florida gar?????

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

candle1212

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 1, 2009
188
0
0
uk
sold to me as a florida gar i was told it was wild caught and has not eaten for 3 weeks yet, its with other sa/ca cichlids in a very large tank they get on better than i thought they might, not to keen on live food and would like to ween him on to other things any ideas??

Picture 004.jpg
 
should be FL gar, spotted gar look similar to FL gar but rarer! try feed him some small fish!
 
the others get there very fast tried white bait hand full lol, only been used to live food i think my dat took 6 weeks to take food, will eat all frozen food but no pellets,.
 
i have now moved him to another tank to feed him up abit idont know how starved he was to start with .he ate 10 platys 5 danios what did you guys start your gars on frozen/pellets ?,how long did it take for you? it was 6 weeks to get my dat to take bloodworm now he eats any thing bar pellets
 
Well let's look at this real quick....

The information from original post:
1. has not eaten for 3 weeks yet
2. its with other sa/ca cichlids in a very large tank
3. they get on better than i thought they might

Post#3
1. the others get there very fast

Post#5
1. i have now moved him to another tank to feed him up abit idont know how starved he was to start with .he ate 10 platys 5 danios

Post#6
1. well that was faster than i thought he ate 2 dead white bait tonight

Now look at this closely... Was this problem The Gar or was this problem all just husbandry error ?????? Ask yourself if this rather small sized Gar was really doing better in the big tank full of cichlids... Was it really? It seems to come up often that for some reason it is the Gar that is flawed in some way.. "It just won't eat", "It won't take this food or that food", It has problems.... More often than not the problems are not with the fish it is with how the fish is being kept in the first place..

This post should literally be a sticky just because it illustrates many of the common flaws in keeping Gars and then really... without assistance... shows very clearly the effects of removing that fish from that very wrong type of environment to the right one and the effect that has on the fish.

Now just apply a little patience and some persistence in offering them and that fish will likely be eating pellets in a week.... No starving needed.

You have a great looking FLG there BTW!
 
Hello there, I am brand spanking new to this website, but have been freshwater commercial fishing in FL for 5 yrs now, and selling bait for 3 yrs. Honestly, in all my time catching shiners and freshwater grass shrimp, Ive had first hand experience with gar and there eating habbits cause most of the time Im catching in my net after they have just about scared all the bait away. When I bait shiner, I tend to keep dead baby shiners on hand at all times in order to diffure any gar in the approximate area from impeading on my hole and scaring all my potential bait away. A good friend of mine who has kept an alligator gar at home in his tank for years has always fed small farm raised shiners to his gar and has never had an issue eating. You can pick up small or medium farm raised shiners at bait shops for around 8 dollars a dozen and that will last a week. I would feel the gar out on weather or not he is a lazy eater, or an aggressive eater by puttin a dead and live shiner in the tank at first, and once you have figured out how he eats, continue the feeding once a day the same way and he should be fine.. I hope this information was helpful
 
all good info thanks, i should have put him in a tank of his own to start with new fish and all that lol ,most other ca/sa cichlid might take a week or to to settle in but hes a gar !. i will feed him up to start with and get him used to taking my food i can get hold of and then try him in the main tank again when he eats more openly .he was ok in there they all ignored him.he just wasent use to my food as well as moving home i think..he not thats small 8-9 inch may be.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com