Do (Tropical) Gar mellow out ?

[Ansorgii]

Hello everyone,
I recently moved to mexico and saw they had tropical gars for ~5US$ each, so I couldn't resist and bought 5 as I always wanted to keep them. Rn they sit in a nice tank with a bunch of feederfish and grow well.

For next year I want to built a large pond in the backyard to keep all the "native" fish from a river closeby here (various cichlids, tetras, swordtails, platys, plecos.... people just set them free there and they flourish). My question is now, as the gar get a bit older and slower, will I be able to keep them in the pond without them destroying it immediately?

Some fish tend to get lazy as they age and ignore smaller fish or dont eat them as they have plenty of easy food around. Others however, like Cichla that still hunt mosquito larvae at 50cm, never mellow down.

I don't know where to put gars as I saw both alligator gars swim with sunfish they could eat in zoos aswell as alligator gars trying to eat silver dollars that would never fit down their throat. For the less aggressive gars I have nothing to base an opinion on.

Has anyone here some experience that can help me on? I would really like to keep them in the pond, and if they eat the occasional Swordtail or Tetra I don't mind, but if they will just eat everything the second they can I have to think lf something else.

 

[danotaylor]

I have zero experience with gars but in my experience, if you raise fish on live food, then they will see everything live as food as they get bigger and older. These fish are predatory by nature but also opportunistic.
I would suggest you train them to whatever pellets you intend to feed the other cichlids in the pond prior to moving them to the pond, and keeping them well fed.
That would be your best “chance” at a cohabitation with naturally predatory fishes

 

[Ansorgii]

I want to train them on floating pellets once they are a bit bigger and more stable. In the past I had florida and shortnose gar and retraining them to nonliving food was just a lot easier once they were above ~14cm and just a bit more trusty.

I am just more curious about their nature in the sense if they can lose that predatory instinct or not. Arowana for exampla can do that, I had a few that ended up swimming with guppies and tetras without problems. Same with my bumblebee oscars.

But pred cats and cichla for example will always attack anything that moves and is small, no matter what.

 

[Hao]

I want to train them on floating pellets once they are a bit bigger and more stable. In the past I had florida and shortnose gar and retraining them to nonliving food was just a lot easier once they were above ~14cm and just a bit more trusty.

I am just more curious about their nature in the sense if they can lose that predatory instinct or not. Arowana for exampla can do that, I had a few that ended up swimming with guppies and tetras without problems. Same with my bumblebee oscars.

But pred cats and cichla for example will always attack anything that moves and is small, no matter what.

I think it will come down to individual personality as well. Some are definitely naturally more predatory than others (whether well fed or not).
Also was curious did you have any photos of your old shortnose gar? Would love to see them since shortnose gars are quite rare in the aquarium trade.

 

[Ansorgii]

Sadly I don't have any pictures on this phone, and the other is out of reach. I also don't know if they were pure or Florida Hybrids. The Store I bought them in imports them from Asia as "spotted gar", and I suspect there is one or two shortnoses in the pond that breed with them.

They are suprisingly distinct as small fish, having an overall larger body to weight ratio, lacking that tini extension fin from early on and shoving different colours in the dark. They are also a lor more aggressive/jerky and grow a bit faster. If I find any pictures I will opload them. I had them two times, and everytime they dominated the group as the biggest animal and bully, regularly choping fins.

 

[Hao]

Sadly I don't have any pictures on this phone, and the other is out of reach. I also don't know if they were pure or Florida Hybrids. The Store I bought them in imports them from Asia as "spotted gar", and I suspect there is one or two shortnoses in the pond that breed with them.

They are suprisingly distinct as small fish, having an overall larger body to weight ratio, lacking that tini extension fin from early on and shoving different colours in the dark. They are also a lor more aggressive/jerky and grow a bit faster. If I find any pictures I will opload them. I had them two times, and everytime they dominated the group as the biggest animal and bully, regularly choping fins.

Ah if they were from Asia likely they weren't shortnose gars. As far as I'm aware, shortnose gars are not being bred in Asia. The number of actual shortnose gars that exist in Asia are pretty small. "spotted gars" from Asia are typically captive bred Florida gars.

 

[Ansorgii]

They looked like every shortnose gar picture out there and were looking quite different from the floridas. And the fact I had 3 with years apart tells me it wasn't a random difference.

I am sure the sellers/breeders weren't aware, but they just want to sell and don't care that much.

If I have access to the pictures I will upload them, but rn they sit on a phone a few thousand kilometers away, so there is nothing I can do.

 

[Hao]

They looked like every shortnose gar picture out there and were looking quite different from the floridas. And the fact I had 3 with years apart tells me it wasn't a random difference.

I am sure the sellers/breeders weren't aware, but they just want to sell and don't care that much.

If I have access to the pictures I will upload them, but rn they sit on a phone a few thousand kilometers away, so there is nothing I can do.

Hope to see the photos someday. Need more shortnose gar photos. Not too many shortnose gars in aquarium photos out there. Mostly just fishermen holding them or few public aquariums with them on display. Not much from hobbyist.

 

[Ansorgii]

I get that, it was also for why it took so long for me to figure it out. When I visit my home country again I will transfer all my fotos on my new cloud and upload all decent fotos I have here. I really just dont know when that will be.