Max Captivity Size of Alligator Gar

J

Jackyx

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 19, 2012
122
1
16
Singapore
Hey all.

I know the stickies states that their max captive size is at 36" - 48".
However some are saying they will get to 5' or even 6' in captivity.
So which is which?

Would be nice for some experienced guys or informative guys around here to state their views and max size in captivity.

Also would be nice for people with Alligator Gars to share the age and size of their gator gars and the tank size they are kept in.

Thanks =)
 
P

polish

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 9, 2008
2,147
2
38
Ne, IN
www.tankterrors.com
If given a long enough life and a proper home there is no reason a captive Alligator Gar shouldn't reach the same 7'+ that they will in the wild. The thing is, these fish live a very long time so it would take many years (if not decades) before it reached truly massive sizes. I doubt there are but a few people out there with a Captive Gator Gar over 10 years old.
 
HungDang

HungDang

Piranha
MFK Member
Nov 29, 2010
2,968
70
81
Fort Worth
5'-6' gator gars are around 15-20 years old as I know, 7' should be around 40 years old. So chance are they might be able to grow very big given a large enough space, but not that many people have kept their gar over 10 years.
 
E_americanus

E_americanus

Penguin Lover
MFK Member
Aug 14, 2004
3,790
28
68
46
Louisiana
primitivefishes.com
HungDang said:
5'-6' gator gars are around 15-20 years old as I know, 7' should be around 40 years old. So chance are they might be able to grow very big given a large enough space, but not that many people have kept their gar over 10 years.
Click to expand...
size and age are not well correlated in gars in many cases/species...a lot depends on sex of the fish, and captivity confounds that too. so none of those age at size estimates are accurate. gators can live for a long time, yes, but you can have some relatively young gars that are pretty big too. we also see this in SPGs...some "giants" (for the species) are nearly 3' and 14-16 years old...and others of the same size are only 8-9 years old (many cases sex of the fish is a major factor).

as for captive sizes of gators...it's been debated and discussed time again on this forum and many others. they can grow quickly to 3-4' long in a matter of a year or two, but then tend to slow down in most captive scenarios. it depends on a lot of different factors, but the best move is to skip taking on a gator gar if you don't have the space and/or experience in dealing with large gars. hope that helps a bit--
--solomon
 
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