Brackish Gar?

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PhysicsDude

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Aug 18, 2011
190
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Dallas, TX
2 questions. I want to make a 180 gallon brackish tank (72 X 24 X 24)

Will a gar (florida gar?) be happy to maturity in a 180 gallon tank? Is it big enough? The tank will be very understocked with plenty of filtration.

I've read in a few places that gars can tolerate marine/brackish water. I know there are several threads about large alligator gars living in marine environments, but what about something smaller like a Florida Gar? Perhaps starting the tank at SG 1.00 then slowly raising it to ~1.01 or 1.08 SG within 6 months? Can they live in brackish water indefinitely or will it have bad long-term effects?

I'm don't have my heart set on a Gar, but right now its either Gar or Archer Fish, and Archers are really cool fish, but just don't have the mean look of a nice gar.

Thanks!
 
PhysicsDude said:
The main source I'm going off of is this one:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/faqs/brackish/FAQ4.shtml

Though I can't find many other sources to confirm this. I also realize it says spotted gar instead of florida gar, but I understand they're very similar and spotted gars are hard to come by.
Click to expand...

Oh, wow, much of the info from the gar section from that link is frighteningly inaccurate and/or ill-advised (e.g. gars with cichlids, among other things).

I wouldn't try it since gars are primarily freshwater fishes that tend to only venture into brackish waters from time to time. Also, what else will be kept with the gar(s)? There really isn't any need to keep a gar under brackish conditions if that's all that will be kept with it.

I'm pretty sure that there was a reasonably in-depth discussion on this fairly recently, so I'll see if I can dig it up.
 
Okay, I located the important part of said discussion on gars and brackish/saltwater conditions:

E_americanus said:
yeah, several gar species are quite tolerant of brackish and saltwater conditions (obviously with acclimation and potential population-level adaptation). LNG, ALG, SPG, and CBG are all well-documented in brackish and in several cases full saltwater. Of all the gar species, SNG seem to be the least adapted to non-freshwater conditions, although that species is found pretty far inland and historically westward too. TPGs are the only gars that extend into Pacific Coast drainages, but their salinity tolerance is not well understood--
--solomon
Click to expand...

Pejelajarto said:
Missed FLG Sol :) which oddly seems to not care to move around in Brackish or salt conditions.. Kind of bizarre for a fish that lives on a piece of land surrounded on three sides by Ocean... It is what it is..
Click to expand...

Based on this bit of info, it seems that a Florida gar might not be the best choice for a brackish gar aquarium.
 
yeah, gars in brackish for the sake of gars in brackish is stupid (for lack of more eloquent terms). if you are using other fishes, such as archers, it will work for a little while until the gars eat the archers. although i have seen 14" archers in the wild (personal experience in oligotrophic lakes in Australia), no archer will get that big before a gar gets big enough to eat it in captivity--
--solomon
 
There's a method to my madness. I want a stingray, but they are illegal in TX, so I'm considering a brackish set-up with an atlantic ray and an over-filtered understocked tank. Also would like a "freshwater" moray eel or 2, which is really a brackish-marine fish.

I also had my heart set on freshwater barracudas, only to find out they are also illegal in TX! So I'm trying to find an exciting carnivore for brackish water, of which I don't think the Gar is suitable for brackish. Still trying to decide my options.

Thanks for the information!
 
Can it happen yes kind of....

Would your Gar thrive? No! Would he survive? yes... I don't think anyone would agree with it but in the end it's up to you. It's almost the same thing as keeping a fish in a tank way to small he would survive but it would be miserable and it's well being wouldn't match what it would be if he was in a FW tank
 
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