Hey guys. I've always loved gars (and polypterus) but ultimately chose to make my new 180g an African Cichlid tank ( with little to no regrets other than when i look on here and see everyone's gars/polys/rays). At the LFS, i found a 4" "South American Gar" that looks awsome and is taking frozen without a problem, along with some similiar sized polypterus. I'm really tempted to buy them and grow them out and setup a gar pond down the road but it probably wouldnt be for at least a year. Do gars grow slow or are they rapid growers?
Gar growth rate
- Thread starter Lunker101
- Start date
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144154
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146592&highlight=growth+rate
there's something called a search engine...go check out the rest on yr own
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146592&highlight=growth+rate
there's something called a search engine...go check out the rest on yr own
Either that or it's a gar with the SA part of the name attached in error by the LFS...
Couple of dead giveaways...if it's got a forked rather than round tail it's not a true gar. Also if it has an adipose fin (small fatty rayless fin behind the dorsal) it's not a true gar. True gars also have ganoid scales (like the scales on a polypterid) while the false gars will not. For me anyway those are the easiest tells to look for.
Anyway you could keep true gar with polys, just watch out for huge size differences. You could possibly keep some of the false gar type fishes with polys also, I know I've seen folks with hujetas and needlefish with senegal polys but I haven't actually kept those so I can't swear to it.
Unless it's an alligator gar it shouldn't get much over 15" in a year so you'd have time to build your pond. If it's a false gar most of those don't get over 12" at all so you wouldn't need a pond at all.
Couple of dead giveaways...if it's got a forked rather than round tail it's not a true gar. Also if it has an adipose fin (small fatty rayless fin behind the dorsal) it's not a true gar. True gars also have ganoid scales (like the scales on a polypterid) while the false gars will not. For me anyway those are the easiest tells to look for.
Anyway you could keep true gar with polys, just watch out for huge size differences. You could possibly keep some of the false gar type fishes with polys also, I know I've seen folks with hujetas and needlefish with senegal polys but I haven't actually kept those so I can't swear to it.
Unless it's an alligator gar it shouldn't get much over 15" in a year so you'd have time to build your pond. If it's a false gar most of those don't get over 12" at all so you wouldn't need a pond at all.
xander13;1891954; said:http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144154
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146592&highlight=growth+rate
there's something called a search engine...go check out the rest on yr own
I am thinking about getting a spotted gar that is supposed be 4-5" and am doing my research before I decide. So anyway did a search and found this thread with these 2 links...
One of them says they grow ~1"/month and the other is stating ~2-4"/month. So my question is which is more realistic?
I would like to put one in a 300G tank with peacock bass ranging 6-8". I know how fast pbass grow.
itsalmosteasy;2111729; said:
not a good idea to put a gar in with pbass. the bass will stress the gar.
city_of_evil6661;2112137; said:
I have seen them together in so many tanks. My buddy even has a 16" Florida gar in with his 15-17" monocs.
What is everyone else's take on this and growth?