Black Gar

[demjor19]

hey jordan,

in the case of your gar, it would be interesting to know a little about it's environment from which it came before you got it. usually darker pattern gars like this are coming from darker substrate environments, although diet, genetics, and other factors play into this as well.

yours looks quite healthy in the initial pic as it is, and i'm sure it's even better off now; i would not say those are stress colors. another issue is that yours may have changed colors a bit given the presence of the other gars...hard to say. the fact it went off live foods may have also been a factor, but it's hard to separate all the variables in some cases. do you remember what the substrate was like in it's former tank?

both of my Florida/spotted gars are currently in their lighter pattern mode right now, and have been this way pretty much since i got them (although my spotted actually started off gold...but that's another story ). it's been awhile since i've had a dark Florida/spotted, although many times the darkly patterned gar you bring home from the fish store turns light (especially in the case of Florida/spotteds) when it goes into its new tank.

at least the bottom line is that it looks like your gar was quite healthy going in, and is obviously doing well right now --
--solomon

i have no idea what his previous tank or substrate was like. i had an lfs bring him in and i bought him the same day at around 12-13". his diet for the first 3-4 months was feeder goldfish (i was a dumb noob). i didnt really notice the color change when i started to transition him from live to prepared...i think the change was right around when my g/f and i moved to ohio. we kept him in a tank w/ no substrate for the first month while we waited for our current appartment to become available (i think this is were we noticed the color change). after that month we moved him into his new home in the 180 where he has remained since then. maybe being in a barebottom tank for a month contributed? ...also maybe the stress of 2 BIG moves contributed?

p.s. our florida/spotted that had some gold on it ended up looking very much normal too.

 

[E_americanus]

i have no idea what his previous tank or substrate was like. i had an lfs bring him in and i bought him the same day at around 12-13". his diet for the first 3-4 months was feeder goldfish (i was a dumb noob). i didnt really notice the color change when i started to transition him from live to prepared...i think the change was right around when my g/f and i moved to ohio. we kept him in a tank w/ no substrate for the first month while we waited for our current appartment to become available (i think this is were we noticed the color change). after that month we moved him into his new home in the 180 where he has remained since then. maybe being in a barebottom tank for a month contributed? ...also maybe the stress of 2 BIG moves contributed?

p.s. our florida/spotted that had some gold on it ended up looking very much normal too.

i would say it was the bare-bottom transition that made the color change; the move may have stressed the gar a bit, but it wouldn't have stressed it into staying a particular color pattern permanently. either way, gars tend to go back and forth over the course of their lives in many cases, so you never know, maybe he'll go dark again. either way, i believe the non-substrate was the key trigger in this case.

the interesting thing about my spotted (i'll have to dig up the original early pics) was that when he was about 4-6" long he was just about all gold with a black sunburst dorsally (there was no question it was gold from the pics), it quickly transitioned though, as the rest of his siblings did as well. now all he has are two scales that remain relatively gold and stand out laterally--
--solomon

 

[demjor19]

i would say it was the bare-bottom transition that made the color change; the move may have stressed the gar a bit, but it wouldn't have stressed it into staying a particular color pattern permanently. either way, gars tend to go back and forth over the course of their lives in many cases, so you never know, maybe he'll go dark again. either way, i believe the non-substrate was the key trigger in this case.

the interesting thing about my spotted (i'll have to dig up the original early pics) was that when he was about 4-6" long he was just about all gold with a black sunburst dorsally (there was no question it was gold from the pics), it quickly transitioned though, as the rest of his siblings did as well. now all he has are two scales that remain relatively gold and stand out laterally--
--solomon

after typing my previous post i remembered he was in a barebottom tank for a short while and the color change made more sense to me.

thats really wierd about your gold gar. i'd like to see some before/after pics. the gar i had was just gold around the throat, breast, and snout. it started to fade the following day and he now shows no signs of gold.

 

[xander]

after typing my previous post i remembered he was in a barebottom tank for a short while and the color change made more sense to me.

thats really wierd about your gold gar. i'd like to see some before/after pics. the gar i had was just gold around the throat, breast, and snout. it started to fade the following day and he now shows no signs of gold.

GOLD?!

 

[demjor19]

GOLD?!

yeah. i had a gar that was about 1/3 gold and apparently solomon had a mostly gold gar. however they both turned out to be normal in coloration in the end.

 

[E_americanus]

yeah. i had a gar that was about 1/3 gold and apparently solomon had a mostly gold gar. however they both turned out to be normal in coloration in the end.

i'm looking for the old pics for comparison now...once you see them you'll see it was very different from the specimen you had...richard and i discussed yours for a bit sometime back, the jury is still out on this was just some variability given diet and or LFS conditions, but an unusual case nevertheless.

either way, with Florida/spotteds being farmed/harvested for the trade all over, the genetic abnormalities pop up more frequently, but even more cases of these 'transitional' specimens occur...and of course all end up becoming "normal" in the end. i have heard more than one case of gars going BACK to a gold pattern once they mature as well...so you just never know what is going to happen with these crazy fishes!--
--solomon

 

[demjor19]

i'm looking for the old pics for comparison now...once you see them you'll see it was very different from the specimen you had...richard and i discussed yours for a bit sometime back, the jury is still out on this was just some variability given diet and or LFS conditions, but an unusual case nevertheless.

either way, with Florida/spotteds being farmed/harvested for the trade all over, the genetic abnormalities pop up more frequently, but even more cases of these 'transitional' specimens occur...and of course all end up becoming "normal" in the end. i have heard more than one case of gars going BACK to a gold pattern once they mature as well...so you just never know what is going to happen with these crazy fishes!--
--solomon

this is funny. so this means that the gold gar being sold for much more money than a normal florida could just turn into a normal color morph?

 

[demjor19]

GOLD?!

here is a link to some pics of my gar...when it was kinda gold.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83885

 

[E_americanus]

this is funny. so this means that the gold gar being sold for much more money than a normal florida could just turn into a normal color morph?

yup, although the strong transitions from gold to normal usually take place when the gars are really young, so if one were to pick up a larger gold gar, chances are (from what we have seen in the past) are that it would stay gold, with moderate fluctuations around spawning season and perhaps some other periods. it's been known to happen though...even gold gars turning black!--
--solomon

 

[xander]

that's very nice!! more pics of gold gars are always awesome