3 & 1/2 weeks and still not eating

[timdo72]

i bought a new 8" florida gar more than 3 weeks ago. i don't want to deal with live feeders so i am in the process of training it to eat pellets and freeze dried shrimp but it still hasn't eat in 3 & 1/2 weeks. it would swim close to the pellet/shrimp and kind of smell/sniff it and swam away (so close and so frustrating).

the tank itself is fine and mellow, no tankmates are picking on it. the gar would rest on the bottom of the tank most of the time. it swim around and about once awhile.

THE QUESTION is: should i give up and give in to it now or should i give it more time meaning starving it more until it will eat the pellet/shrimp? i hate to give up now since it has already been 3 & 1/2 weeks and to start the whole process of training it to take pellet/shrimp all over again.

Do you think the gar will eventually give up and eat the pellet/shrimp? Or will it actually starve itself to death? Has anyone been thru this before (beyond 3 weeks)?

thanks in advance for your opinion.

 

[RedDwarf]

Try getting some fish oil and soak the food your trying to get it to eat in the oil. You can also try fish attractants you find in bait shops to. I hope you don't have a stubborn gar. If all else fails, you should give it some feeders and then after a few days try again with the starvation treatment.

 

[E_americanus]

at 8" it's more important to keep it healthy and feeding than to get it on pellets, you should feed it some feeder minnows and get it back up to health. you may have already done some irreparable damage stunting it as you have been starving it during some critical growth stages.

it's better to get young gars feeding and fat/healthy than it is to get them on a specific pellet right away. give it minnows, and when it is regularly feeding you can start experimenting again with other food (start with frozen stuff like frozen silversides, tilapia, etc which are fish or more "fish like" to the gar). an 8" gar should not be starved for this long--
--solomon

 

[Noddy]

Aggreed with Solomon, my Gar likes the frozen fish I get from my LFS very much, and has only started eating pellets several weeks ago.

 

[timdo72]

Thanks guys for your thoughts.

Yesterday I decided to give up on starving the gar and went out and got some feeders. i gave it 3 feeders yesterday and will continue to do so until all the feeders are gone. then i will start the pellet/shrimp training again meaning more starving to do, but this time it will be a shorter period of time like a week or so. i guess i will keep on trying until it eat pellet/shrimp.

by the way, after the 3 feeders it ate, the gar's behavoir had changed. during the starvation method, it spend most of the time resting on the botton corner of the tank. now it spend most of the time on the surface of the water floatind around. more enjoyable view this time.

 

[packer43064]

Mine went for almost a month before eating. I wasn't feeding feeders, it's just not how I do things. It would watch the thawed shrimp fall near it but was "nervous" and wouldn't attack it. After it finally ate once it hasn't stop since.

 

[E_americanus]

don't starve the fish. it's not good for it in early juvenile developmental stages. just offer the other food from time to time, and if it doesn't take it, remove it and try again. you'll only do developmental damage by starving a fish that small for that long or even relatively brief periods of time. it will come around eventually just fine. good luck--

 

[BigJ]

don't starve the fish. it's not good for it in early juvenile developmental stages. just offer the other food from time to time, and if it doesn't take it, remove it and try again. you'll only do developmental damage by starving a fish that small for that long or even relatively brief periods of time. it will come around eventually just fine. good luck--

I agree 100%.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

solomon is right. i never starved any of my gar yet they all now take shrimp with ease. DO NOT STARVE!

 

[phillydog1958]

my gar went 2 weeks and finally started eating cut up silver sides. i suggest trying silvers because they are as close as you can get to actual feeders. i think my gar was tempted by the silvers due to them being similar to feeders. once my gar started eating silver sides, he eventually took freeze-dried krill, then frozen beef hearts. i have yet to get him to go for pellets. you have to keep trying. my next effort will be to try market shrimp and frozen tilapia.