Why don’t you ever see short nose gars for sale in the US?
Short nose gars
- Thread starter Charney
- Start date
In general, wild caught North American gar species are not highly sought after in the US. That's why we almost never see Spotted gars (not mislabeled florida gars) and Shortnose gars for sale (These two species are not being commercial bred anywhere). Meanwhile Florida, Longnose and Gator gars in the aquarium trade are typically imported from Asia (Captive Bred). Florida and Longnose gars are sometimes caught in Florida (wild) and distributed for the aquarium trade. I also believe that the wild range for Shortnose gars is quite small (Midwest and Southern part of the US). It's also mostly fishermen out there in those area who just enjoy fishing for sport or bowfishing; they generally have no experience keeping fish or shipping fish which makes Shortnose gars a bit difficult to source out. Shortnose gars in general are one of the "plainest" looking gars, not much pattern to them, which could be another reason why there is little to no demand for them (really underrated species in my opinion). There might also be certain fishing law restrictions (depending on state) for gars and other US native fish (I'm not too familiar with fishing laws).
Yeah. Your average fish vendor won't be able to get them unless they catch it themselves or know someone who can catch them.
I had mentioned I was interested in Shortnose Gars to Toyin/Rehobothaquatics and he said he'd see what he could do. He might be more inclined to seriously consider it if more people showed interest.
Especially since he said if he brought them in, he'd be collecting them himself. I've always been a Gar fan, hence the now defunct GAR]v[Y in my siggy. I currently have a pied Florida, 2 Cubans and a Tropical and would love to have a Shorty again.
Facts. I know a few people who have been bothering Toyin to go catch Shortnose Gars for years now. I believe the last time he caught them was at the end of 2017, which he ended up shipping it to Asia. So if more people hit him up, possibly he'll consider going again (I hear its quite a drive for him to go catch them). With that being said, he usually gets Spotted gars (legit ones, not florida mislabeled).I had mentioned I was interested in Shortnose Gars to Toyin/Rehobothauatics and he said he'd see what he could do. He might be more inclined to seriously consider it if more people showed interest.
Are you one of them sir?
Thanks for letting me know he gets legit Spotted. Wanted one of those for a while. Guess I'll have to ask about that too.
My little shortnose fry are starting to put on size I wish I was able to find them in bigger numbers. The runt of the group did end up dying so I only have 4 left. I need to go searching for some more.
I ha talked to Toyin in a while but i will reach out. I am down for a few