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.
Okay, so you're looking at around 10,600 gallons if you do a 4' section that slopes to a 10' section.sbuse;5025177; said: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.
I'm not sure about the alligator gars being fine in there over the winter, but the longnose and shortnose gars should be fine even without access to the surface. As for conditioning any of the gars for surviving over the winter, get them in there during the summer in order to give them time to adjust to living in the pond. They will put most of their energy into fattening up for winter as fall comes around, so be sure to feed them heavily to let them build up the necessary fat stores and such that are needed to make it through winter. The reason for letting them fatten up is that they will not feed once the water cools to a certain temperature. I forget what the exact temperature is; Solomon and Richard would know what it is, though.
For example, I had my two YOY longnose gars in my 500 gallon goldfish pond over this past winter. I put them in there in early August, and my parents and I made sure that they always had feeders available in order to allow them to fatten up for winter. I had to return to college for Fall Quarter in August, and I didn't get to check on them again until November; they were still alive when I checked them that time. During winter, I didn't put any holes in the ice; I just left it as it was for the most part. I got a chance to check on them at some point during the winter when the partially thawed and once again early in March; both gars were still alive.
He's probably seeing longnose gars, huh? Are there any know introductions of alligator gar in Minnesota?E_americanus;5025200; said: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