Little help...

[D.Pulcher]

I have kept Arowanas in the past (Asian) and never really kept them with anything other than tigger shovel noses and a hybrid of a tig shovel/redtail cat. Now that I'm back in the states I wanted to start a D. Pulcher and Occilated Ray tank. Since things are limited living in Cincinnati I was wondering if anyone has access or knowladge of where to find these fish or can suggest good tankmates for my Spotted Gar 9inch. Thank You

 

[demjor19]

tankmates are all hit and miss. w/ gar you don't want anything too aggressive or anything too small. large gentle fish are your best bet as tankmates. other gar are probably the best choice. i have had rays w/ gar before...and it worked. the gar showed interest for a while, but never bit hold. he just constantly nudged the ray w/ his snout. just use caution when choosing and keep a close eye on them until they get settled.

 

[E_americanus]

i wouldn't suggest gars with rays (especially expensive ones) as they are too unpredictable...yes, they may work, or work for a while, but you never know. it only takes one swipe by the gar and the ray may be permanently damaged (lose an eye, etc).

non-aggressive large predators are your best bet, like jordan said. bichirs work very well with gars in most cases, and datnoids can as well (provided they are not aggressive individuals). knife fish are another option. a South American lungfish (SAL) is also a potential tankmate if you are looking into other primitive fishes.

in general most cichlids are not advised. hope that helps, but it's easiest to give you advice if you let us know some specific tankmates you're looking in to. good luck!--
--solomon

 

[demjor19]

my frontosa has been a great tankmate w/ my gar.

 

[D.Pulcher]

See whats weird is that you mentioned a Frontosa and I've always taken them as being highly aggressive once the males "front hump" grows in. On another subject I REALLY REALLY wanna keep a D. Pulcher with my gar but also I was thinking Jack Dempsy or Green Terror. Something BIG. I only want to have a couple of fish in there and i want them BIG I was also thinking a black or silver arowana. I found a motoro for only like 125$ which isn't bad but then again I dont want to hurt any fish (accidently) only feeders and guppies

 

[xander]

gars do well with other gars(aside from some psychos eg alligator, crocodile, shortnosed) but with the rest it should be fine. many people make the mistake of adding gars with aros(i have no idea why) but this mostly results in an injured gar. just remember that spotted gars are by nature pretty skittish and faster fish(eg aros) generally scare the crap out of them and send them crashing into the glass, many a time resulting in a gar with a broken back. gars are mostly docile(here again wth the alligator gar as an exception) and mostly leave other fish alone, and thus do not do well with aggressive/terrotorial fishes(cichlids etc) but fish that are too small are generally considered as food.

*plecos tend to "suck" the "slime" off the gars and this is fatal towards gars.*

 

[demjor19]

See whats weird is that you mentioned a Frontosa and I've always taken them as being highly aggressive once the males "front hump" grows in. On another subject I REALLY REALLY wanna keep a D. Pulcher with my gar but also I was thinking Jack Dempsy or Green Terror. Something BIG. I only want to have a couple of fish in there and i want them BIG I was also thinking a black or silver arowana. I found a motoro for only like 125$ which isn't bad but then again I dont want to hurt any fish (accidently) only feeders and guppies

i have never kept dats...so i can't help there. i think a JD or GT would not be a good choice at all. my front (male) is right around 9 inches and as docile as can be. i had my silver aro in my gar tank for less than a day it it was nearly killed. my 12" Tropical Gar bit hold of my 12" aro every time it swam by. so i guess that can go either way. as said before...rays may work, but it's not a great idea.

most gar can be housed together just fine...although i would try to avoid A. Spatula (alligator gar). they tend to be much more aggressive than other gar species and grow much larger much faster.

 

[ShadowBass]

I have kept Arowanas in the past (Asian) and never really kept them with anything other than tigger shovel noses and a hybrid of a tig shovel/redtail cat. Now that I'm back in the states I wanted to start a D. Pulcher and Occilated Ray tank. Since things are limited living in Cincinnati I was wondering if anyone has access or knowladge of where to find these fish or can suggest good tankmates for my Spotted Gar 9inch. Thank You

Have you been to aquatics and exotics yet? That's where we bought our ornates, they had quite a few oddball fish that I have trouble finding anywhere else, some of them pretty large.
If they don't have what you're looking for they can probably order something in or suggest somewhere to get them. I don't live up there anymore, but we were in there when we were up visiting my parents and they seemed quite knowledgeable with a good selection of fish.


Some of the fish on the website aren't there anymore, like the snakehead , but it's still an interesting store even if they don't have what you're looking for.

 

[E_americanus]

i would go with the dat over the cichlids any day, but this of course also depends on the individual personality of the datnoid. in general, datnoids seem to get along better with gars than cichlids from what i have heard/seen of the cichlid combos compared to the dats i have kept with gars (i've kept silver/indo/wide-bar with gars with no major problems).

one thing is to make sure they their sizes are proportional to avoid aggression/attempted predations...the dat should be thick/stocky enough that the gar won't really try to eat it, and the gar should be large enough that the dat won't nip at it. hope that helps!--
--solomon

 

[TLkmDN]

i think gars and rays are fine. the shape of the rays body ensures that the gar wont even try to eat it. this is assuming the ray is too big to eat for ure 9'' gar :s