So today I was doing a partial water change on my gar's pond and instead of avoiding or swimming away from my hand, he actually towards me and was parallel towards my hand. I noticed that he'd still stay after I've touched him with my wrist so I actually wondered if he'd allow me to stroke him. I stroked him on his lateral, dorsal, and ventral sides and he just stayed there. Because of his docility, I decided to grab a rosy red by the tail and handfeed him. Sure enough, he ate 2 rosy reds from me by hand. I've had cichlids in the past when I kept them rush the top of the tank to devour pellets, fish,etc. but never a fish that would be as docile and calm as this one. Is it normal for gars to be this placid?
Gar Intelligence
- Thread starter KillaFish
- Start date
KillaFish;4399671; said:
Yes, gars become very aware of who owns them and quickly lose any fear around that person. Just make sure not to touch it too much, as excess contact is not good for the slime coat.
Oh and a fair warning - my gar now bite my fingers if I attempt any such shenanigans, thinking it is food.
I avoid hand-feeding anything w/ pointy sharp teeth =D But my Gars are very intelligent fish, and that is part of my attraction to keeping them.
All of my Gars (LNG & Florida) allow me to touch them and all have taken to being hand fed. My 20" LNG even lets one of my Buddies touch it.
As a side not, I feed all the fish in my Gar-Den by hand with the exception of the albino Channel Catfish, which simply has not never taken the next step from taking meat from a wooden skewer. The same buddy who has gotten my larger LNG to take food from his hand, though that the two Bowfin in the tank were placid like the Gars are. It took less then a second until his index finger was down the Bowfins mouth to the first knuckle. I LMAO!!
As a side not, I feed all the fish in my Gar-Den by hand with the exception of the albino Channel Catfish, which simply has not never taken the next step from taking meat from a wooden skewer. The same buddy who has gotten my larger LNG to take food from his hand, though that the two Bowfin in the tank were placid like the Gars are. It took less then a second until his index finger was down the Bowfins mouth to the first knuckle. I LMAO!!
MonsterMinis;4405331; said:
Yeah, these guys really are and I think once I can visibly see his teeth, I'll stop handfeeding since he's actually breaching out of the water to get the rosy reds and comets.
It's like letting a large breed of dog as a puppy crawl on the couch and your lap.. It stops getting cute after awhile, and becomes more of a problem.. There is also a video around here of someones gator gar being dangerously interested... This is why they also make feeding tongs for reptiles ect.. these work well w/ fish too =)
MonsterMinis;4406602; said:
LOL, well atract or lept, I think once any gar gets to be 14 inches or so, the bite is quite noticeable. Hate to get bit by any gar over 4 feet. There are reports of 5 feet long florida gars killing 3 feet alligators and I recall one story of a 9-10 feet long alligator gar killing a 4-5 feet alligator. Perhaps there are just fisherman tales, but I wouldn't want to screw with a 5 feet long florida gar and a 9-10 feet alligator gar is definitely not something I'd like being too interested in me.
KillaFish;4407294; said:
most are fish tales...no such thing as a 5'-long FL gar. 9-10' gator gars aren't even seen anymore, but they could eat small alligators.
have you been on this forum before killafish? some of your posting style sounds familiar...--
--solomon
E_americanus;4407381; said:
Nah, I joined early August ( I believe the 4th or 5th, it was either the day I bought my gar or the day after). I'm still relatively new at this but I do a lot of reading,especially during breaks at work.