Cool Pickup!!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Congrats on the new pickup Jordan!!!
Nice lookin shorty! I have complete faith that in your hands he will be fattened up in no time.
Good luck on the prepared food conversion.
 
Polypterus;1761136; said:
Given the fish is two years old you are in for one tough conversion that is really going to require the Famous Phrase "Patience and persistence".. With luck though it will see that your other gars are eating well and then want to take food from them. In this case it may quickly turn around. Shorty's are naturally pretty competitive fish so that little switch might just go off that tells it "Hell no you ain't eating that if I'm here"... (Immediately afterwards the "shred every fin in the tank" switch will go off...)

Still though I would highly suggest you start by just getting some food in the fish. Go to the local bait store and pick up some big minnows and let him stuff himself. Try to drop the fish one at a time at the surface just to get him used to "food comes from above".. I would not try to starve this fish in it's current condition.

BTW it is a good chance you will not get the fish to take food from a stick.. Shortys are quite paranoid and if not trained this way at a very young age they will always view objects they can not ID with distrust. Still worth trying and continuing to try though. Employing As many different methods as possible will lead to the eventual success..

Edit: I think your gill curl situation may correct it self with improved feeding and water quality. Tough to say though as this has persisted in a few Tropicals and the cause and direct cure seems to be elusive. Surgery is not recommended at this time. These fish are not Aros and we are not sure about how this will effect the fish as no trials have been conducted as of yet with these fish...
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thanks for all the great info...as you know i have no experience with these guys and they seem to be the craziest of the gar. this one keeps racing along side of the other gar as if it is trying to see what they are doing. i am going out shortly to pick up some baitfish. i'll update if i have any luck.

also richard, say this gill curl was caused by poor diet and living conditions...would that make it a more likely case to heal? as i said in the pm...this fish was in a terrible environment and was on a very sparce and poor diet.
 
ani-mal-lvr;1761240; said:
Congrats on the new pickup Jordan!!!
Nice lookin shorty! I have complete faith that in your hands he will be fattened up in no time.
Good luck on the prepared food conversion.
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thanks for the kind words and confidence! i can tell you now that this fish is not going to be easy to get converted.
 
How's that gar, has he at least taken some live fish? That could be tricky since I'm sure the other gars will indulge themselves too.
 
CTU2fan;1763999; said:
How's that gar, has he at least taken some live fish? That could be tricky since I'm sure the other gars will indulge themselves too.
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i threw in 2 dozen feeders and the shortnose didnt go after any...he didnt even seem too interested. the trop had a great time though. :grinno:

i'll try a few more things tonight...:popcorn::nilly:
 
Why not pellet train them? I manage to train mine to accept floating pellets and foodsticks.:D
 
Koji;1764448; said:
Why not pellet train them? I manage to train mine to accept floating pellets and foodsticks.:D
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are they 16" shortnose gar that have been eating feeders their entire lives? if so let me in on your secrets! training gar on pellets is generally easy....it's just this fish that wont eat. i normally have a new gar on prepared foods within the first or second day i have it. this one is just plain stubborn!
 
also richard, say this gill curl was caused by poor diet and living conditions...would that make it a more likely case to heal? as i said in the pm...this fish was in a terrible environment and was on a very sparce and poor diet.
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It should help now that conditions are changed.. I have had a gator that had this issue due to poor water and diet and it cleared right up. On the other hand I've got a Tropical with this that gets a great diet and very good water.. Hard to say what is the trigger for this in Gars..
 
demjor19;1764003; said:
i threw in 2 dozen feeders and the shortnose didnt go after any...he didnt even seem too interested. the trop had a great time though. :grinno:

i'll try a few more things tonight...:popcorn::nilly:
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Yeah I'll bet he did. Surprised he didn't go for the feeders, maybe still acclimating to things...at that size he's probably pretty set in his ways, maybe not used to other gars etc. Please keep us updated...not a lot of shortnose keepers around (compared to FL/Sp, LN, and even gator keepers) so I'm hopeful that yours works out.
 
CTU2fan;1764526; said:
Yeah I'll bet he did. Surprised he didn't go for the feeders, maybe still acclimating to things...at that size he's probably pretty set in his ways, maybe not used to other gars etc. Please keep us updated...not a lot of shortnose keepers around (compared to FL/Sp, LN, and even gator keepers) so I'm hopeful that yours works out.
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ive been waiting a long time for this opportunity, so you can bet ill do everything i can to make it work!
 
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