5yr Old Florida Gar Feeding Question

[aakashgulati]

amazed !

 

[bmm172]

Thanks for the help and feedback. She is a great fish and I just get worried when she doesn't eat often. She used to be a feeding machine but I guess now that she is a bit older, settled in, and not in a growth spurt she doesn't need to eat as much.

This makes me feel much better...I have had her since about 4.5" long and always took great care of the tank.

I will keep you guys posted on any anomalies, feedings, etc and also the new addition, a 5" baby Longnose Gar currently in a 10G. I will probably switch to a 20G eventually, and then the 180G. Then a spotted, tropical and cuban to round out the gar exhibit!!

 

[bmm172]

She began eating again about 2 days after the last post. She has been eating 1-2 4" silversides per day. I will probably move to every other day again soon. I guess we continue to learn about these creatures and experience odd behaviors on a daily basis.

What I have gathered from all this...is if all else is good, parameters are inline, as Solomon stated...don't mess around with anything and a healthy gar will begin feeding once again and not starve itself. I guess when a gar reaches full adulthood they will eat when they want and only when they want!!

 

[wednesday13]

i have 7 gar 3'' through 20".....the oldies about 3yrs at 15" and 20" and they eat when they damn near feel like it ha.... the little guys always eat. i even moved them into isolation from the other fish in their own 300 pond and they continue this behavior. sometimes they eat daily for a week and sometimes they eat once a month. i've noticed its usually when their growing they take a break and you can see them almost shed and their appitite grows after this period.

 

[timdo72]

sorry for the delay in response...i had actually started typing one day before yesterday but lost it.

your fish will be fine. gars and other predatory fishes go on feeding strikes frequently and for unexplained reasons. i had a FL gar that i didn't see eat for months...didn't really look any worse for wear, and then all of a sudden it started eating again (have seen this in bichirs as well).

given the pics, the fish looks fine. i would just offer up what it was eating beforehand, and if it eats, it eats, if not, then make sure there is some other fish to take the uneaten food OR remove it.

again, fish will be fine, so don't mess with it too much. it's old enough and in captivity so it won't need to eat very frequently if it doesn't want to. keep us posted on how it's doing, but i wouldn't be concerned if it doesn't eat for a few weeks to a month (even more). just keep tabs on its appearance and let us know if you notice any anomalies. good luck--
--solomon

Hi Solomon, when you said "months", how many months, do you recall? the reason i ask is that my FL gar is going on 2 months without eating so far. i am kind of worry too and just want to know how long can a gar go on without eating in general. i know there might not be a specific answer as to a # of months, but a close estimated # would be helpful. thanks.

 

[E_americanus]

Hi Solomon, when you said "months", how many months, do you recall? the reason i ask is that my FL gar is going on 2 months without eating so far. i am kind of worry too and just want to know how long can a gar go on without eating in general. i know there might not be a specific answer as to a # of months, but a close estimated # would be helpful. thanks.

mine may have been as many as 3-4 months...hard to recall exactly, but it was a long time. gars in captivity build up quite large fat stores, so theoretically they could go without food for quite a while without showing many ill effects.

does your gar look a lot different than those typically pictured on site? obviously it may not be as fat, but as long as the stomach isn't severely sunken in you should be fine. the fish will come around and eat when it's ready.

one last question...is this fish a young of the year (YOY) fish or is it 1 year+ in age? --
--solomon

 

[timdo72]

does your gar look a lot different than those typically pictured on site? obviously it may not be as fat, but as long as the stomach isn't severely sunken in you should be fine. the fish will come around and eat when it's ready.

one last question...is this fish a young of the year (YOY) fish or is it 1 year+ in age? --
--solomon

thanks solomon, and sorry bmm172, didn't mean to hijack this thread.

the gar looks fine and the stomach isn't severely sunken in. it's about 11" long. so 2 days ago, i got worry and separated it into a smaller tank by itself to let it has its own food and to see what happens. so the next morning i found it laying on the floor and i thought it was dead. i picked it up and it started to wiggle so i put it back in the tank and it seems to be fine about 5-10 minutes later. WOW i was shocked and so happy at the same time that it is still alive. the tank did not have a cover and that is why the water level was only half fill, but i guess it still jump out somehow, i was really surprised. i was glad that the tank wasn't sitting on a stand and it was just sitting on the floor so the low height helps the falling quite a bit i guess. i don't even know how long it had been laying on the floor, i am so curious and really want to know. now i will have to do some research on the lenght of time that a gar can survive without water. oh well, so i put on the cover and put in some feeders for the gar and it still would not eat them. then today, i found out that only 1 of the feeder is missing so i guess he finally ate just 1 feeder in 2 months now. well, hope more feeders will be missing soon.

 

[E_americanus]

thanks solomon, and sorry bmm172, didn't mean to hijack this thread.

the gar looks fine and the stomach isn't severely sunken in. it's about 11" long. so 2 days ago, i got worry and separated it into a smaller tank by itself to let it has its own food and to see what happens. so the next morning i found it laying on the floor and i thought it was dead. i picked it up and it started to wiggle so i put it back in the tank and it seems to be fine about 5-10 minutes later. WOW i was shocked and so happy at the same time that it is still alive. the tank did not have a cover and that is why the water level was only half fill, but i guess it still jump out somehow, i was really surprised. i was glad that the tank wasn't sitting on a stand and it was just sitting on the floor so the low height helps the falling quite a bit i guess. i don't even know how long it had been laying on the floor, i am so curious and really want to know. now i will have to do some research on the lenght of time that a gar can survive without water. oh well, so i put on the cover and put in some feeders for the gar and it still would not eat them. then today, i found out that only 1 of the feeder is missing so i guess he finally ate just 1 feeder in 2 months now. well, hope more feeders will be missing soon.

honestly you'd be better off just putting the gar back into its original tank...the moving around and small tank will just further stress the fish in most ways, and then moving him back (even if he starts eating again) may stress him out enough to stop eating again.

i'd move him back to the original tank and just keep an eye on it. the fish will be fine--
--solomon