Cubans

[E_americanus]

Don't be sorry, I welcome anything that leads to more keepers of these gars.

I also have a question for Solomon or Richard, I was rereading the cuban gar growth blog on AP, and one things stuck out. It was tat seasonal variation in temps seem to trigger additional growth with them. Is there any more specifics that you can share. Best time to drop the temps, what temperature range, how long, etc.

we unfortunately don't have the specific info at this time, but funny you should mention it as i just got a new contact working on the gars in Cuba and will be touching base with her soon on a variety of topics.

that being said (and i am sure Richard can chime in on this too), i wouldn't drop the temp on them too much for too long. in their habitats (tropical and Cubans) the seasons are more divided into rainy and dry seasons, not so much summer/winter.

again, we don't have all the details yet, but i think Richard lets his fish get down to 65-70 for portions of the year, i usually don't go any lower than 70F. that being said, neither of us have really toyed with/monitored the growth with fluctuations much recently because of other work responsibilities (gars or otherwise).

at these early stages (relative to hobby fish keeping, not "early life" from a fisheries perspective) i think you are fine keeping them at constant temps...this is more or less how it would be in the wild during the growing season anyway. there would be a day/night variation, but that has been shown to be a negligible issue in several fish studies (most experiments will vary photoperiod appropriately, but keep constant temp).

your Cubans should be on track if they reach around 11-14" in the first year - keep in mind they grow much stockier than longer compared to other gar species.

MICHAEL - yes, will be in touch for sure. i have been meaning to shoot you a message, will do so via email since MFK PM boxes tend to fill up.

and back to KEVIN - yes, i was working with Below Water for my arrangements; glad you were able to get some, they were great to work with in terms of getting the fish (i also had plenty of other red tape to go through though!) --
--solomon

 

[pharmaecopia]

we unfortunately don't have the specific info at this time, but funny you should mention it as i just got a new contact working on the gars in Cuba and will be touching base with her soon on a variety of topics.

that being said (and i am sure Richard can chime in on this too), i wouldn't drop the temp on them too much for too long. in their habitats (tropical and Cubans) the seasons are more divided into rainy and dry seasons, not so much summer/winter.

again, we don't have all the details yet, but i think Richard lets his fish get down to 65-70 for portions of the year, i usually don't go any lower than 70F. that being said, neither of us have really toyed with/monitored the growth with fluctuations much recently because of other work responsibilities (gars or otherwise).

at these early stages (relative to hobby fish keeping, not "early life" from a fisheries perspective) i think you are fine keeping them at constant temps...this is more or less how it would be in the wild during the growing season anyway. there would be a day/night variation, but that has been shown to be a negligible issue in several fish studies (most experiments will vary photoperiod appropriately, but keep constant temp).

your Cubans should be on track if they reach around 11-14" in the first year - keep in mind they grow much stockier than longer compared to other gar species.

MICHAEL - yes, will be in touch for sure. i have been meaning to shoot you a message, will do so via email since MFK PM boxes tend to fill up.

and back to KEVIN - yes, i was working with Below Water for my arrangements; glad you were able to get some, they were great to work with in terms of getting the fish (i also had plenty of other red tape to go through though!) --
--solomon

Thanks for the info. It's in line with what I figured. My plans as far as that cooling period would probably be around the 1 year mark anyways, lots of time to do further reading on my part.

I also agree Below Water was really easy to work with.

 

[E_americanus]

Thanks for the info. It's in line with what I figured. My plans as far as that cooling period would probably be around the 1 year mark anyways, lots of time to do further reading on my part.

I also agree Below Water was really easy to work with.

yeah, i wouldn't mess with it until after the first year either...the most i do these days is just cut the heaters during the summer (that's mainly to save a little on power, haha).

we don't even have solid info on spawning/maturation for the fish...i should have more on that soon. from what little info we have, along with our own estimates, we would put them intermediate between the tropical and gator gars, with males maturing earlier and smaller as opposed to females. probably looking at 3-4 years for males, 5-7 for females (again, guesses based on just a bit of info so far...but more coming soon) --
--solomon

 

[pharmaecopia]

yeah, i wouldn't mess with it until after the first year either...the most i do these days is just cut the heaters during the summer (that's mainly to save a little on power, haha).

we don't even have solid info on spawning/maturation for the fish...i should have more on that soon. from what little info we have, along with our own estimates, we would put them intermediate between the tropical and gator gars, with males maturing earlier and smaller as opposed to females. probably looking at 3-4 years for males, 5-7 for females (again, guesses based on just a bit of info so far...but more coming soon) --
--solomon

Besides the added growth the main reason I would want to drop the temperatures would be cost saving. Though I was looking to do it over the winter, to allow me to cool some of the NAmerican gars more.

 

[spwd]

Cool buddy

 

[pharmaecopia]

Some more quick shots of the gars.

Made some changes to the setup as well today. I added some corkscrew val plants to the grow out to add more cover. More feeders were added. The feeders in the tank are currently being fed a mixture of spirulina enhanced flake food and a baby cichlid pellet. Hoping the gars might nibble at the pellets but I don't think I'll be that lucky. Got a third pH test kit, Live pH by mardel. It is a tester that in left in and continuously changes colour with the pH. This one is consistently reading at a 7.4. I think it's safe to say the seachem one is not working properly. And though there is a discrepancy in the other two test kits as far as the actual readings, they are both being consistent which is more important. I also did a 25% water change today, and plan to do these daily.

 

[MonsterMinis]

These guys are really looking NIce!

and Sol, you bet I did!.. and I deffinately will. Figured the more feelers out the better chance at obtaining one or more.

 

[pharmaecopia]

These guys are really looking NIce!

and Sol, you bet I did!.. and I deffinately will. Figured the more feelers out the better chance at obtaining one or more.

Thank you

I'm very excited, I dropped in some bloodworms for the in tank feeders and one of the cubans snapped at them. Spit them out right away but it's a promising start.

 

[pharmaecopia]

I quick update the two larger gars are not both 6", the two smaller ones haven't really grown they have fattenned up though. I'm continuing to do large daily water changes and have been trying to add some pothos plants to the setup as well. I'll try to post some updated shots this evening.

 

[xander]

sounds great, how much are they chowing down?