Gar Laying on Bottom

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Lineloadedride

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 2, 2013
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Ohio
I picked up a Florida longnose gar a few days ago, and ever since I turned on my powerhead, he has been spending a lot of time laying on the bottom. Could this be a result of the water disruption as gar tend to swim on the surface? Also, I am having trouble getting the gar to eat anything besides feeders like brine shrimp or bloodworms, etc. Any recommendations?


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Gars will chill at the top or the bottom they don't really care, mine mostly sits on the bottom and waits for food to swim past him lol. Also gars can be a pain to get off live foods, ive tried many time to get my gar off live foods up to a month without feeding before I would cave in and feed him. Best thing to do is get him on a good pellet diet this will give him a healthy long life.
 
How strong is the flow in your tank? Any strong weather or earthquakes in your area?
 
Joao M said:
Is it a YOY (baby) or is it already over 8-10"?
What about tank size and tankmates?
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x2.. I suspect since you mention brine and bloodworms this is still a yoy fish and live food 24/7 access to food is a must for growth. Gar will also utilize the whole tank not just the top. My guys tend to sleep either at the top or the bottom... no rhyme or reason. but you may also have to much flow for him atm. my larger fish tend to not have issue with greater flow but juvies ime prefer a lower flow rate. tankmates may also be bullying the fish, or your water perameters may be off, I've found excessive nitrates will cause listlessness particularly in yoy gar.
 
He is about 7 inches and the I believe the power head may be putting out too much force, anyway I can lessen the output? And there are rarely earthquakes and if there are, we can't feel them.


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I am still a novice in gar keeping - have been keeping a group for ~6 months - so take my advise with a "grain of salt". Having said that:


feeding:
- At 7" he still needs to eat a lot so it would be advisable to have feeders available 24/7;
- Even admitting he is already mature - but somehow stayed small - brine shrimp would not be appropriate for a 7" gar (if for any fish other than fry...extremely low nutritional value). You may try chopped (defrozen) lancefish or mussels. Mine started with chopped lancefish (cutting at the belly level to expose the guts and "scent" the water) and are now taking chopped mussels and pellets with no issues;

Flow:
- Maybe the flow is excessive. But I see my gars resting in the bottom of their growout tank more than at surface. Perhaps you could use a weaker powerhead for some time so he can adjust

tankmates:
- plecos are not good tankmates.... they may suck the gars slime coat and kill them.
- oscars aren´t also good tankmates. Yours will grow fast and as soon as he attains size, he will bully the gar (even/specially if he gets bullied nowadays).
So I believe you have to choose between these 2 and the gar

Hope this helps
 
Lineloadedride said:
Currently he is in the tank with a 5 inch oscar, and a pleco. He pleco doesn't both him and if anything, he is bullying the oscar.


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Click to expand...

I had the same reaction with fl. gar & Oscar. Most gar keepers would advise against cichlid and gar being kept together.

Oscars & Gar are horrible tank mates for so many reasons I can only give you the tip of the iceburg!

Your Oscars will do far better on a low meat diet but will take the meaty foods the Gar requires greedily leading to HITH in your oscars.

? With you feeding live in the tank to your LNG are the oscars devouring the feeders also? If so immediate removal would be highly advised for their long term health.

Do the Oscars ever "steal" the live feeders from the gar during repositioning for swallowing? If so, the positioning on the bottom is likely a reult of that!

Not trying to be a negative, but it can also be simply a matter of time the the gar is resting on the bottom until the Pleco starts sucking on it's slime coat and reducing it's immune system causing serious challenges with the gar.

I would highly advise removing the gar to it's own tank/ pond. Sunfish & Bowfins make better native tankmates for Gar and Bichirs make excellent non-native tankmates if geographic tank setup is not a concern.
 
The thing w/ plecos and slow moving fish like gar and polys is the pleco, if he happens to land on the poly or gar, and enjoys the slime coat, youll wake up to one mess of a gar. Ive been told of setups w/ plecos that worked out for over a year, then one morning the gar and bichir both had the slime coat taken off

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