Air breathing

[arowanaryan]

My gar goes up to the top to breathe air every 5-10 minutes. He's done so for as long as I can remember. This is okay right?

 

[HungDang]

this is normal!

 

[fwprawn]

Yes, that is completely normal!

 

[arowanaryan]

Just gotta make sure sometimes Thanks guys.

 

[jooster78]

Since you ask this question, I suppose I should tell you that they need to do that to breathe. Your tank lid should have some space above the water level.

 

[bobtan]

Normal,Ushould also have a cover with air spaces so that it wont jump out

 

[arowanaryan]

yeah I have a glass cover and he breathes fine... I just didn't know if this was his last resort and the reading I was getting on my water was incorrect

 

[RareExoticFish]

yes it is very normal.
They do it because they usually live in poor oxygenated areas, so they use there modified bladder to breath good air.
Your gar may do this less if you have more air lines in your tank.

see ya.

 

[Polypterus]

Frequency in the airbreathing of gars is directly proportional to temp and o2. Higher the temp the lower the o2 and the more the fish will switch to atmospheric air rather than gill respiration. Raising the o2 concentration in High water temps is not recommended with these fish as it confuses the fishes "sensors" that regulate this. What this essentially does is one part of the fish says o2 is fine so it does not need air but the other part is switching off the blood flow to the gills and routing to the Airbladder.. What happens next is the fish "drowns".... This is a quirky aspect of Gar physiology.

Airbreathing is also behavioral and frequently used for some unknown reason in a social context. Often when one gar surfaces they all will.

 

[arowanaryan]

Frequency in the airbreathing of gars is directly proportional to temp and o2. Higher the temp the lower the o2 and the more the fish will switch to atmospheric air rather than gill respiration. Raising the o2 concentration in High water temps is not recommended with these fish as it confuses the fishes "sensors" that regulate this. What this essentially does is one part of the fish says o2 is fine so it does not need air but the other part is switching off the blood flow to the gills and routing to the Airbladder.. What happens next is the fish "drowns".... This is a quirky aspect of Gar physiology.

Airbreathing is also behavioral and frequently used for some unknown reason in a social context. Often when one gar surfaces they all will.

very informative, thank you.