documenting my Alligators growth rate (w/pics)

[Wiggles92]

Finally back from south America and boy was I surprised when I saw the gar. And the rest of the tank inhabitants. My rtc alone seams to have gained at least a lb. The gator gar is ATLEST 18" he has surpassed my Florida in length. More though he has gotten much thicker and his skittishness has demenished slightly. When I lean over the edge he comes right up to the surface to c if u r food. Lol. I'll post pictures soon. A little busy at the moment to get some decent ones.

So in recap in 3 months and 22 days he has gone from 2-3" to 18". That broken down is about 5" a month or .16" per day avg. That is in comparison to my rtc a well recorded fast grower that went from 2" to 24" in 6 months. Or 3.6" a month avg. 28% slower growth than a alligator gar. Just something for the average gar enthusiast to consider before purchasing a small one.

Awesome! Pictures will definitely be great to see when you get the chance to post them.

 

[tigeroscar1996]

im loving this thread! pls get more pics up soon.

 

[spwd]

Wow that is some nice growth bud,pics ASAP.



Steve

 

[mqktandy]

couple quick pics. Ill get better ones for measurement purposes later but for now I have a quick question about his snout. I checked on him this morning and found him looking like that. My initial hypothesis is that he was prob trying to catch one of the convicts and banged it up on a pvc pipe. What do you think. All other pond inhabitants are perfectly fine.

 

[kevinfleming21]

awesome! Looks to me he was sticking his snout under a rock fishing for convicts and got it rubbed a little.

 

[E_americanus]

yeah, no permanent damage, but that rock is pretty rough, probably scraped it up on that or possibly the PVC. if you have something besides that rock you can use for the same purposes, i would replace it.

that being said, gars are bound to scape themselves up in captivity from time to time; i would just adjust accordingly if he repeats the injury. great growth on that fish, nicely done!--
--solomon

 

[mqktandy]

Ok sounds good. Glad he's not in to scrapped up. He just gets so excited to hunt the little fishes sometimes.

E_americanus. Im interested to know how my gar compares to a wild gator gar in regards to growth rate.

 

[Garlover]

One of my oscars got beat up pretty bad last week and this week he has healed up perfectly fine and looks good again. Its hard to believe how fast they heal.

 

[longislandfish]

Fish Heal Like Wolverine. Nice Size Gar !

 

[xander]

thanks for the update! keep sharing and hpoe the gar recovers well. remember to increase the temp, keep the water clean & no meds!