Major long term Gar tankmate(s)

[screaminleeman]

I have a farm pond, and have been raising a LNG (now ~ 19") to eventually inhabit. I decided to increase the chances, and bought 10 more baby LNG's @ ~ 3-4" range to grow out. Only one survivor, but chalk it up to experience.

I also purchased six 5 - 6" range Bowfins. These beautiful coldwater natives have really grown on me and I am seriously starting to take a liking to them.

Four of them were housed in my experimental outdoor deck pond with the LNG, an albino channel cat, three Florida Gar, a handful of the 3-4" LNG and a Shortnose gar.

The Shorty, the smallest Florida and a mini LNG all managed to jump through the 1" x 1" mesh netting "lid" to their death. One Bowfin died from what looked like a parasitic infection.

The middle florida (9 - 10") range, all the rest of the baby LNG's and one Bowfin became meals!

My question is, will Bowfin and Gar (LNG & Florida), I'm not worried about my Gator gars, coexist in my farm pond? The pond is generally oval around 100' to 150 feet across and dredged to 15' deep seven years ago. It has several underground and above ground spring feeds and the surface has never frozen 100% over since moving here in 1979.

 

[xander]

with a 100' - 150' pond, it's quite likely everything'll be alright

 

[screaminleeman]

with a 100' - 150' pond, it's quite likely everything'll be alright

We diverted the major above ground spring into the small stream, and drained the main pond. We found the underground spring with the dozers (Doozy of a story pulling it out) and required crains to excavate the underground spring areas. Keep in mind, there is nothing even remotely like "hideing places" in the pond. That is unless you count the Mickey's big mouth beer bottles I sank in there for minnow habitat!

 

[E_americanus]

with that much space they should coexist fine, BUT i would not put the YOY fishes in there until next year at earliest. fishes in the wild get a lot more food in preparation for cooler temperatures (even if it doesn't freeze over), so putting captive YOY fishes into a pond to overwinter, etc will likely result in very high mortality.

even the 19" longnose is somewhat at risk, but if it's at least a year old it may be ok. small bowfin are very fragile until they hit around 8-10", so bets are off until that time. if you have the space, keep them in regular captive conditions until next year and put them in when the temps warm up (bowfin are not coldwater fish, they are warmwater...it's just relative to tropical fishes most hobbyists keep) and food becomes plentiful.

good luck--
--solomon

 

[screaminleeman]

Thanks Solomon.

I am not planning on the move to the farm pond this year. I built a heater pad (from my old water-bed) into the base of the deck pond below the preformed plastic base of the pond. I think that between this and three 300W submersible heater and a Plexiglas lid should be enough to winter here.

I got all of my gars (and the EXTREME VAST MAJORITY) of all of my fish as very young juveniles.

Logan (the 19" LNG) I bought in March of 2009 at around the 3' - 4" range.
MOE (the remaining Florida Gar) I bought in January of this year around 5".
Slice and Dice (the two Alligator Gars) I bought in October 2009 both under 3".

 

[E_americanus]

Thanks Solomon.

I am not planning on the move to the farm pond this year. I built a heater pad (from my old water-bed) into the base of the deck pond below the preformed plastic base of the pond. I think that between this and three 300W submersible heater and a Plexiglas lid should be enough to winter here.

I got all of my gars (and the EXTREME VAST MAJORITY) of all of my fish as very young juveniles.

Logan (the 19" LNG) I bought in March of 2009 at around the 3' - 4" range.
MOE (the remaining Florida Gar) I bought in January of this year around 5".
Slice and Dice (the two Alligator Gars) I bought in October 2009 both under 3".

sounds good. i would imagine pre-fab'd ponds are made of the appropriate plastic, but do keep in mind heating plastic (especially if it's not made to house animals) can rapidly speed up the release of toxins and kill off the fishes pretty fast...i unfortunately ran into this with several gars last year--
--solomon