KaraJo;1400360; said:
Agree to disagree...it is hard to say in our experience since we truly dont know how old our biggest gar is and have yet to raise one from a very small size. It's weird we have one gar that grew rapidly to 18" and we have a smaller one that has yet to have any sort of growth spurt, when our bigger one at his size grew so fast. Growth rates vary though and either way, it was failed to be mentioned that these gar reach about 16-18" and their growth is almost visibly stopped, with slowed growth after this.
valid points here, along with jordan's in the next post. although it's hard not to make generalizations when talking about some of these fishes and their growth in captivity, if you have a very low sample size (in this case often relative to experience in a way) then the generalizations are even less valid or reputable.
some people have had t-gars shoot out to 18" in their first year, others (individuals kept by myself, and a couple kept by richard) were smaller (maybe 14-16"). same goes with just about any other species.
having kept many Florida/spotted gars, i would agree that it's unlikely that a Florida/spotted will reach 18" in its first year in captivity, although that's not to say it isn't possible. personally, i've never had that happen, and around 14-16" seems much more reasonable and representative of what i've had.
raising these fish up from when they are very small can also accumulate several factors/impacts which can lead to larger than "normal" growth, so it depends on a lot of things...the owner, water changes, feedings, tank size, temperature, tankmates, disease, genetics, etc.
and in terms of wild max sizes, spotted gar (
Lepisosteus oculatus) is recorded to reach 33" in the wild, whereas Florida gar (
Lepisosteus platyrhincus) is recorded to reach 54" in the wild...that's a pretty big disparity, and keep in mind this represents wild max. the mean size may be better to go by, and even this varies with locality and habitat--
--solomon
