Catching gar for your tank

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weston

weston

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 14, 2015
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I'm just wondering if this is possible I heard someone mention it before but never paid much attention to it now I want to know weather or not the gar would survive the stress or take food in an aquarium once captured?
I enjoy fishing even though I haven't been in some time and I thought about going fishing (just catch and release) but if I catch any of the right fish (size/species) I might have to bring some home with me Is this legal to do I've seen people with wild caught tanks on this forum before? also what do people use for bait etc. when fishing for gar I just recently thought of this after seeing a really nice looking 2 foot gar in the San Marcos's river when I was searching for a place to catch a large male Texas cichlid for my tank any ideas?
 
I would think if you caught a small enough gar it would eventually settke in and begin to feed.What about the Texas,did you catch any?
 
krichardson said:
I would think if you caught a small enough gar it would eventually settke in and begin to feed.What about the Texas,did you catch any?
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I've found a spot where I've seen a bunch but I haven't actually taken a fishing pole or a net to try yet I'm sure I'll catch some as there are a lot of Texas in this area of the river but who knows. Also I'm not sure on the species of gar I saw its almost camouflaged from above with large spots some almost connecting and a very short stout body and nose I thought maybe alligator or true spotted? It's an incredibly beautiful fish whatever it is I would like to catch one maybe closer to a foot in length as the ones I saw were 2ft or more in length and I doubt they would come around in an aquarium. It might be a week or two before I get around to it but I'll post pics of what I catch and probably a couple more of the fish keep in their tanks.
Thanks and if you have any idea of the idea of the gar I mentioned that would help me out a lot.
 
Sounds like it might be spotted gar that you are seeing based on the pattern you are describing. Pictures would definitely help to confirm this.

Size of the fish really shouldn't have too much bearing on how well it will adapt to an aquarium. Provided you have a large enough tank for the fish. Wild caught Florida gars are frequently available in the hobby and generally adapt to captivity without issues.

One thing I recall being mentioned in the past is to try and minimize meds on newly caught specimens until they have settled in and are eating. Fish lice are the main parasite I would keep an eye out for.

One last thing I would encourage you to look into local laws regarding keeping native fish, to make sure you are doing everything legally.
 
pharmaecopia said:
Sounds like it might be spotted gar that you are seeing based on the pattern you are describing. Pictures would definitely help to confirm this.

Size of the fish really shouldn't have too much bearing on how well it will adapt to an aquarium. Provided you have a large enough tank for the fish. Wild caught Florida gars are frequently available in the hobby and generally adapt to captivity without issues.

One thing I recall being mentioned in the past is to try and minimize meds on newly caught specimens until they have settled in and are eating. Fish lice are the main parasite I would keep an eye out for.

One last thing I would encourage you to look into local laws regarding keeping native fish, to make sure you are doing everything legally.
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It's a spotted gar it looked just like this one but bigger. Should I be allowed to keep one?

image.jpeg
 
weston said:
It's a spotted gar it looked just like this one but bigger. Should I be allowed to keep one?

View attachment 1189199
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There used to be a member on here hungdang who was from Texas and had a number of spotted gars he had caught himself. I don't recall if he is active anymore. I don't imagine there would be an issue with keeping these but I'm not 100% sure about the laws in Texas.

I know where I'm from you are not allowed to keep native caught fish in an aquarium, so I always caution making sure you follow local laws.
 
I suppose it may depend on your state but here in FL you can absolutely catch and keep one. I have caught many gars and put some in tanks. They are incredibly tough. I have seen them put in a 24 hour tap-water (untreated) bath to quarantine them quick. I wouldn't advise it, but the gar didn't even seem to care.

They quickly adapt to frozen fish in captivity. We used to feed ours frozen sardines caught from the bay. As for bait, live fish work well. Artificials can work too.

A tip for catching them is to put a piece of pantyhose on your hook. They have hard mouths with very little to hook onto, but their teeth will often get stuck in the pantyhose.
 
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Pomatomus said:
I suppose it may depend on your state but here in FL you can absolutely catch and keep one. I have caught many gars and put some in tanks. They are incredibly tough. I have seen them put in a 24 hour tap-water (untreated) bath to quarantine them quick. I wouldn't advise it, but the gar didn't even seem to care.
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One would imagine that petco might someday try selling them for some rather large fishbowls ;P
 
gar are adaptable to a multitude of situations, and you need to check your local ordinances for natives. I'm one of the native keepers you spoke of in the OP, but I checked,re-checked then called my local Game Commission to check a third time on keeping species.

In PA the law is you can keep any game fish of any size providing you are using it as bait. That means ALL game fish can be kept at any size regardless. I asked the guy whether this meant I could take them home and raise them in a tank and he said that's a grey area since its legal to own PA natives in PA but you didn't technically take them for bait.

Double check your laws, if they are legal fish to keep then go get one. Gar are the one native I haven't been able to catch and keep here yet either. The ones that take bait here are way to big for my tanks lol
 
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