gar going crazy

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demjor19

demjor19

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 17, 2006
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my 12-13" florida gar keeps swimming up to the glass and then starts to thrash his head back and forth against the glass. sometimes he does this so hard i can hear it in the other room!!! the first two to three weeks he was fine and now this is happening. does anyone have any advice on how to stop him from doing this. im afraid hes gonna end up breaking his jaw or back!!! :confused:
 
The first obviouse thing to do (I'm sure you've done this) is check the perameters.
 
my ph is around 7 and the temp is 75. it was 80 but i cooled it down to try and slow him down a bit. so i dont think its any of that. ive also tried different lighting such as black lights and turning the lights off. ive added a pleco and a crayfish to the tank and that was roughly the same time i noticed him doing this. could that be a reason or not? he doesnt seem to pay any attention to them though.
 
First, UNPLUG EVERYTHING going to the tank. If he immediately calms down, plug one thing at a time back in. When he starts freaking out again, you'll have found the appliance that's shorting to the tank.

If a short is the actual problem.
 
never thought of that. i did just put a heater in the tank. but its been in there before he started doing this. but ill def. give that a shot. thanks alot!
 
Mine did the same thing and ever since that week he stopped doing it but now I have to feed him using a pair of tongs.I have to wave the food in front of him to get him to eat anything. I dont know if its related but something to look out for. He also just lays on the bottom of the tank and sleeps all the time and prefers the tank be dark. I have no idea what caused it either
 
TankBuster;633910; said:
Mine did the same thing and ever since that week he stopped doing it but now I have to feed him using a pair of tongs.I have to wave the food in front of him to get him to eat anything. I dont know if its related but something to look out for. He also just lays on the bottom of the tank and sleeps all the time and prefers the tank be dark. I have no idea what caused it either
Click to expand...

mine has not eaten since this has occured. well i did get him to eat one small feeder guppy but its not enough for a fish that size. although when i first got him he went through a spell where he didnt eat for a while. his coloration is fine and he has plenty of swimming space. hes in a 75gal tank. im really stumped
 
TankBuster-
What are your tank perameters??
 
Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and give a possible cause.

The pleco....

The type of behavior you are discribing for a gar clearly states it is irritated by something and it wants away from it. If it is not as Oddball stated a faulty electrical device...Which is a very plausable situation....It could be harrasment from that Pleco.

Plecos are very well known to be opportunistic parasites on the slime layer of fishes, particularly with slow moving fish. The behavior your discribing is identical to the reactions I get from tilapia after a stay with a group of Ochmacanthus a Mucus feeding catfish. The Tilapia after a short bit become very aggitated and easily disturbed, they slam into the sides of the tank and swim endlessly in corners or on the front glass.

This to me sounds alot like your gar and the correlation to this starting shortly after adding that pleco makes me think it is a good thing to look at.

Try pulling the pleco for a week or so.....

I'm not saying this could be the only cause for this behavior, but it sounds like it is not out of the realm of possiability.

Another question that may be of use in diagnosing this:
How often do you do water changes? and of what amount?
 
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