose. All perished but my two 2.5' alligators. Without acclimation I threw them out of the "fish morgue on wheels" into native local water, a small local pond. They came about fine.
***********************************************************
Hope you tested your new build long term (1-2 months at least) with live testers.
Thanks for the long reply and your great detail, I feel better about the situation. Would you mind giving me some specific examples of what you feed them. He was already eating goldfish when I got him. I have my tank running for over a month with goldfish in it to test
Any natural (nothing added, no salt, oil, or spices, etc.) freshwater or marine frozen fish will be taken (thawed out of course). So it's a matter of what you can afford. Most of us, who are made of things far less attractive than hundred dollar bills, go for the cheapest we can find available.
For many it is tilapia, whiting, silversides and other herring types, chad, bream, etc. In prior life in upstate NY, I was once lucky enough to inquire at a local fish shop about what they have the cheapest for a pet fish and have been getting 25 lb boxes or frozen fish they called "spot" for $15-$20. Could have been expired or not, I couldn't tell but my fish didn't care. They gobbled it up.
For variety I gave mine frozen raw shrimp, shell on and seafood combo packages.
Other times I'd catch fish locally (f/w) and crayfish and either freeze them because proper freezing kills all parasites, or boil them because freezing does not kill bacteria and viruses. But boiled fish makes an oily mess when feeding.
I imagine an ultimate source would be to pick up a job or get an "in" at a local fish shop or fish dept at a grocery supermarket, or a restaurant, etc.
Ethnic stores, esp. Asian, sometimes carry frozen fish, crustaceans, frogs, etc. that may be cheap per pound and very good as a staple or a delicacy for our pets.
Now whole fish is the best - predators need prey guts, heads, scales, bones.
Having moved to FL 5 years ago, I catch about 20 cubic feet per year of baitfish with a cast net. 2"-4" several herring species, anchovy, and whiting species mostly but sometimes get bigger fish that's legal to keep, like mullet, mackerel, ladyfish, catfish, pompano / permit, goby, pinfish, snapper, needlenose barracuda, etc. I freeze all these.
As for pellets, after initial hesitation all my gars always took pellets. It doesn't excite them as flesh does but they take it fine, any kind, from the cheapest to the most expensive.
For many it is tilapia, whiting, silversides and other herring types, chad, bream, etc. In prior life in upstate NY, I was once lucky enough to inquire at a local fish shop about what they have the cheapest for a pet fish and have been getting 25 lb boxes or frozen fish they called "spot" for $15-$20. Could have been expired or not, I couldn't tell but my fish didn't care. They gobbled it up.
For variety I gave mine frozen raw shrimp, shell on and seafood combo packages.
Other times I'd catch fish locally (f/w) and crayfish and either freeze them because proper freezing kills all parasites, or boil them because freezing does not kill bacteria and viruses. But boiled fish makes an oily mess when feeding.
I imagine an ultimate source would be to pick up a job or get an "in" at a local fish shop or fish dept at a grocery supermarket, or a restaurant, etc.
Ethnic stores, esp. Asian, sometimes carry frozen fish, crustaceans, frogs, etc. that may be cheap per pound and very good as a staple or a delicacy for our pets.
Now whole fish is the best - predators need prey guts, heads, scales, bones.
Having moved to FL 5 years ago, I catch about 20 cubic feet per year of baitfish with a cast net. 2"-4" several herring species, anchovy, and whiting species mostly but sometimes get bigger fish that's legal to keep, like mullet, mackerel, ladyfish, catfish, pompano / permit, goby, pinfish, snapper, needlenose barracuda, etc. I freeze all these.
As for pellets, after initial hesitation all my gars always took pellets. It doesn't excite them as flesh does but they take it fine, any kind, from the cheapest to the most expensive.
I certainly would not feed goldfish to any fish......aside from the fact that they are an oily low nutrient meat, they always have the risk of carrying parasites, fungus, bacteria, and other pathogens. I would make every effort to get them eating frozen-thawed foods, and packaged prepared foods. As far as not eating for a few days, that is nothing of concern - seems the larger the fish the bigger the baby they are when it comes to being moved and I have had fish over a foot long refuse to eat for over a week because I moved them 3o feet away into a different ROOM into a tank that was more than twice the size of the previous one. It is normal and he will resume eating when he is ready.
Start by not even offering food for another few days and let him go hungry, while removing all the goldfish in the tank with him. When he starts to seem like he is looking for food try using a pair of hemostats and shaking a piece of thawed Tilapia (it's cheap - $5 for 2lb bag at Wal-Mart), or other fish fillets, the movement will help trigger the predatory response by appearing as something alive, in theory - we don't actually know what they perceive it to be though. Whole fish can be offered as well as long as he is capable of swallowing them whole, as Gar generally only have teeth for grasping and not slicing, or chewing. Other foods of interest might be frozen squid (local bait store?), earthworms, clams and other shellfish.
If you insist on live prey items, earthworms or crickets would be the safer choice, but I would avoid live fish of any type from now on - very few MFK'ers use them for anything.
Start by not even offering food for another few days and let him go hungry, while removing all the goldfish in the tank with him. When he starts to seem like he is looking for food try using a pair of hemostats and shaking a piece of thawed Tilapia (it's cheap - $5 for 2lb bag at Wal-Mart), or other fish fillets, the movement will help trigger the predatory response by appearing as something alive, in theory - we don't actually know what they perceive it to be though. Whole fish can be offered as well as long as he is capable of swallowing them whole, as Gar generally only have teeth for grasping and not slicing, or chewing. Other foods of interest might be frozen squid (local bait store?), earthworms, clams and other shellfish.
If you insist on live prey items, earthworms or crickets would be the safer choice, but I would avoid live fish of any type from now on - very few MFK'ers use them for anything.
Thanks for the advice I will be stopping at walmart and buying some frozen talapia and giving that a try, it would be great to not have to buy goldfish anymore and I will soon be moving the rest of my fish as well and I will try to get thier diets changed as well
frozen-thawed is a billion times easier than going out and buying live prey items too