Egg bound gar questions

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Zoodiver

Zoodiver

As seen on TV
MFK Member
Aug 22, 2005
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South FL
Have any of you had any runs is with situations like that? Long nose and short nose females getting egg bound - leading to death?
They are in a mixed sex group (a rather large one). I really know nothing of spawning habits of these animals.... can anyone give me a crash course or some suggestions?

Thanks.
 
hey matt,

can you palpate the area to stimulate release of eggs? gars spawn so rarely in captivity (even public aquaria) that there isn't much info out there on egg-bound situations. in fish farm situations i would guess they have a way to remove the eggs or just sacrifice the female. any photos or size info would help us advise you further.

in dealing with swelling and retention of fluid, giving the gar a treatment in epsom salts has been effective in the past (we've done this even with valuable specimens with success).

good luck and keep us posted--
--solomon
 
Zoodiver;1529194; said:
Have any of you had any runs is with situations like that? Long nose and short nose females getting egg bound - leading to death?
They are in a mixed sex group (a rather large one). I really know nothing of spawning habits of these animals.... can anyone give me a crash course or some suggestions?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Matt
Can not say I have seen anything like this. Usually if the fish does develop mature eggs they should either spawn or strip them on their own. They do not Typically retain mature eggs within the body cavity and references of them doing so are to my knowledge not in existence.

The only close to this thing that I have seen was with a large old female longnosed. We do not know though if the fish died because it was egg bound or if it just happened to have died of natural or another reason while possessing eggs. I have caught adult female Longnosed that would readily strip eggs when caught and palpitated with a minor amount of pressure.

Regardless of the lack of published, Experiential or anecdotal information I would be very much interested in further information from you on this to have a record of it. I know I can likely speak for Solomon on this also as this is as of yet not something that has any amount of record to it.
 
The fish are rather large (3 foot or more). There was a case of several females dying about the same time. Not connectable in any way but that they were all packed with eggs. No other results pointing to cause of death from the necropsy.

Catch up and stimulation to release is more or less out of the question. The staff that is working with them doesn't have the experience in doing so and it's not exactly something you can teach over the web - though I'd love to teach them how.
Salt regimine would be great as well - but we're looking at 220,000 gallons and other animals in the tank (fish and reptiles).
I'll see if I can get more informantion.

What info is out there about wild spawning? Do they lay in grassy/planted areas? Rock surface? Open water?
 
i read in a thread over at AP that they need some current and swim against it while spawning. i'd link you to it(it's a gator farm over at mexico) but AP seems to be down at the moment.
 
it's pretty old, but you should be able to find it. richard and sol might be able to help. good luck finding out what happened, and keep us posted!:)
 
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