Lepisosteus oculatus (spotted gar) question.

[bunnyhunter42]

So I'm in college and the watershed lab at my school has a 14 inch Lepisosteus oculatus (we know its an Lepisosteus oculatus and not a Lepisosteus platyrhincus) which is taken care of by a couple friends of mine from my Ichthyology class who work in the watershed lab for their Masters work. Currently he is living off of juvenile Lepomis macrochirus (1-2 inch, 2 inch being a maximum) that we capture on class field trips. Now here is where I come in, they know basically nothing about aquariums, but have had the Lepisosteus oculatus (they call him spot, original right?) for almost a year now I think, but im not entirely sure. Anyways I was talking with the guys yesterday about how much to feed him and how often he should be fed and they didn't really know and have just been kinda winging it for all this time, so I told em since aquariums are my thing and I am a member here I would get on and ask the experts and those more knowledgeable than myself which basically makes them experts to me haha! This is where you come in, can anyone who knows about or keeps Lepisosteus oculatus tell me how much to feed and how often so I can relay it back to the guys so spot is nice and happy? It would be greatly appreciated and im sure spot would love you forever haha.

also can anyone tell me why during the summer, in slow water above dams or in backwaters, gar float about an inch or two below the surface in large numbers with out really moving all day?

 

[Dreamsofpeace54]

i too feed my gars small sunfish usually about 1" in size. My 11" florida can eat up like 8 if he hasent been fed recently. Hell usually eat his fill and leave the rest for later, usually picking them off within 2 days.

Im going off of experience here but id say you really can't feed too many. He should stop. Granted mine looks like a basset hound sometimes. Give him 5 or 6, if he eats them all good, if not theyll be there for him later.

 

[E_americanus]

hello,

that's great that your class is taking care of a spotted gar (and if they caught it out there, we definitely know it's a spotted, like you said).

anyway, if they have had the fish for a year, it should be pretty hardy and durable at this point. "winging it" with feeding may not be best, but the gar will likely do just fine. i would suggest feeding about 2-3 sunfish every other day and see how the fish does. if the tank doesn't get polluted that easily, they could just throw in 5-6 at the beginning of the week and then see how many are gone by the end of the week. if there are some left, then compensate accordingly at the next feeding. if they are all gone, then maybe increase by 1-2 sunfish.

in captivity the spot won't get as big as his/her wild counterparts, so massive growth isn't vital, maintenance growth is probably acceptable, particularly in an educational setting.

how big of a tank is the fish in, and how often do they change the water? this will also have an influence on feeding regime.

again, great to see another spotted gar being used for educational purposes...i maintain about 50 of them for experiments in our labs. best of luck, and let us know if you have other questions--
--solomon

 

[bunnyhunter42]

thank you both very much! I will relay this info back to the guys so the feeding can be upped to the regiment that Solomon suggested. The tank appears to be about 150 gal to me, but as for water changes idk I'll ask and get back to you about that part. Since neither of my buddies that work in the lab or their graduate adviser are private fish keepers, I'm going to see about volunteering to maintain the tanks in the lab rooms which will give me some well needed relaxation from classes haha. Thanks again