i had such a hard time trying to get him off feeders until i found on simple way, my gar ate mostly rosy reds and i had some freeze dryed shrip around i was like hey those to a gar might look like rosies. turns out he didnt even investigate it, just flat out attacked it. so if ur having trouble try freeze dried shrimp
easy way to get gar off feeders
- Thread starter skimmy518
- Start date
take a long skinny object such as a very thin dowell, piece of acrylic, metal coat hanger (straightened out), etc...attach a piece of shrimp or whatever to the end of it. lower the shrimp into the tank in front of the fish. if necessary gently wiggle the shrimp around in front of the gar (to mimic live prey). it shouldnt take much for the gar to grab it. after getting the fish to take a few pieces off of the feeding stick, you can start dropping them into the tank in front of the fish. eventually he will start taking them on his own.
good luck.
good luck.
demjor19;1582017; said:
Agreed. I used the coat hanger method (about 20min after I first got him
) and he took a wiff and then bit it. Has been happily ever after.....Market Shrimp and occasionally Feeders.
JMO... I think they are the easiest fish to get off live foods...
demjor19;1583054; said:
Actually this method works very good and is the exact technique I use for Shortnosed gars and Cubans. Shortnosed are very skittish and will not readily approach things on sticks.
There are multiple methods and techniques and all have there place and use with different fish. I've never found that just one technique alone is 100% effective.
Most gar truly do not need much coaxing to take prepared foods 80% of the time just drop some food in and they take it right away. In more difficult cases the Key is just to be patient and persistent. Just keep offering a good variety of foods persistently they get the idea and take it.
Polypterus;1584125; said:
my gar have other tank mates, so using the feeding stick is the best way for me to get them started. if i just throw food in, it will be gone by the time the gar warms up to it. once they start taking prepared foods (off of the feeding stick) they do fine with just throwing the food in. with a single speciment tank or even species only im sure just throwing the food in does work great. so im not saying it doesnt work, i'm just saying it wont work in all situations.
demjor19;1584130; said:
Jordan "Stick feeding" does not work in every situation either, which is my point... There are multiple methods by which this can be done. I'm also not saying any particular method or technique will not work. They all do work to some degree but none are 100% effective all the time.
There are a few constants in all methods and techniques and that is try different foods, Have patience and be persistent about it.. I have always found being elastic about feeding technique while being doggedly persistent is where you get the greatest chance for success. Still to this day I have never had a gar that would not take prepared foods.
Your technique works for you, skimmy518's works for him/her, Mine works for me... None are wrong and none are 100% effective for everyone... but it sure is good to know what works for whom so each of these techniques can be implemented as an option if need be..
Polypterus;1584882; said:
i agree with the above 100%. patience and flexability are the two most important things when it comes to weaning a fish from live foods. i too have never had a gar not take prepared foods...although my longnose tested my patience.
i just throw in hot dogs and see if the gars take those...
...but really, nice to provide several feeding options for those interested (and what should be practiced) in getting gars on to non-live foods. i agree that fish for fish longnoses have been challenging for me in the past, but a few of the recent specimens i have had have really taken to non-live quite well...i think another aspect to add to this collection of options is that gars will often make the switch even faster/more aggressively if there are other gars already trained (or just in the process of training) in the tank along with them. this sort of fish learning from fish happens with a lot of different species--
--solomon
...but really, nice to provide several feeding options for those interested (and what should be practiced) in getting gars on to non-live foods. i agree that fish for fish longnoses have been challenging for me in the past, but a few of the recent specimens i have had have really taken to non-live quite well...i think another aspect to add to this collection of options is that gars will often make the switch even faster/more aggressively if there are other gars already trained (or just in the process of training) in the tank along with them. this sort of fish learning from fish happens with a lot of different species--
--solomon