Getting a 220

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SePPii

SePPii

Dovii
MFK Member
May 21, 2011
3,373
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Chesapeake, OH
Hi, I am getting a 220 in the near future once I get the money. I'm not certain on what I want to stock it with, but, I was thing about maybe getting a spotted gar. The footprint is 72x24x31. Could I get a gar, and if so, what would be good tank mates? I've heard not to put them with big bodied cichlids so what would you all suggest?


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Ye u could do a gar in that...tank mates i recommend bichirs,other gars, maybe a ray couple of mid dwelling swimmers oscars went good with my gars.and some nice large clown loaches maybe a predatory cat or 2.
 
Alright cool just wanted to check before I had the LFS order me one.


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Florida gar is the only one that could fit in there for life, being as you'll most likely get a Florida, not spotted. I wouldn't waste the money for extra height. Gar need the big footprint, not the height
 
You'd be getting a Florida gar rather than a spotted gar. Florida gars are commonly mislabeled as "spotted gars" plus spotted gars are not present in the commercial fish trade.

As far as tankmates go, stick to other true gars and bichirs; those two tend to work out the best. A South American lungfish or Australian lungfish could also work as well, but AULs can be tough to find while SALs are usually readily available when they're in season. Rays do sometimes work, but there's always a certain amount of risk involved for both the gar & the ray. Avoid all cichlids, arowanas, flagtails, plecos, and predatory catfishes; there are a number of issues with keeping those with gars.

I think it would be pretty cool to go with a 220 gallon over a 180 gallon. The extra volume would certainly help with the bioload plus tall aquariums seem to look better anyway.

Be sure to get the gar at large size if you intend on putting it directly in the 220 gallon; gars can break their backs if kept in too large of an aquarium at too small of a size.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I'll keep the gar in mind but there were a couple of different cichlids I was interested in too. So I'll see once I actually have the tank.


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Always take into consideration that fish arent always predictable some of the combos on here that are said.nt.to work at all actually do work sometimes it all depends on the FISH if ur looking to get cichlids u can try them out with gars but be prepared to have a separate tank incase u have to split them up. Ive had a lil bit of everything with my gars never seen problems yet. You jus have to keep a close eye until u get the rite mixer togetha.
 
I have never had Gar work with cichlids long term... i have grown out cichlids with my floridas.. but once the cichlids matured enough to think about breeding and territories... game over. imo/ime they do well with large non territorial fish that are not silver/ capable of makeing the gar food. Ive grown my variouse gar up with catfish, bichir, spiney eels, clown knife, cichlids, and recently stingray. Each combo works in variouse ways/ times/ ages. longterm ive found spiney eels to work well, as long as the eel is the same size as the gar or close to it.
 
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