Monster Eater!!!

[Sonsinator]

Was surprised this guy could eat 3 fat feeders last night This fish won't be eating tonight

I bet it was about 9-10 inches long. Anyways, mine can eat 6 gold fish feeders a day(depends on his hunger spree), but I already stop feeding it gold fishes cause they contain high % of fat ,you don't want to see your gar which was supposed to have muscular texture having a big bloated belly right?, so I started feeding it guppies or katabas(bigger version of guppies) instead.

 

[Tequila]

i was refering to that post btw.

Ok, so your saying that I shouldn't have asked a question regarding feeding since I already made up my mind about which gar I wanted huh. That makes litttle sense too me kiddo.

 

[Tequila]

Good luck with that but you can prove or disprove growth rate depending on food availability, type of food as well as environment. There are many different factors that go into the growth of a fish.

On average a properly housed Gator gar (on prepared foods) will grow 5mm a day after 10days after hatch. This will roughly work out to a 30cm fish in four months.

This info BTW can be obtained easily with about 30 seconds of your time and a wonderful thing called google:
Studies on the physiology of Atractosteus spatula larval development and its applications to early weaning onto artificial diets ...

This is not "my opinion" it is a known fact these fish have one of the fastest growth rates of freshwater fishes. There is plenty of info (not anecdotal) out there that confirms this.

That aside I personally could care less if you got the fish and my question to you was more related to your original question. If it is a gator then feeding will be different than if it is a Lepisosteus and you need to take a different route to growing them out. Atractosteus gars are very different from Lepisosteus in general care, this is why proper ID of the fish is really needed should you actually care to be successful with them.

For the record my little gator (of which you can find a thread here on) is in a 55 gallon right now...(I suggest this for small gars) He is right on track with growing 5mm a day on prepared foods and has not slowed in the least..

After careful thought I believe the best course of action is again to just say thanx too all who replied even if only one person actually replied to my original question. Plus a thank you also for the added wishes of good luck. If I decide to order a pair as in 2 gars not actually 1.1 pair and I later decide to share there pics or other info then so be it, but I dought it.

I really can't believe you said you have a gator in a 55, with all that I heard here from members of this thread, one has to wonder why is it that you can grow out a gator gar in a 55 but if other people, myself in this instance Oh hell gar won't live in a 55 for 5 minutes! And trust me I know all about enviroment and for availability and makeup of food and it's effects on growth. SO Thanx people for all the great incurrment with non of the negativity one finds in of forums.

 

[lincolngoh]

Trying to go as natural as possible is simply silly hypocritical talk.

That would mean letting at least 95% of your fish die through simulated 'natural causes' like predation, diseases and starvation just like in the wild. Anybody likes to see that happen in their aquarium?

We all are pampering our fish in a bloody unnatural environment to ensure unaturally high survival, unnatural good health and unnatural logevity.


It goes against the laws of nature of survival of the fittest and there is absolutely nothing natural about that.

 

[demjor19]

Trying to go as natural as possible is simply silly hypocritical talk.

That would mean letting at least 95% of your fish die through simulated 'natural causes' like predation, diseases and starvation just like in the wild. Anybody likes to see that happen in their aquarium?

We all are pampering our fish in a bloody unnatural environment to ensure unaturally high survival, unnatural good health and unnatural logevity.


It goes against the laws of nature of survival of the fittest and there is absolutely nothing natural about that.

wow! we have a winner!!! i bet this is an extremely effective method for killing your fish...

 

[Rbacchiega]

Poly says he has his gator in a GROW OUT... *Gasp* Mine was in a 33 for all of about a week and has since moved to his own 55 as well. Oh, and my little gator was bought (what, 2 weeks ago Jordan and poly?) and has grown 1.75 inches already. On a prepaired diet of shrimp, talapia, pellets (yep pellets!) and some other non-feeder fish foods.

Not once was it mentioned that the 55 would be the home forever of the gar, hell, a properly fed gator would outgrow that in less than a year. But it's been shown time and time again how having a smaller gar in too large of an innitial tank is just asking for a broken back or some other injury due to the fish getting spooked.

Ah, it's so nice to come back to this first thing in the week.

 

[demjor19]

Poly says he has his gator in a GROW OUT... *Gasp* Mine was in a 33 for all of about a week and has since moved to his own 55 as well. Oh, and my little gator was bought (what, 2 weeks ago Jordan and poly?) and has grown 1.75 inches already. On a prepaired diet of shrimp, talapia, pellets (yep pellets!) and some other non-feeder fish foods.

Not once was it mentioned that the 55 would be the home forever of the gar, hell, a properly fed gator would outgrow that in less than a year. But it's been shown time and time again how having a smaller gar in too large of an innitial tank is just asking for a broken back or some other injury due to the fish getting spooked.

Ah, it's so nice to come back to this first thing in the week.

a properly fed gator gar should outgrow that in about 6 months...

it is also important to note that these fish should not be put imediately into a huge tank...they are very prone to spinal injuries when given too much space to dart around. we mention this quite often, but it seems to be a fairly simple way to help keep our gar healthy. on the contrary...you need to know when it's time to move them to the larger tank...this is no excuse to jamb a 2' fish in a 75 gallon tank. it's a common sense thing...which does'nt seem to be too common these days.

 

[Rbacchiega]

agreed. My dude's up around 6 inches already, and has a 55 that's been reduced in length by one of those tank divider things, just for a bit. I'd say he has about 24 inches of swim space, then bigger in a bit... (hope you can picture this in your mind)

I've since decided to have just a sole gator in a pond, which I'll have to start figuring out. Thank god I've got an acreage...letsee that's....3 ponds needed so far. Gator, SW sharks (really an above ground pool) and if I can get the permit, Rainbow Trout or other species native to Alberta

 

[demjor19]

agreed. My dude's up around 6 inches already, and has a 55 that's been reduced in length by one of those tank divider things, just for a bit. I'd say he has about 24 inches of swim space, then bigger in a bit... (hope you can picture this in your mind)

I've since decided to have just a sole gator in a pond, which I'll have to start figuring out. Thank god I've got an acreage...letsee that's....3 ponds needed so far. Gator, SW sharks (really an above ground pool) and if I can get the permit, Rainbow Trout or other species native to Alberta

that sounds great for for the time being...future planning should be fun!

 

[downsouth]

I bet it was about 9-10 inches long. Anyways, mine can eat 6 gold fish feeders a day(depends on his hunger spree), but I already stop feeding it gold fishes cause they contain high % of fat ,you don't want to see your gar which was supposed to have muscular texture having a big bloated belly right?, so I started feeding it guppies or katabas(bigger version of guppies) instead.

Here's an update on her, she's about 18 inches or so right now and I'm thinking if I should transfer her into the pond. She's in a 75 gals right now and as you can see the water is green I think my OHF can't take the bio load anymore.

As soon as I can get hold of a net to cover the pond I'm gonna transfer her to the pond.