My gars
- Thread starter HrHagel
- Start date
Nice gar and pictures.
I would suggest removing the pleco from the tank though. Not a very good gar tankmate.
I would suggest removing the pleco from the tank though. Not a very good gar tankmate.
x2.
Trust us when we say that they're Florida gars, especially considering your location, since 99% of the Florida gars and "spotted gars" in the fish trade are just Florida gars. There really isn't a great way for those of us who haven't worked extensively with the two species of fishes to differentiate between the two species. For us non-experts, it all comes down to the location where they were collected in the end since that can guarantee their ID (unless they're from an area where both species occur) in most cases.
You can't tell the difference between the two? I'd expect most to be able to spot the differences pretty quick when putting pictures of them side by side. They really aren't THAT similar. But obviously they could and would hybridize and then ofcourse it becomes tricky.
I'm not saying you're wrong, you may be right.
What do you mean "Especially considering your location" ?
Ps. They are from Texas, don't know if that helps at all? I don't know if both species inhabit that area.
I'm by far an expert, but from looking through the web in different articles, it appears that Florida gars have slightly smaller spots, and not as much yellow in the tail. Obviously this isn't very scientific, but it seems to be pretty common across the board, once you weed out the random photos (For instance searching google for "Florida gar" & "Spotted gar" some pictures will be represented in both searches)
No, they're pretty darn similar in appearance to the untrained eye. Pattern doesn't really mean squat because both species can have fairly variable patterns, and the intensity of their patterns can vary based on water clarity, substrate, and other factors. There are some nuances in their morphology that can be used to differentiate between the two species, but said nuances are pretty tough to spot without working with multiple specimens of both species for an extended period of time. Solomon (E_americanus) and Richard (Pejelajarto) can elaborate more on the ID part much better than I can, though, since they have the most experience with spotted gars (and gars in general) out of any of us.
A large number of all Florida gars in the trade are farmed in various locations around the world, so if they're from a farm then they are almost certainly Florida gars because there are no farms for true spotted gars that I know of. If they were collected in the wild, then there is still a great chance of them being Florida gars because Florida gars are commonly collected for the fish trade while spotted gars are not (mostly due to their population status throughout a decent chunk of their range).
With that being said, the fact that these gars were collected from the wild in Texas means that they are almost certainly true spotted gars because said spotted gars naturally occur there while Florida gars do not. There are other species of gars that occur in Texas, but these gars definitely seem to be spotted gars rather than any of the other species, so congrats on being one of the few people on MFK to own true spotted gars!