Gar newbie

[Younglin]

If you raise your own feeders I do not suggest convicts. They are easy to breed and all but I love convicts and hate to see people use them like that.

 

[E_americanus]

If you raise your own feeders I do not suggest convicts. They are easy to breed and all but I love convicts and hate to see people use them like that.

um, that's just your opinion and has no factual influence on the topic of raising your own feeders. we even raised convicts as potential prey items for our experiments. they are easy to spawn and are safer than buying goldfish.

if the OP wants to set up a tank of "home-grown" feeders i would highly suggest convicts as an option--
--solomon

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

If you raise your own feeders I do not suggest convicts. They are easy to breed and all but I love convicts and hate to see people use them like that.

thats about all convicts are good for

 

[NocturnalX]

i think convicts are a little big for my 6" gator as of the moment.
and i noticed that he doesn't really chew the prey into little pieces before eating it.
he just holds it into his mouth and make sure it's dead before he swallows it whole.

so i'll try to feed him shrimp for now, while i set up a tank to grow convicts to become feeders when my gator gar grows bigger
solomon said that i have to keep the convicts in a high quality diet in a month or two before feeding them to my gator, so probably that time my gator is big enough to swallow convicts whole.

@Younglin
sorry
but i solomon highly suggests it so i think i'll go for it.

@Lepisosteus platyrhincus
that's too harsh man.

but if it's a joke, it's a good one lol

 

[Younglin]

i think convicts are a little big for my 6" gator as of the moment

You feed them to him when they are babies. Like 1 inch or so. Or even smaller if necessary.

I think convicts are great fish. Mine have gorgeous fins and colors.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

i think convicts are a little big for my 6" gator as of the moment.
and i noticed that he doesn't really chew the prey into little pieces before eating it.
he just holds it into his mouth and make sure it's dead before he swallows it whole.

so i'll try to feed him shrimp for now, while i set up a tank to grow convicts to become feeders when my gator gar grows bigger
solomon said that i have to keep the convicts in a high quality diet in a month or two before feeding them to my gator, so probably that time my gator is big enough to swallow convicts whole.

@Younglin
sorry
but i solomon highly suggests it so i think i'll go for it.

@Lepisosteus platyrhincus
that's too harsh man.

but if it's a joke, it's a good one lol

nope not a joke. its the truth.

 

[E_americanus]

You feed them to him when they are babies. Like 1 inch or so. Or even smaller if necessary.

I think convicts are great fish. Mine have gorgeous fins and colors.

i'm no cichlid fan, that's for sure, BUT i definitely don't fault people for liking various kinds of fishes different from those that i like. i will admit that they definitely develop great colors (especially when fed good food) and i do enjoy watching their behavior...and they are a heck of a lot easier to spawn than gars (then again most fishes are).

and you're right, when using them as feeders you feed them to the other fishes when small...gars are quite gape limited, so once the convict moves past an inch or two they will be hard for a juvenile gar to take down, but if you have a good spawning pair, you should have a steady stream of available small fish to feed your gar frequently.

supplementing with frozen foods such as shrimp, fish, etc will also help (or you can make the feeders the supplement and keep the frozen as the staple). gator gars are like garbage disposals, so it won't take much effort to get the fish to eat any of these items--
--solomon

 

[Polypterus]

i'm no cichlid fan, that's for sure, BUT i definitely don't fault people for liking various kinds of fishes different from those that i like. i will admit that they definitely develop great colors (especially when fed good food) and i do enjoy watching their behavior...and they are a heck of a lot easier to spawn than gars (then again most fishes are).

and you're right, when using them as feeders you feed them to the other fishes when small...gars are quite gape limited, so once the convict moves past an inch or two they will be hard for a juvenile gar to take down, but if you have a good spawning pair, you should have a steady stream of available small fish to feed your gar frequently.

supplementing with frozen foods such as shrimp, fish, etc will also help (or you can make the feeders the supplement and keep the frozen as the staple). gator gars are like garbage disposals, so it won't take much effort to get the fish to eat any of these items--
--solomon

Have to say Haplochromis obliquidens (Astatotilapia) SP. 44 always where the best feeders around here in my corner lab. Could at least enjoy them for a chiclet...And I'm also no Chiclet fan... That and they breed like rabbits which is always useful.
Gambusia also are a very useful fish but they seem to be hit or miss to many. A little tricky to cultivate but if you can give extra attention they are worth looking into.

 

[Younglin]

For feeders I suggest guppies. Add floating plants and and fish and voila.

 

[mrwinkle]

For feeders I suggest guppies. Add floating plants and and fish and voila.

grow much slower than convicts though