Florida Gar Outdoors

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Vicious_Fish

Vicious_Fish

Here fishy fishy fishy...
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2007
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South Central...
I have a 1000 gallon + pond at my disposal. Could I keep my Florida Gar in there all year round? I would have a pond heater on of course. I live in Southern PA. I got the idea from my neighbor who keeps his gold fish pond covered in the winter with what looks like a short transparent, plastic tarp greenhouse. All he has on it is a de-icer and the water stays in the high 40's with the air temp inside around the 50's. I guess if I had to I could bring him inside in the winter. What do you guys think?
 
I know florida gars can stand lower temp water than many other fish such as ones from SA and such. I found this out doing water changes over the winter with cold water going in my tank and realizing the water was way to cold for the heater to heat it back up fast enough. Other fish were flipping out and I had to move them to another tank that was already warm but the gars were fine.

But I don't know how low. I'm guessing in the 50's or so but really only way to find out is to research the area they're found in or to test one yourself and see how low of a temp it can withstand. And that's not saying they'll eat at that temp.
 
i wouldnt risk it, but it should be alright if you get a pond heater
 
I love my gar, he's my prize fish. The only problem is that he's getting too big for his tank and I don't really have any money at the moment to by him a new on. I do have a 200 gallon stock tank I can put him in. I was figuring on putting him in the pond in the summer and bringing him inside and keeping him in the tub in the winter if I had to.
 
no way! you live in pennsylvania! your pond water will be in the 30's-40's for several months through winter. i have heard of floridas doing ok in the low 60's for short time, but not near as low as you are going to observe.

pond heaters dont do that much. my parents had a pond heater on their koi pond and all it did is keep a melted hole in the ice throughout winter. i highly dont recommend it! i am also from PA.
 
I'm not talking about using a de-icer on the pond. I talking about using a heavy duty heater. My dad works for a water treatment company and he can get my all kinds of nifty stuff that you can't get at most pet/fish stores. And by covering the pond with a transparent tarp, the greenhouse effect would help keep in the warmth. I'm not saying I'm going to go through with this, just seeing what people think or have experienced.
 
its your fish not mine...i dont like the idea and i personally value my fish more than that, but it may work.
 
go ahead and put him in the 200 stock tank
 
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