How do i get my spotted gars on pellets ?

[Weylin]

Ther r just 8".. Im not sure how to go about with this.. My bigger spotted gar would come to the surface the moment i opened the tank hood.. These guys r just the oppsite.. The only good quality pellets availabe r Azoo's Arowana sticks.. How long should i starve them before trying to feed them pellets ?

 

[West1]

The only way is to starve him. When I was starving my ATF's I went about 1 week of no feeders and only shrimp every other day until they started taking shots. As of right now I only have 1 tiger on shrimp and the other is still hungry. Since my ATF'S have a little size on them I go about close to 2 weeks before I throw some feeders in so he can eat. Also my gar ate shrimp the sec I intro to him. Try to place the pellets next to his snout with a stick or something. He should start by smelling it and in time he will recognize the smell and take shots

 

[KaraJo]

They will not starve themselves to death. You have to just stick with it and dont give in to feeders. Some gar can go over a month without eating. 8" is an alright size for this method. We used crickets to get our then 6" longnsoe off of feeders. Once he was used to taking them off of the surface, we would substitute the cricket with a piece of krill (or in your case, pellets) and he began taking them. He would spit them out at first, but after a while he took them down with no problem.

 

[West1]

Nice! I never thought of giving them crickets (I do give my ATF'S crickets but never bothered on trying with my gar)!
Very true Weylin... they will not starve themselves (good point Karajo)!
I agree strongly when said "you just have to stick to it"!

 

[aggressor09]

that is going to be very tough. they do best with a varied diet and fish are their staple so youd need a heck of a meaty pelleted food. I tried making my own grub and that works well, meaty and much more sanitary than feeders.

 

[Nic]

my tgars came to me on pellets and shrimp... but my old florida gar starved for about 3 weeks before it started to eat pellets...

 

[ESJBond007]

My friend Jake was able to get my gar on pellets two days after i got him in July which the gar was 4 inches then..

 

[Father Azmodius]

Welcome everyone, I'm new here. I've been reading alot about feeding and want to question the pros and cons of getting my fish off feeders. The problem I'm having right now is that the clown knife gets most if not all of them before my gar gets any. This wasn't the case until I put them in a 180. They're both in the 14"-15" range. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Welcome everyone, I'm new here. I've been reading alot about feeding and want to question the pros and cons of getting my fish off feeders. The problem I'm having right now is that the clown knife gets most if not all of them before my gar gets any. This wasn't the case until I put them in a 180. They're both in the 14"-15" range. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

For a better response you should start your own thread.

 

[aggressor09]

dpends on what kind of gar your dealing with...i have had experience feeding meaty dead foods to true gars after a bit of provocation, whereas i have attempted to starve my royals and clown knives into taking dead bait but with little success. Feeders are a pain because they are very narrow in nutritional value. Also, many feeders are sick or infected with anchoworm or various parasites, so this poses a potential threat to the entire system. A varied diet is the best way for health and preemptive disease defense, so try to starve the fish a bit and then get them to accept some healthier and varied foods, if at all possible.