Four tropical gars, one florida gar, ~12"-15"

thebiggerthebetter

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Our first gar from the year 2010, Florida gar, a rescue from an LFS with a gnawed tail fin:

gar 1.JPGgar 4.JPGSynodontis euptera 8.JPGSynodontis nigriventris 1.JPG


Our early gar exploits 2009-2013:

Alligator, Florida:


Alligator, Florida, longnose:


...

I got 5 gars in Aug-Sept 2015, 4 tropical (three common and one mexican variety, I was told by the vendor) from Primo Aquatics in Orlando, and 1 spotted gar from Shark Aquarium's George Fear that I believe turned out to be, unfortunately, the very common florida gar. $200 for 3 tropicals (picked up; the mexican one was a freebie) and $40 before shipping for the FL gar.

I've never had a real spotted gar and I am still looking. On top of being largely unavailable, they appear to be immensely hard to tell from FL gar, especially at smaller sizes. The gill to eye distance described in a science article is said to have been proven unreliable in the ID, or so some experienced MFK-ers are saying. Location of capture is said to be the most reliable indicator because their ranges do not overlap that much (?). IIRC, there is also an issue of (man-made or natural or both?) hybridization that complicates this further.

The tropicals were about 9"-10", the mexican smaller, ~7" and the florida was small, ~4". This was my first experience with the tropical gars. Never saw them for sale before or after. The tropicals that I got are kind of ill-suited for captive life. They are clumsy, slow, both slow-moving and slow-witted. IDK if they are all/most like that. The FL gar is the opposite.

The 3 common tropical gars have been feeding ok but growing very slowly. They are only ~14"-15" today after 1.5 years. The biggest problem was the mexican. On my oversight, its head spent some time in a tummy of an apurensis catfish tank mate, the gar was found impossible to swallow and was spit out and the catfish promptly removed, but the gar lost its skin pouch on the lower jaw altogether. The skin was burned by stomach acid and fell off little by little and the jaw was just a pair of bones with nothing in between them. I thought it'd not make it but it did and the pouch grew back but doesn't look right, as you will see from the video below if you look carefully - the mexican gar is in the first frames of the video. The mexican gar struggles to swallow whole bait fish because of it, so it's still the smallest at ~12" today.

The mexican has also been the sickly one from the beginning and has gone through several bouts of eye-affecting illnesses even before the incident with the apurensis catfish. The latest bout started a few months back and its left eye looks ill and perhaps blind now. I am not so sure it sees out of its right eye or how well it sees. The poor guys can't catch a break :(

Until a month ago, they all have been in a 240 gal; now in 4500 gal, much more relaxed, less skittish. They don't care for strong current, furniture, and too small a tank width for comfortable turnarounds.

The 4 tropicals have been fed only pellets before I got them, I surmise, because to this day they seek out pellets far better and are slow in feeding on bait fish, something I have never been met with before having kept long term alligator, FL, and long-nose gars in prior life.

The tropicals are often hungry and hence they are beggars, that's for sure. Ill-suited beggars. I struggle to train them to eat well.


...

Our gars from 2009-2011 in a 4000 gal basement pond 40'x6'x3'. Alligator, FL, longnose:


100_2355.JPG100_2364.JPGCroca French 1.JPGcurrent residents.JPGGars 1.JPGGars 2.JPGgroup 4 (2).JPGgroup 6.JPGgroup 7.JPGgroup 10.JPGgroup 16.JPGTwizzers.JPG
 
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thebiggerthebetter

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The more I hand feed them, the less they hunt for anything during feeding.

I don't get these fish. So clingy and not grasping... It's like raising daisies in winter...
 

suckerfish

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Daaaaamn that's a sheet load of fish. Love it! What do you mean common vs Mexican? Trops come from Mexico down to Honduras ( some say). Wouldn't you rather have a relaxed gar than a skittish gar?
 

thebiggerthebetter

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Daaaaamn that's a sheet load of fish. Love it! What do you mean common vs Mexican? Trops come from Mexico down to Honduras ( some say). Wouldn't you rather have a relaxed gar than a skittish gar?
Thank you.

I have not looked into tropical gar distribution. I am merely repeating what the seller told me - Primo Aquatics, Orlando, FL branch. I appreciate your info. I suspected that much because I fail to determine any substantial differences between the "common" and the "mexican".

I am not sure what you are saying with your question. Elaborate, please. They are not skittish, just awkward / slow-witted.
 

E_americanus

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I look forward to checking out your video; wanted to address the Spotted vs Florida Gar and Tropical Gar - "common vs. Mexican" items first:

1. You are correct, true Spotted Gars are actually quite rare in the hobby. Mainly because not many are interested in them, and Florida Gars, nearly identical in appearance, are readily available. With locality data one can determine if the fish is a SPG vs FLG, but without that, there are only a few nuanced characteristics to look for (for those of us who have seen many specimens of each), and even those are not 100% reliable (one way is, but it's not safe for captive fish - dead fish, yes). There is a hybrid zone for both species, but really what you are seeing 99% of the time in the hobby is a FLG (re: fish that look like Spotted or FLG). Hope that reiterates some of the info you've already learned (and yes, the 2/3 "rule" does not actually hold up in practice, and certainly not in captive raised fishes).

2. There is really no such thing as a "common" vs. "Mexican" Tropical Gar. Nearly all the TPGs that are in the hobby are from farms in Mexico. TPGs span Mexico south to Costa Rica, but TPGs from other countries are almost never available in the hobby. There are several pattern variants that are coming from the farms in Mexico, but most of them will converge on the same adult pattern as they grow (juvenile patterns are where the variations are).

Sounds like a great collection of fishes regardless; will check out your video now!--
--Solomon
 

thebiggerthebetter

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I much appreciate the solid info that I can rely on, Solomon! Thank you so much.

I suspected that about the tropical gar but now it feels 100x better when I am sure.

And I guess I will end my quest for a spotted gar, if it looks that close to Florida one. I've been aiming to collect all 7 existing species but I keep losing the ones I had (gator and long nose), cubans are too rare and expensive, spotted are "impossible" to ID.
 

E_americanus

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I much appreciate the solid info that I can rely on, Solomon! Thank you so much.

I suspected that about the tropical gar but now it feels 100x better when I am sure.

And I guess I will end my quest for a spotted gar, if it looks that close to Florida one. I've been aiming to collect all 7 existing species but I keep losing the ones I had (gator and long nose), cubans are too rare and expensive, spotted are "impossible" to ID.
Hi Viktor,
Glad to help however I can! With Spotted Gars you can likely collect them in the wild (check local laws first) as they spawn in shallow water and the young of the year (YOY) remain in those areas until they reach 6-10". In Florida, most gars that look like Spotted Gars are in fact Florida Gars (unless you head out toward the panhandle), but across the border in other states SPGs can be relatively common.
If you are mainly going for aesthetics, however, a Spotted Gar and FL Gar look very similar, so other than "having all 7 species" (which, I will admit was a quest for me and I understand its appeal) won't make too much of a difference in the appearance of a collection. Cubans are pretty rare these days, and it looks like they will be tougher to come by. Hope that info at least helps a bit!--
--Solomon
 
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thebiggerthebetter

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It helps tremendously, Solomon, especially from someone with gar knowledge authority and a fellow gar hoarder :)

Where would you suggest to search/see a current and reliable spotted gar distribution map so that I am dead sure if I see a gar there, it must be spotted and in no way any other?
 
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