How to feed my spotted gars.

[fhorn]

Hey guys, new to mfk. I've recently acquired 2 20cm + spotted gars. It's been 3 days and they're not interested in the food sticks pellets I have offered. What's the next step? Crickets? How can I get them to eat. They are just by themselves, so no competition with other fish.

Any feedback or experience is very much appreciated.

Thank you

 

[tlindsey]

Hey guys, new to mfk. I've recently acquired 2 20cm + spotted gars. It's been 3 days and they're not interested in the food sticks pellets I have offered. What's the next step? Crickets? How can I get them to eat. They are just by themselves, so no competition with other fish.

Any feedback or experience is very much appreciated.

Thank you

Welcome to the forum!
Give them a little time to acclimate to their new environment . Keep offering pellet food by dropping it on top or near the snout. That will instinctively trigger the spotted gars to snap. If they are healthy they may go without eating for a few days. Don't feed anything live until they start eating pellets. Keep us updated.

 

[fhorn]

Welcome to the forum!
Give them a little time to acclimate to their new environment . Keep offering pellet food by dropping it on top or near the snout. That will instinctively trigger the gator gars to snap. If they are healthy they may go without eating for a few days. Don't feed anything live until they start eating pellets. Keep us updated.

Thank you so much for your advice. They seem to like resting at the bottom and just swimming around the bottom. They don't come up to the surface much except to snap at some bubbles and ripples. But I'll give them some time to acclimate.

 

[tlindsey]

Thank you so much for your advice. They seem to like resting at the bottom and just swimming around the bottom. They don't come up to the surface much except to snap at some bubbles and ripples. But I'll give them some time to acclimate.

Another helpful feeding thread.
Thread 'HELP weaning Florida gar off live food onto pellets/frozen' https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/help-weaning-florida-gar-off-live-food-onto-pellets-frozen.756525/

 

[fhorn]

Another helpful feeding thread.
Thread 'HELP weaning Florida gar off live food onto pellets/frozen' https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/help-weaning-florida-gar-off-live-food-onto-pellets-frozen.756525/

I can't reach the link . I saw another thread that uses a fishing line and shrimp and letting it float in the current. Tried it tonight. Nothing

 

[tlindsey]

I can't reach the link . I saw another thread that uses a fishing line and shrimp and letting it float in the current. Tried it tonight. Nothing

Don't get discouraged give time when the gar are healthy and get hungry they will start eating.

 

[fhorn]

Don't get discouraged give time when the gar are healthy and get hungry they will start eating.

Nah, I will make sure to see this through. Thank you for replying and for your advice, I really appreciate it man

 

[Simonas]

They rarely take food straight away but once the feeding response is triggered they wont stop

The last smaller gar I got was an albino took 2 weeks till it fed. I fed it mainly frozen fish and found it snapped at the frozen fish when i squeezed it and the juices went near it

My 4 spotted gar all take floating pellets and frozen

 

[fhorn]

Thank you so much.

They rarely take food straight away but once the feeding response is triggered they wont stop

The last smaller gar I got was an albino took 2 weeks till it fed. I fed it mainly frozen fish and found it snapped at the frozen fish when i squeezed it and the juices went near it

My 4 spotted gar all take floating pellets and frozen

Thank you so much. I'm just a bit worried because I've heard of gars dying from starvation because they just refuse to eat. So that's kinda worrying .

 

[fhorn]

Welcome to the forum!
Give them a little time to acclimate to their new environment . Keep offering pellet food by dropping it on top or near the snout. That will instinctively trigger the spotted gars to snap. If they are healthy they may go without eating for a few days. Don't feed anything live until they start eating pellets. Keep us updated.

I finally caught one of my spotted gars eating a couple pellets this morning! Very glad. Haven't seen the other one eat a pellet yet but it's investigating. I gave in and threw in 2-3 feeder fish a couple of days ago. Ever since they ate the feeders they have been much more active. I sort of gave up with feeding them pellets but this morning I threw some in out of curiosity and one of them ate! Not much but maybe 3 hikari sticks. But still a big win for me! Thanks everyone for the advice