alligator gar?

[vinson lim]

i have a question. not to go off topic. but why do you guys want a gator gar so bad? obviously knowing how big they get? do you guys have huge tanks??? not trying to offend you just curious.

yea, i agree wat demjor19 said. Ali gar grows pretty fast and big in several months... huge tank is needed indeed.

 

[odalisay]

yea, i agree wat demjor19 said. Ali gar grows pretty fast and big in several months... huge tank is needed indeed.

Maybe it is because we do have big tanks or maybe because we are MONSTER FISH KEEPERS!!!!!!

 

[neoprodigy]

hello,

sorry you were mislead, unfortunately a lot of LFS do not know how to properly ID their gars, and i can definitely sympathize as this has happened to me when ordering fishes several times. now i generally ask for a photo confirmation of the fishes (or at least from the same group) that the supplier is sending out, at least this way i can be sure i'm getting the right fish. again, sorry for your luck, and hopefully the right species will soon be available. i am awaiting photo-confirmation from at least one supplier right now, and will let you guys know what i find out.

as for ID'ing juvenile gars, people like myself and richard (polypterus) study gars quite closely and frequently get together to discuss all the species. either he or myself (i am sure there are other individuals that could help out too) can definitely ID very young gars down to genus (Lepisosteus or Atractosteus) and can usually give a well-educated guess as to what species you have, so if anything comes up, feel free to post a pic!

i also have a juvenile gar ID key that you can check out here:
http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2739
(mods if there is any sort of violation with the link post, feel free to remove)

hope that helps!--
--solomon

cool sol, can you post the an ID thread on MFK

 

[Fish Novice]

from what i heard (just heard...) that the Atractosteus group had 4 rows of teeth on their upper. and the Lepisosteus had only two rows of teeth. someone correct me if im wrong.

ive actually oppened up the mouth of one of these guys (from the same source) to see and it was hard to tell but it looked alot like 4 rows of teeth. so i assumed it was a gator gar or at least a Atractosteus

 

[demjor19]

from what i heard (just heard...) that the Atractosteus group had 4 rows of teeth on their upper. and the Lepisosteus had only two rows of teeth. someone correct me if im wrong.

ive actually oppened up the mouth of one of these guys (from the same source) to see and it was hard to tell but it looked alot like 4 rows of teeth. so i assumed it was a gator gar or at least a Atractosteus

i think Atractosteus has two and Lepisosteus has a single row.

 

[Polypterus]

i think Atractosteus has two and Lepisosteus has a single row.

Once upon a time I thought this was a good lay persons way to distinguish the fish......Then I started going around the country catching the fish, looking at Museum collection and generally looking at every gar around.

Both Atractosteus and Lepisosteus have two rows of teeth. In Atractosteus this second row is larger but unless you really knew what you where looking at you can easily mistake Lepisosteus gars as having two big rows as well. This is at best a secondary characteristic that cannot be used alone to ID the genus..Body and snout proportions, combined with locality, are the most effective methods to determine genus.

 

[demjor19]

lol! yet again i stand corrected...so my florida has a secondary row of teeth?

 

[fivespeed302]

I hope you have a 25,000 gallon pond for them when they get to be about 6 feet long

 

[demjor19]

I hope you have a 25,000 gallon pond for them when they get to be about 6 feet long

theyre not gators! florida gar max out at like three feet captive and ive never seen one in person over two.