Group of Gators

[pharmaecopia]

yeah, i was going to say given your age info from previous posts that they all likely have a little ways to go yet before maturity (even for males, definitely for females), but it's always interesting to see how the behavior does change as they get older each year and with the changing of seasons.
my Croc II (~7 years old) has become more aggressive with spring (as he usually does, but it's worse this year) and is beating on the two smaller spotteds (perhaps because of his spotted half?), and the older fish always show a change in behavior.
you should shoot some video if you can! i'm sure you'll get some nice growth and pattern development when they go outdoors, have you done so in the past with this batch? again, great fish and thanks for the updates!--
--solomon

I have put some of my floridas outside in the past, but not the gators. My plan is once the pond outside is staying around 65F to drop the indoor pond temp then move them. From a previous thread Richard said 60 would be the lowest to saftely go so I figure consistent 65F temps should give me some leway incase of a sudden cold spell.

From a thread over on AP it suggested around 5 years old at age of sexually maturity. This was from an aquaculture facility in mexico though. Other numbers I've found say around 4-5 for males and 10 for females. Either way a couple years to go before they are mature.

I'll probably try to shoot some handfeeding videos. Not sure how well that will work they don't usually like eating if there are other people besides me around and since the 2 footers has started trying to bite I want to be able to concentrate on where everyone is.

Thats a serious collection.
Let's just say the parties would migrate to that room fast, were that here!

Thank you

 

[E_americanus]

I have put some of my floridas outside in the past, but not the gators. My plan is once the pond outside is staying around 65F to drop the indoor pond temp then move them. From a previous thread Richard said 60 would be the lowest to saftely go so I figure consistent 65F temps should give me some leway incase of a sudden cold spell.

From a thread over on AP it suggested around 5 years old at age of sexually maturity. This was from an aquaculture facility in mexico though. Other numbers I've found say around 4-5 for males and 10 for females. Either way a couple years to go before they are mature.

I'll probably try to shoot some handfeeding videos. Not sure how well that will work they don't usually like eating if there are other people besides me around and since the 2 footers has started trying to bite I want to be able to concentrate on where everyone is.




Thank you

yeah, i am not sure the exact Mexico reference, but that was likely for the males. males should be around ~5-6 years for maturity, and i've talked to gator gar culturists who generally reference ~9-11 years for females...so definitely some older fish from the hobbyist perspective.

big gators like that would do just fine at 60F, although they may not eat/grow so well. in experiments with YOY spotteds, at about 60F their growth stopped...larger gars can handle the lower temps better though, but you're right, 65F and you should be just fine.

...and definitely understandable about the videos vs getting bitten! it's hard enough to shoot fish videos with one hand and manage the tank with the other, let alone having to be concerned with snappy gator gars!--
--solomon

 

[pharmaecopia]

Here is a feeding video. Gars weren't all that hungry, they had already eaten roughly a 1/2 lb of food by this point.

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