Florida Gar

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at 7" there is a good chance its a true Florida gar. i know you already decided to pass on the fish, but i figured i would contribute a bit to the thread as well (since i missed it!)

at 7" a Florida gar will generally have a longer snout than a spotted gar, their spotting is also different, but these diagnostics are so subtle that its hard to explain and even challenging to show in a photo.

as Chad said, the Floridas can get quite large...although in the wild a spotted gar will also reach a max of about 44". the one that Chad has is probably a few years old. its good to figure, as ming said, that any gar will grow to around 12" in its first year, some will grow much more. i bought an alligator gar at 4" last August and later shipped it to Chad, it isn't even a year old yet and the fish is TWO FEET long! the alligator gar, however, is also the fastest growing species of the gars.

a 55g tank is ok for a gar up until its about 8-9", and even that is pushing it. as P45 said, they aren't eels and need a lot of turning room. if a gar gets startled and hits the tank head on at full speed they will sometimes break their backs (which is fatal or so debilitating that they need to be euthanized).

hopefully that added a bit. sorry you had to pass on the gar as they are great fishes; in the future, however, if you get a larger tank you should definitely look into picking a gar up!--
--solomon
 
based on what's listed in your signature, I don't think the gar will make a good tankmate anyway.
Click to expand...

He'd have gotten his very own tank to himself, silly :P

Too bad, he's so cool.
 
I'm sure there's plenty of online fish distributors who would be happy to sell you a gar when you do get the tankspace..
 
I avoid ordering online like the plague. The only reason I don't have a million more fish than I do now, is limited selection...if I start ordering online, that takes away my safety barrier ;) Besides, I don't know about other fish sites because all I keep and have looked into ordering are cichlids, but there aren't many in Canada that are worthwhile anyway.
 
Ah, I'm completely a cichlid girl at heart. Occasionally I try something different, but within a month I'm trading them in at the fish store for more cichlids. That gar though...not something I would have gotten bored with.
 
E_americanus said:
at 7" there is a good chance its a true Florida gar. i know you already decided to pass on the fish, but i figured i would contribute a bit to the thread as well (since i missed it!)

at 7" a Florida gar will generally have a longer snout than a spotted gar, their spotting is also different, but these diagnostics are so subtle that its hard to explain and even challenging to show in a photo.

as Chad said, the Floridas can get quite large...although in the wild a spotted gar will also reach a max of about 44". the one that Chad has is probably a few years old. its good to figure, as ming said, that any gar will grow to around 12" in its first year, some will grow much more. i bought an alligator gar at 4" last August and later shipped it to Chad, it isn't even a year old yet and the fish is TWO FEET long! the alligator gar, however, is also the fastest growing species of the gars.

a 55g tank is ok for a gar up until its about 8-9", and even that is pushing it. as P45 said, they aren't eels and need a lot of turning room. if a gar gets startled and hits the tank head on at full speed they will sometimes break their backs (which is fatal or so debilitating that they need to be euthanized).

hopefully that added a bit. sorry you had to pass on the gar as they are great fishes; in the future, however, if you get a larger tank you should definitely look into picking a gar up!--
--solomon
Click to expand...
Agreed indeed! I would suggest a gar to absolutely anyone who could properly house and mantain it. I was a little apprehensive at first, but after owning one I would have to say that "they are by far my most favorite fish of all time" as far as aggression and size goes. Absolutely a wonderful fish!
Sadly, I found out that in Pa. the Spotted Gar is illegal to own and is on the endangered species list, so I may not own one but I do have a Florida (wink ;) wink) Gar! I would like to breed these, with permission of course, and release them back into their natural habitat, but I doubt that ever happening because of beaurocrasy and the like. These are magnificent creatures and need to be treated with the utmost of respect and I wish whole heartedly the our local fisherman would not injure or kill these fish. I would love to educate the fisherman on this and possibly get an artical in the Pa. rules and guidelines to fishing.
 
Gar latin names:

Genus Atractosteus

Alligator - Atractosteus spatula
Cuban - Atractosteus tristoechus
Tropical - Atractosteus tropicus

Genus Lepisosteus

Florida - Lepisosteus platyrhincus
Longnose - Lepisosteus osseus
Shortnose - Lepisosteus platostomus
Spotted - Lepisosteus oculatus

Hope that helps. :)
 
I have a Florida Gar in a 55 gallon. It's close to a foot long and seems to be fine swimming around my tank. I also have Firemouth cichlids, Dempseys and convicts in there and everyone gets along fine. The only thing I have noticed it sometimes his snout gets hung up on the heater if he turns around real quick. I'm moving up to 150+ gallon tank after I move next month. So you COULD get it if you think you won't see another one for awhile.........but the 55 won't be big enough for long. :drool:
 
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