Home for an alligator gar

[Jdj211]

How long will a 8x6x2 (lxwxh) last as a home for an alligator gar? I know they need a wide turning radius since they are rather inflexible. I have heard that they rarely, if ever, exceed 4 ft in a home aquarium.


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[Wiggles92]

That should last you for a very long time; it might even work for the gar's lifetime if it doesn't grow too large. Of course then, bigger is better with large adult gars, so don't be afraid to go bigger if you have the space and money to do so.

I'm guessing that this is for a pond of some sort, right?

 

[Jdj211]

Originally I was gonna make a 6 ft diameter 2 ft tall pond but then decided that the ability to actually see my fish from the side/underneath was worth the extra effort of building a tank. My plan is to build a plywood tank and stand this may when classes are over. Right now he's in a 3x2x2 tank. He's only ~5" right now. He'll be fine in there until mid may right?


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[Wiggles92]

Yes, that should be just fine as long as you don't power-feed it. Just keep it on live food for now and switch it to pellets once it hits 10" in order to keep it from getting stunted.

Personally, I would just do a pond and install a small viewing window or two rather than doing a full-on plywood aquarium; large plywood builds can be tricky from what I read, and that's partly why I never built a large plywood aquarium.

 

[Jdj211]

The only problem with a big pond is that i wont be able to fit it through my door to get it in the basement. Either way I'm gonna build something really big for him in may lol. Thanks for the input. Any suggestions on pellet brand based on personal experience? I was gonna use Hikari food sticks but guy at LFS said its not very good and omega one is better.


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[Wiggles92]

With the pond, you just get the liner and assemble the frame in your basement; you shouldn't have to worry about fitting it through the door in that case.

As for pellets, I've used Hikari Food Sticks, Hikari Cichlid Gold, and Tetra cichlid sticks as my staple pellets without any issues; I also would supplement that with the occasional algae wafers to help prevent any issues with head erosion as well as pieces of fish, shrimp, and other seafood. Appropriate-sized New Life Spectrum pellets are the "ideal" pellet, but they might not be accepted by the gar at first because they're a bit harder than other pellets.

 

[Jdj211]

Oh I was thinking along the lines of a stock tank. How would one go about putting a viewing window in a pond liner? Sounds riskier than a plywood tank to me, but I am very interested in this concept since it would presumably be much simpler and cheaper!


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[Wiggles92]

You just need to frame in the viewing window and silicone it in place; the hard part with a plywood build is getting a proper seal on the entire thing.