Polypterus_36's Cuban gar thread

[Cowturtle]

Nothing much new with mine. His jaws are still growing apart even more now. I still have to baby him and keep checking back to make sure he swallows his food. It’s grown some I’ll try to get a measurement and pics tomorrow.

I will say my Florida gar that broke its back a few months ago is the most aggressive feeding fish I have.

 

[koltsixx]

Nothing much new with mine. His jaws are still growing apart even more now. I still have to baby him and keep checking back to make sure he swallows his food. It’s grown some I’ll try to get a measurement and pics tomorrow.

I will say my Florida gar that broke its back a few months ago is the most aggressive feeding fish I have.

I'm sorry to hear that the one with the jaw problem hasn't gotten better. I do the same with my one eyed Cuban. He eats but he's slow about it and I worry he'll accidentally drop it or that someone else may steal it right out of his mouth.

It's funny because before the one that broke his back, broke his back; he was a pain to feed. And the one eyed one used to be the good eater and now it's the reverse. I hope your Cuban some how gets better, I know mine have caused me quite a bit of stress as I have always wanted a Cuban since I saw pics of xander beauties so long ago.

 

[Polypterus_36]

Unfortunately, I lost all of my cubans.

I kept my cubans with an aro, and sometimes I would feed the aro market shrimp I get at whole foods. I decided to give the cuban group (4 at the time) a shrimp treat, and they took to it right away.

The next day, 3 out of the 4 cubans had bloat and were floating at the top of the tank with their backs out of the water. Their stomachs looked like they were full of air. I immediately put them in a smaller container to give them a salt bath treatment. I changed the water on the container everyday and re-added the salt.
In the next week, all the cubans in treatment lost total control of their swimming and started to float upside down. I eventually lost all 3.
The 4th one was doing fine for the next couple of weeks, until I randomly found him dead after coming home from school... still not sure how he died. I had similar mystery deaths happen with my other cubans.

I never had problems like this with my other gar (2 Floridas and 1 tropical). They are thriving under my care and react fine when they eat the same market shrimp. But I now know for sure now that I won't be feeding that shrimp to my other gar and fish just to be safe.

 

[Caveden]

Unfortunately, I lost all of my cubans.

I kept my cubans with an aro, and sometimes I would feed the aro market shrimp I get at whole foods. I decided to give the cuban group (4 at the time) a shrimp treat, and they took to it right away.

The next day, 3 out of the 4 cubans had bloat and were floating at the top of the tank with their backs out of the water. Their stomachs looked like they were full of air. I immediately put them in a smaller container to give them a salt bath treatment. I changed the water on the container everyday and re-added the salt.
In the next week, all the cubans in treatment lost total control of their swimming and started to float upside down. I eventually lost all 3.
The 4th one was doing fine for the next couple of weeks, until I randomly found him dead after coming home from school... still not sure how he died. I had similar mystery deaths happen with my other cubans.

I never had problems like this with my other gar (2 Floridas and 1 tropical). They are thriving under my care and react fine when they eat the same market shrimp. But I now know for sure now that I won't be feeding that shrimp to my other gar and fish just to be safe.

Sorry for your loss bro.

 

[Cowturtle]

Unfortunately, I lost all of my cubans.

Damns sorry for the loss. I wonder what went wrong with the shrimp.

Here’s mine he’s still not growing like he should be maybe 11in now. I think the main issue is he just isn’t able to eat like he should. My Florida gar the same size as him eats 3x the amount he gets in the same amount of time.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Cowturtle A skeletal deformation seems to be occurring. If the DO is adequate and the diet contains all vitamins and minerals, this is, I'd think, genetic.

Polypterus_36 Sorry to hear but appreciate the honest update a lot. Thank you. Strange though, hard to understand how shrimp could be the cause, unless it was seasoned, or oiled, or spiced, etc. The initial back breaking by all (?) 8 of your cubans is strange too. Well, it is what it is.

All our gar "stuff" gets deposited here: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/four-tropical-gars-one-florida-gar-12-15.679353/

 

[Hao]

Damns sorry for the loss. I wonder what went wrong with the shrimp.

Here’s mine he’s still not growing like he should be maybe 11in now. I think the main issue is he just isn’t able to eat like he should. My Florida gar the same size as him eats 3x the amount he gets in the same amount of time.

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View attachment 1492951

Cowturtle A skeletal deformation seems to be occurring. If the DO is adequate and the diet contains all vitamins and minerals, this is, I'd think, genetic.

Polypterus_36 Sorry to hear but appreciate the honest update a lot. Thank you. Strange though, hard to understand how shrimp could be the cause, unless it was seasoned, or oiled, or spiced, etc. The initial back breaking by all (?) 8 of your cubans is strange too. Well, it is what it is.

All our gar "stuff" gets deposited here: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/four-tropical-gars-one-florida-gar-12-15.679353/

I know for Polypterus, people don't recommend feeding shrimps as a main diet due to thiaminase. I'm not sure how well gars handle that. I personally don't give my gars shrimp too often. I feed mostly pellets and once in awhile I'll give them tilapia/swai fillet or smelts.

Still going strong after 4 years. Hopefully many more years to come. ??

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I can't imagine gars having a problem with shrimp at any reasonable percentage in the diet, if thiaminase is mitigated. We give our gar shrimp once in a blue moon, no problem. Not the cubans, I mean the big guys, the adults.

Hao do they bite like crazy and in all directions, and bite each other and jump out of water when you feed them? That's how ours do.

 

[Hao]

I can't imagine gars having a problem with shrimp at any reasonable percentage in the diet, if thiaminase is mitigated. We give our gar shrimp once in a blue moon, no problem. Not the cubans, I mean the big guys, the adults.

Hao do they bite like crazy and in all directions, and bite each other and jump out of water when you feed them? That's how ours do.

Yeah all my gars bite like crazy when it's feeding time. Never jump though. Even the spotted and longnose ones. I used to handfeed them all when they were younger.

 

[Polypterus_36]

Cowturtle A skeletal deformation seems to be occurring. If the DO is adequate and the diet contains all vitamins and minerals, this is, I'd think, genetic.

Polypterus_36 Sorry to hear but appreciate the honest update a lot. Thank you. Strange though, hard to understand how shrimp could be the cause, unless it was seasoned, or oiled, or spiced, etc. The initial back breaking by all (?) 8 of your cubans is strange too. Well, it is what it is.

All our gar "stuff" gets deposited here: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/four-tropical-gars-one-florida-gar-12-15.679353/

The ingedients on the bag was just shrimp, and there was no seasoning. I barely even feed shrimp(MAYBE every few months or so), and it only goes to my aro and sometimes by other gar, so it stumps me why the Cuban gars reacted so poorly for this one feeding.