Alligator Gars in coldwater ponds

[FLA]

As for my recommendation I don't see anything wrong with the alligator. To me they are cool but not the most interesting fish for many of the reasons mentioned, unless you could get a platinum. For something more space appropriate indoors would be the longnose gar or the Florida gar. I think the Florida will handle the temp as they go pretty far north into central Georgia. The longnose will definitely handle the temp. Personally, I like the pattern on the Florida better. What every you get, put a bowfin with it. They are fun to feed, and I like the dorsal action when they swim. If you can find a gold gar they are cool too.

If the question was about legality in Florida, then I would keep anything but the alligator gar.

not my pic

 

[Mr. Crocodile]

I didnt even know this was a thing until a guy on a whatsapp group on shared his pond with gators frozen over last week. He's in the UK like me and its always cold here But his have fine now and this is their second winter

The only point he does make is that its a very boring pond!

Does he keep gators outside in uk??

 

[Simonas]

Does he keep gators outside in uk??

he does mate there was a vid on you tube on mickfishlads channel this year. The owners on a whatsapp group I'm on hes had them a while

 

[Dégatdeau]

[QUOTE="I cannot keep gar...all species are illegal in my province...but if I could I would put a Longnose into my 360-gallon tank and be happy as a clam.
[/QUOTE]

Is this because of the Winnipeg responsible pet ownership law that we heard about a couple years ago or has it always been this way?

 

[jjohnwm]

No, they've apparently been verboten for quite some time now, although I only found out about it recently myself.

 

[Dégatdeau]

No, they've apparently been verboten for quite some time now, although I only found out about it recently myself.

It's not as if gars were invasive. They are found in the wild here

 

[jjohnwm]

Yeah, Longnose were common in Southern Ontario, and Spotted were apparently in a few places. None in Manitoba.

 

[Dégatdeau]

Yeah, Longnose were common in Southern Ontario, and Spotted were apparently in a few places. None in Manitoba.

I meant the country as a whole. SM bass are not really considered invasive anywhere even if they appear somewhere they were not historically, right?

 

[jjohnwm]

In order to be properly considered invasive, a species must be shown to reproduce explosively and harm native species either directly or indirectly (by outcompeting them). I'm sure there are a lot of introduced species that have gained a foothold and are now naturally reproducing, but aren't drastically changing or affecting the local ecology of their new adopted home. But the definition is pretty subjective, in terms of how much a species can do before being considered damaging. Maybe there are areas where SM Bass are considered invasive; I don't know, but it's possible.

I didn't learn of the ban on gar by carefully poring through mountains of government papers; I simply asked my LFS about getting some and was told about it there. The guy is pretty trustworthy, as well as being very much on top of his game; he does a lot of importing and mail order selling so he needs to watch the minutia of legality.

There are also many jurisdictions that forbid the live release of any bait fish at the conclusion of a fishing trip, to prevent the introduction of a particular species into a particular lake or drainage even if that species is abundant one valley over.

So, as one Canuck to another...watch your P's and Q's. With each passing day and each new ban and new law, Canada is becoming more and more a place where everybody is technically a criminal...because it is more and more difficult to simply get through a day without running afoul of the law in some way.

I hate living in a cautionary tale.

 

[neko1]

i caught sm bass in europe (france) what i found really weird. Babys as well as adults. So i quess they are kinda invasive.