Arowanas with gars- the truth?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
C

Chicxulub

Silver Tier VIP
MFK Member
Aug 29, 2009
11,402
7,463
1,955
Ok so.

I have a black arowana that's 18-20". I desperately want a tropical gar. I've seen tons of posts on both MFK and Facebook about how this combination always fails and results in the death of the aro, but at the same time, aros and gars seem to nearly always be featured together in monster tanks.

How feasible is this? I've got tons of experience with aros, but absolutely none with gars. Gars are among my favorite fish, and I would like to branch out to try keeping them.

Honest input and real world experience would be greatly appreciated friends!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Polyaddict86, SBM, vincentwugwg and 1 other person
Chicxulub said:
Ok so.

I have a black arowana that's 18-20". I desperately want a tropical gar. I've seen tons of posts on both MFK and Facebook about how this combination always fails and results in the death of the aro, but at the same time, aros and gars seem to nearly always be featured together in monster tanks.

How feasible is this? I've got tons of experience with aros, but absolutely none with gars. Gars are among my favorite fish, and I would like to branch out to try keeping them.

Honest input and real world experience would be greatly appreciated friends!
Click to expand...



Had a Silver Aro which was about 1ft in with a 10 inch Florida Gar they were fine until I lost them to jumping out on seperate times. The Florida Gar would occupy all areas of the aquarium. Also never noticed any nips of the Silver Aro fins.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Polyaddict86 and Chicxulub
The OP info is news to me, which simply infers my ignorance on the subject. I've kept silver (and a tiny bit jardini) with various gars - FL, gator, tropical, long-nose - not in all combos and not in all sizes but never noticed a particular antagonism or any sort of specific interaction between these fish.

I'd appreciate a link that would exemplify the problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chicxulub and tlindsey
thebiggerthebetter said:
The OP info is news to me, which simply infers my ignorance on the subject. I've kept silver (and a tiny bit jardini) with various gars - FL, gator, tropical, long-nose - not in all combos and not in all sizes but never noticed a particular antagonism or any sort of specific interaction between these fish.

I'd appreciate a link that would exemplify the problem.
Click to expand...

I don't have any direct links, and I'm probably dating myself in the hobby: I'm still basically on a 2013 level of husbandry knowledge. I've had a very rough five years and I have got a lot of catching up to do.

Back yonder, it was frequently stated that gars and silvery fish like aros were a terrible mix. I don't have any specific link, and there's a real chance that I'm misremembering it. I'm just seeking clarification.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thebiggerthebetter and tlindsey
And to clarify: this particular nugget of wisdom that I may be misremembering never made any sense to me, so my being wrong about this is very plausible.
 
I see. I may not be the one who can clarify this but the fish shape also matters. Gars are attracted to silvery shiny fish of general minnow, cichlid, shiner shape, that's known.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Polyaddict86 and Chicxulub
jsodwi said:
I’ve always kept Gar and aros together. Only problem I’ve encountered is when I tried a gator Gar in the mix. I presently have 1 25” aro 2- 24- florida 1-28” trop and 1-20” trop
At one time I had 3 aros and 5 or 6 Gar all together
Click to expand...
What happened with the gator? I had two gators 2' and five silver aro 1.5'-2.5' in a 4000 gal with no issues that I noted (doesn't mean there weren't any). It was a pond in our basement. Not friendly for close and regular observations.

28" trop is the largest I've encountered so far. Got a thread on it? How long has it taken?
 
  • Like
Reactions: SBM and Chicxulub
thebiggerthebetter said:
What happened with the gator? I had two gators 2' and five silver aro 1.5'-2.5' in a 4000 gal with no issues that I noted (doesn't mean there weren't any). It was a pond in our basement. Not friendly for close and regular observations.

28" trop is the largest I've encountered so far. Got a thread on it? How long has it taken?
Click to expand...
The gator Gar gar was only about 14”. Tore up my aros fins pretty bad and ripped off the lower jaw of a trop the same size killing it. I had to give it away before it Did anymore damage.
My biggest Trop I’ve had since 2005 turned almost completely black years ago. Looks more like a real dark Cuban now
 
  • Like
Reactions: SBM, thebiggerthebetter and Chicxulub
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom