Here are my two gars!

[guppy]

The lower fish is a true gar and looks like a florida or a spotted gar to me, the upper one I am pretty sure is a spotted pike characin (Boullengerella maculata), a very nice south american fish that tops out around 12-13", It could easily end up as a snack for the gar or your tsn.

 

[krickett]

My needle-nose gar sometimes bumps his snout into the glass. He's not exactly slamming into it, but I still worry. Is it going to hurt him in the long run?

 

[rumblesushi]

guppy is right, top one is a characin - bottom one is a gar.

 

[peanut]

nice fish

 

[Gooda]

One thing to be careful with the spotted pikes is that they spook to the extreme and often damage their snouts by ramming into the sides.Make sure the tank doesnt have much passing movement and when doing water changes or cleaning, gently herd over to the other side of the tank.Three out of our four have facial damage just caused by someone walking in the door.

I good way that I have if minimising that problem is plants placed against the glass on the back, sides and top of your tank. They are less likely to run into something that they can see. Some people use cork board and java moss. I just put tall fast growing plans all allong the sides and top of my tank and my needle nose loves it.

 

[adammyers]

how big do they get'