lowest water temp for gars

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
troppond;5021359; said:
I'm putting one YOY longnose in my 1700 gal predator pond tomoro as a test, it's 40 something degrees atm
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:wall:

First you put those two king salmon fingerlings in there, and now this...

E_americanus;5021369; said:
wow, um, depending on the size and exact age of that YOY it will probably die at that temp.--
--solomon
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x2.
 
troppond;5021471; said:
its like six inches, I'll acclimate it for about an hour, and the tank at the store is about 60F
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yeah, at that size it will die in the pond. you are looking at a near 20 degree drop in temp. YOY gars will generally cease growth at 60F. no idea why you would want to put the fish in a pond at this point...grow it out for a bit or at least wait until the water temp is 60F or above--
--solomon
 
troppond;5021471; said:
its like six inches, I'll acclimate it for about an hour, and the tank at the store is about 60F
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Don't bother getting it for multiple reasons:

  • One would expect a YOY longnose gar to be much larger than 6" by this point in time; the gar in question might be stunted.
  • One hour is not enough time to properly acclimate it to the 40°F water; it will surely die from temperature shock.
  • The water temperature is going to be too cold for it to survive. Gars stop eating once the water temperature hits the mid-50's (might be the wrong temperature, but they definitely do stop eating when the water gets cold), and it will inevitably lack the proper fat stores that are necessary for it to survive in there at the current temperature.
If you really want to get this longnose gar, then set up an appropriate-sized aquarium for it and wait until the summer to add it to your pond; it will have a much greater chance of survival if you wait just a few months to add it. Be sure to read through the stickies in order to get a better feel for how to properly care for a gar.


Solomon, Richard, or any other gar expert, please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this information.
 
something i have been kicking around for a while is the outdoor gar pond. i am in MN and i will be collecting some wild longnose and shortnose if i can find some. i have some good leads on spots so we'll see. anyways, they are from around here and everything freezes up so i think after they are of some size they'll be fine in it, would this be a good asumption? my other question is how would one go about conditioning some gators to have in an outdoor pond in MN? would one have to have an opening for them to surface in? i have read that they can use their gills in times of freeze over witch makes sence since they are found in some lakes around me aswell.
 
sbuse;5022100; said:
something i have been kicking around for a while is the outdoor gar pond. i am in MN and i will be collecting some wild longnose and shortnose if i can find some. i have some good leads on spots so we'll see. anyways, they are from around here and everything freezes up so i think after they are of some size they'll be fine in it, would this be a good asumption? my other question is how would one go about conditioning some gators to have in an outdoor pond in MN? would one have to have an opening for them to surface in? i have read that they can use their gills in times of freeze over witch makes sence since they are found in some lakes around me aswell.
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How big is this planned pond (dimensions, volume)? This factor will make or break what gars that you can keep in there over the winter.
 
Wiggles92;5022228; said:
How big is this planned pond (dimensions, volume)? This factor will make or break what gars that you can keep in there over the winter.
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i haven't fully planned out every deatail of the pond, but something like 10'x20'x4' i may go 6-10' deep in the deeper section for the winter perpose. i have also been thinking of a product i saw that wouldkeep a part open all year. not at 100% finished product yet. i am mainly looking into if gators would be possible witch would help me to decide on dims and depth.
 
sbuse;5022100; said:
something i have been kicking around for a while is the outdoor gar pond. i am in MN and i will be collecting some wild longnose and shortnose if i can find some. i have some good leads on spots so we'll see. anyways, they are from around here and everything freezes up so i think after they are of some size they'll be fine in it, would this be a good asumption? my other question is how would one go about conditioning some gators to have in an outdoor pond in MN? would one have to have an opening for them to surface in? i have read that they can use their gills in times of freeze over witch makes sence since they are found in some lakes around me as well.
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not sure if i am reading this correctly, but gator gars do not currently and did not historically range into MN. will comment on other pond suggestions later. good luck with your collecting either way--
--solomon
 
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