Gar with Armatus? (yes or no)

[E_americanus]

Well I have to say the opposite with a lot of you guys (I'm not saying it aggressively, but with my experience).
I have 3 8-9" Tats, 1 6.5" Ray, 1 12" Spot Gar and 1 6" Silver Aro not to mention 1 5" Common Pleco.

The first fish I threw in my tank was the Gar @ 6" with 2 VATF'S. Absolutly not Problems (little over 1 yr housed). Once the ATF'S left (some fish were overlapped with the ATFs), I added the rest of the fish (been about 1yr to as close as 2 months since adding the fish I just said). I have no problem with my gar!!!!!! He and the aro sometimes chill on the top level of water together and no aggression what so ever!!
Maybe I just got a good gar with a melow personality (I hope) but he is the 2nd fastest growing fish in the tank and probly the melowest fish (aside with my feeder sucking pleco).

Vamp. I think we have the same type of Ray? I say go for it.
And I also say the more time you leave the Armatus solo, the more territorial he will get. An Armatus is a fish that can only be housed solo (until WooChu prooved everyone wrong with 3 Armatus, P/Bass, Hoplias Wolf, BristleNose Pleco, 1 Tat, Bichirs and Huge Goliath all in one Tank, and all had good size!).
A huge Aro is probly the price of 2-3 large Gars and Gars have thicker layers of skin, so should be able to take more (as far as time to move him or heal).

Vamp, I say it is very well worth the try (just like someone had a Puffer and a Ray housed and it was a success. But that is a WAY to darring for me).

that's great if it has worked in your experience, but i would never recommend the exception to the rule to someone else. the common pleco with the gar is in itself a poor combination given the countless amounts of info/posts/threads on the dangers of plecos with gars. i had a gar living with a common pleco for well over a year before any slime sucking occurred (which eventually ended up with the gar dead).

also, putting a gar through a potentially (or likely) damaging situation just because it has tough scales is irresponsible fish-keeping at its best. knowing that a fish will likely get beaten up yet putting it through said damage is not something that should be advised to others.

arows with gars often work, i am not arguing that, and in many cases one has to take the individual fish into account with what will work and what won't. however, when there is a statistically skewed amount of info and experience saying otherwise, than it is just plain unwise (and often irresponsible) to try said combo. why not throw in a large African lungfish and see how things go?

i guess in the end people are going to do what they want to do...that's how these things seem to often end up here...advice is requested and when an overwhelming number suggest against a combo, just one or two votes for the combo surprisingly tend to win out. it's tiresome a best, and horribly irresponsible at worst (at least from the POV of the fish).

may as well go for it, i think the original idea was to use an alligator gar, so get a 12"-18" specimen in there and see what happens...--
--solomon

 

[West1]

I agree with it being irresponsible...
I guess I'm just trying to make my point with my experience with a Spotted Gar.
I have had success with my combo (I did the combo not knowing people have failed, thats probly why I'm amped to tell someone it works). And I only said about the Gar getting hurt and layer of skin.....bla blabla... cause I'm sure we all judge the fish we want to add with the fish we have and think of what if???? So I just spoke out loud and If I knew there was a lot of negative success I would of worded it diff.

I think it is worth a try, plus If I remember correct, he has more than 1 tank

 

[Nic]

If any fish gets messed up it will be the Armatus and maybe motoros. Gar will weather both of those out..An Armatus can not harm a gar larger than it's self.. Issue is none of these fish are very compatible. A gar of any species generally will cause issue with any silvery fish smaller than it's self and in some cases larger. They can not help themselves but to take a wack at them.

An Armatus is nothing but a big gizzard shad to them. Given the sensitive nature of Hydrolycus and the sensitivity of them to bacterial and fungal issues it would just be a bad idea to risk the fish for no reason.

i was figuring the gar being able to fit in the armatus mouth... small gar larger armatus mix.... the link posted the pix of michaels tank... mike gets lucky with crazy fish mixes....

 

[vamptrev]

with all the replies, i dont think im gonna chance it.

my armatus is going to take up the whole tank in a few years anyway.

ill keep collecting rays

 

[fish tamer]

dangrus nice size tank

 

[demjor19]

with all the replies, i dont think im gonna chance it.

my armatus is going to take up the whole tank in a few years anyway.

ill keep collecting rays

probably a good choice.

 

[E_americanus]

I agree with it being irresponsible...
I guess I'm just trying to make my point with my experience with a Spotted Gar.
I have had success with my combo (I did the combo not knowing people have failed, thats probly why I'm amped to tell someone it works). And I only said about the Gar getting hurt and layer of skin.....bla blabla... cause I'm sure we all judge the fish we want to add with the fish we have and think of what if???? So I just spoke out loud and If I knew there was a lot of negative success I would of worded it diff.

I think it is worth a try, plus If I remember correct, he has more than 1 tank

for what it's worth, although i was responding to your reply, it was not necessarily anything personal towards you...this sort of thing happens a lot in keeping predatory fishes, and of course no one knows everything or how every combination will work out...we only have the experiences and information based on other aquarists at this point.

if this were a debate on spawning a fish or getting them to eat or something along those lines, i'd definitely suggest try whatever someone wants to try, but when predation or loss of the fish is very likely at stake, it's better to follow previous experience.

anyway, looks like things have been well discussed overall, so best of luck to the original poster with their choice--
--solomon

 

[vamptrev]

for what it's worth, although i was responding to your reply, it was not necessarily anything personal towards you...this sort of thing happens a lot in keeping predatory fishes, and of course no one knows everything or how every combination will work out...we only have the experiences and information based on other aquarists at this point.

if this were a debate on spawning a fish or getting them to eat or something along those lines, i'd definitely suggest try whatever someone wants to try, but when predation or loss of the fish is very likely at stake, it's better to follow previous experience.

anyway, looks like things have been well discussed overall, so best of luck to the original poster with their choice--
--solomon

ive pretty much given up on tankmates since they never work out.

ann arbor ha? any good pet stores in ann arbor?

not sure what ur into, but drop me a line if ur looking for anything specific.

thanks for your input, i never owned a gar so i dont know very much bout them.

 

[E_americanus]

ive pretty much given up on tankmates since they never work out.

ann arbor ha? any good pet stores in ann arbor?

not sure what ur into, but drop me a line if ur looking for anything specific.

thanks for your input, i never owned a gar so i dont know very much bout them.

there are a couple somewhat nearby, but fish doctors in ypsilanti is probably your best bet if you are in the area. drop me an email sometime and i can fill you in on plenty of stores (some i'm sure you've been to/heard of given your location). i've been to most of the stores in the SE MI area, and we have a good network of people who know where to go for what (including Polypterus-aka richard- who has posted in this thread as well).--
--solomon

 

[channarox]

whatever west1 has mentioned was exactly what i meant.
theres always a chance.
and i agree with him that the more the armatus is on his own,the more he'll be territorial.
i'd at least try bichirs.maybe some catfish.
theres always a chance.
but theres also always a chance it wont work w one or both of the fish getting hurt.