Gar-Den II - 2011 - a brief look...

[E_americanus]

i hate to be "that guy" who only has crappy cell phone pics and video to share, but that's all i had time for today. here is a quick shot and brief video of the latest additions to Gar-Den II (they are still a little scuffed up from shipping/netting, but are doing well). see if you can ID some of the other fishes as well

hopefully this poor contribution to media will make me shoot some better video and pics in the not-so-distant future, but for now...

brief video:
[YT]nBf8lm8EnVs[/YT]

quick shot of new fish:

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

gar tank of my dreams

 

[screaminleeman]

Beauties all!

Is the smallest gar in the picture a hybrid? My goodness that is an incredible pattern for a longnose, or an incredibly long skinny snout for a florida or spotted!

 

[xander]

awesome sol, all i can say is that croc II is RIDICULOUS

 

[Madding]

Pattern on the croc II seems to be fading but it is still totally stunning with the black/white

 

[KNH]

Looks good to me Solomon. How about a list of occupants as well as current size and approx age?

 

[E_americanus]

thanks for the comments guys, i promise i will get better pics and video up sometime in the (relative) near future. actually working on some modifications to the tank tops right now, which will allow greater breaching room for the gars, particularly the croc II.

madding - yeah, the croc II has gone through a more drastic metamorphosis in patterns than any gar i have ever seen/kept. unfortunately all Atractosteus gars tend to "uglify" as they get older and reduce from pattern to almost uniform olive/gray/brown (Cubans are of course already uniform, so they don't change much - but if you look at big gators and really big trops, their lack of pattern is quite similar).

i'll have to put together a set of photos of the pattern changes of that gar over the years; he's getting up there in age...

KNH - thanks man, and here is the info on size and age - some of them are tighter estimates than others as we took some fish out last year for measurements.

Gar-Den II INHABITANTS:

Australian lungfish - ~22-24" - ~5 years old
Cuban gar (male) - ~18-20" - ~8 years old
Cuban gar (male) - ~18-20" - ~8 years old
Florida gar (wild-caught) - ~20" - ~5 years old
Spotted gar (wild-caught) - 18" - 3-4 years (best guess)
Spotted gar (wild-caught) - ~20" - 4-5 years (best guess)
Tropical gar - ~15" - ~3-4 years old
Tropical gar - ~17" - ~3-4 years old
Crocodile gar "type II" - ~24-25" - 7 years old

--solomon

 

[Wiggles92]

Awesome gars, Solomon! I need to make a trip up to where you are to actually see them in person sometime.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

nice list!

BTW whats up with primitivefish?? its the same as lepisostidae.net. All the extra pics of the species are gone


PS thanks for the pic of the medius. I need one!!

 

[E_americanus]

Awesome gars, Solomon! I need to make a trip up to where you are to actually see them in person sometime.

thanks ryan,
if you are ever headed up this way let me know and you can definitely check out the fishes - probably in the labs too (although i will have consolidated more by then...just too many for one person to manage at 3 locations right now). hopefully i will make it to ONU at some point this spring as well--

nice list!

BTW whats up with primitivefish?? its the same as lepisostidae.net. All the extra pics of the species are gone

PS thanks for the pic of the medius. I need one!!

thanks man; will get some more pics of the medius specimens up there in the future. as for primitivefishes.com, i posted about the updates about a month or so ago
basically moved it to a newer, cleaner format. there is still a lot more to be added (including more photos) but that will take time. for now, the format is more similar to LEP.net as i am starting with the nat history info and will move on to captive stuff later down the line. other than bichirs, all the species ID is there (will eventually be adding sturgeon and paddlefish too).

rest assured much more will be coming...it's all about having the time to do so!--
--solomon