My Boys

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ViperCLKGTR

Gambusia
MFK Member
Sep 22, 2008
310
1
16
I thought I would introduce my boys since they are my pride and joys. Don't flame me for not using the "Show off your Gar" thread because I'm not just positng pics I'm sharing some information too.

Killer - Florida Gar

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I bought Killer at 3" back in September. In 4 short months he's grown to 9"(Wow I just relized I haven't had him that long at all!) He's my favorite out of all my fish and IMO is the best looking sub 1' Florida I've seen so far.

"Spot" - Spotted Gar

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I bought Spot at 5" last month. He's grown to 7" already and is a gorgous fish and the best hunter out of my pack. He is a true Spotted Gar and is really a beautiful fish.

"Skinny" - Florida Gar

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This is Skinny some of you may remember he was sold to me as a Gator and that turned out to be a lie... I bought him in real, real rough shape a few weeks ago and have nursed him back to health only one problem with him... He won't gain wait no matter what I do! He always stays skinny. He is also the only Gar I've ever personnaly seen have one feeder fish in his mouth and still go after others.

Those are my boys my pride and joys. It's been truely a blast watching these little guys grow and it's even been funner watching each one develope their own "personnality". There currently in a 31x12x18 grow out tank t'ill there ready to be moved in the currently being set up 73x24x19 "Mississippi River" permanant home.

Also I will hopefully be adding a 3" Gator Gar soon after a few calls tommorow to Canada thanks a million viceedee and my family will continue to grow.

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nice shots...please see my questions about the spotted gar from your other thread. given these pics, my initial thoughts are that it is indeed a spotted gar...which again leads to the question of its origin and how you were able to verify this.

nice-looking group; i would be wary of the gator out-growing the smallest Florida, however, and also any smaller tankmates; just something to keep in mind--
--solomon
 
E_americanus;2696392; said:
nice shots...please see my questions about the spotted gar from your other thread. given these pics, my initial thoughts are that it is indeed a spotted gar...which again leads to the question of its origin and how you were able to verify this.

nice-looking group; i would be wary of the gator out-growing the smallest Florida, however, and also any smaller tankmates; just something to keep in mind--
--solomon
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Not to derail but i have loads of trouble telling the difference between floridas and spotteds. I recently got 3 from a buddy and one of the 3 just looks a tiny bit different thatn the other 2. How can i tell for sure? I've done some reading but i just can't see it...any help (solomom, xander, anyone)?
 
From what I gather from the owner of the LFS I got him from and trust 100% this is the only fish that he gets from a private distributer west of here. He said these are guys that have been dealing with Gars in some shape or form for 20+ years wheather it was raising personnal Gar or bow fishing. These guys know they're stuff. He also then explained how a few times a year after the YOY of the previous year have matured and grown over a certain lenght and are not gonna make it much longer or what not they actually put the fish down and play doctor to look at something(He explained it better) in the throat to make a 100% ID of the spawn of that year.
 
ViperCLKGTR;2699544; said:
From what I gather from the owner of the LFS I got him from and trust 100% this is the only fish that he gets from a private distributer west of here. He said these are guys that have been dealing with Gars in some shape or form for 20+ years wheather it was raising personnal Gar or bow fishing. These guys know they're stuff. He also then explained how a few times a year after the YOY of the previous year have matured and grown over a certain lenght and are not gonna make it much longer or what not they actually put the fish down and play doctor to look at something(He explained it better) in the throat to make a 100% ID of the spawn of that year.
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not saying they don't know what they are talking about, but if they are from the pet trade the ID can still be shaky due to cross-breeding potential. from the presented photos i will say that it looks like a spotted, but with out exact locality data (if it's just coming through the trade or inspecting the fish) there is no way to know for certain. nice fish though for sure--
--solomon
 
The one fish does have some very convincing Spotted traits..(Closest I've seen come from an LFS in a very long time).... Still given it's LFS and pet industry history I'm not sure it could be identifed past the Flordia / spotted tag with confidence. Given broodstock locality this could be different but without it being confidently determined the actual ID is very questionable. Especially if one is just going on Pics. Platyrhincus and Oculatus are so closely related and have such narrow Morphologic and meritistic traits that to determine them in an unknown situation is very difficult. Hybrids do exist and these are little known at this time.

I do have to say something on this:
they actually put the fish down and play doctor to look at something(He explained it better) in the throat to make a 100% ID of the spawn of that year.
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I'm sorry but they do not know what they are doing if this is the case..
 
The guys are a private distributor from close to or across the LA state line I'm guessing so I'm guessing there from the LA area. As for the doctor thing I don't really think the LFS owner understood it but he says he personnaly drives out there and picks up the fish Friday morning on his way to work(Why it opens at 1PM during March-June) it's just a couple of guys in their 50's doing something fun after retirement. He showed me some pics when I started playing 20 questions about it being a Spotted and not a Florida and these guys have sold some amazing looking Gar.

I'm going over to the LFS after school I'll ask
 
viper, i want one. enough said
 
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