Getting gar off pellets .... with a ck

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asder112

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 4, 2007
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Hi guys -

I recently bought a florida/spotted (still not sure if they are different species) gar at ~6 inches along with a ck that's probably closer to 8 inches. I got them both at the same time, and they are currently in a 135 by themselves (I had a fairly large silver and pike in there before - the silver somehow jumped out despite the weighted covers and the pike was too large / aggressive for me to feel comfortable putting the two new guys in yet - he is now chilling with 3 sun cats about 1/3 of his size or less in a 125, so perhaps aggression was not an issue) and the gar and ck ate when they were first introduced to the tank (I bought a bunch of the fish that the lfs had been feeding them in the store). I read the article on how to get gars off of live foods, and I've been offering floating cichlid sticks to the gar and ck - the ck goes for them but doesn't quite eat them while the gar completely ignores them. The only time I've seen him going for one is when the ck pulled one under from the surface and then released it, letting it float to the surface. The gar went for it at the time but once it reached the surface he stopped abruptly. My question is whether or not the ck will pose an issue for the gar in terms of getting him off feeders.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long post!
 
asder112;2624689; said:
Hi guys -

I recently bought a florida/spotted (still not sure if they are different species) gar at ~6 inches along with a ck that's probably closer to 8 inches. I got them both at the same time, and they are currently in a 135 by themselves (I had a fairly large silver and pike in there before - the silver somehow jumped out despite the weighted covers and the pike was too large / aggressive for me to feel comfortable putting the two new guys in yet - he is now chilling with 3 sun cats about 1/3 of his size or less in a 125, so perhaps aggression was not an issue) and the gar and ck ate when they were first introduced to the tank (I bought a bunch of the fish that the lfs had been feeding them in the store). I read the article on how to get gars off of live foods, and I've been offering floating cichlid sticks to the gar and ck - the ck goes for them but doesn't quite eat them while the gar completely ignores them. The only time I've seen him going for one is when the ck pulled one under from the surface and then released it, letting it float to the surface. The gar went for it at the time but once it reached the surface he stopped abruptly. My question is whether or not the ck will pose an issue for the gar in terms of getting him off feeders.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long post!
Click to expand...

If anything, the presence of another fish to compete for food, should speed up the pellet training imo

good luck
 
that's what I figured, but while the ck has taken to the sticks the gar seems to ignore them completely
 
I got some new small gars, they are off live foods, but not on pellets yet. They are eating pieces of market shrimp and tilapia fillets. What you can try, and this worked for me on 2 of the three gars and also a Jur Cat in another tank, is get about 2-3 feet or longer of fishing line. Either tie or push it through a piece of market shrimp your gars can swallow and through the end with the shrimp in the tank and use the other end to move it around if it does go after it. Now with my gars I just through a piece in and they swim after it and eat it. My other larger gars I mainly feed pellets and once a week give them market shrimp or tilapia.
 
i thought it was going to be a problem too but i started working with him. i got some frozen silver sides and just wiggled them by his mouth and he grabbed them and ate it. then i did the same with frozen krill by waving them by his face as well as shrimp and talapia. Now he eats floating pellets, freeze dried krill and any shrimp and talapia that doesnt sink to quick for him to chase as he just feeds in the top half of the tank.
 
mine still wont go off of live foods.
 
dont mind at all.:)
 
Don't feed them live, keep trying the pellets and market shrimp. When they get hungry enough they'll eat it. May take several weeks of starving them but they'll eat. As soon as you give up and give them feeders, you just wasted all that time and effort.
 
yeah..........
nothing really wrong with feeding live if proper quarentined and a large enough varity.
only reason i had problems is because of someone else feeding my gar.
 
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