My new pick up - Cuban Gar

[redtailfool]

Wes - I'll hold onto it just a little longer hombre

If you call dibs I need an export license first

Dan - sorry to hear man, how big was the gar? surely not smaller than the sun cats? Stupid oscar!

I am afraid I can't decrypt your clue at all.

You sold all your oscars Dan? I am getting sick of my oscar. Too greedy, doesn't let any other fish get any food, makes a mess of the tank, but the main thing is it is constantly picking on my 14 inch clarias, which is a long time favourite of me and my girlfriend. It also bullied my aro, which is why the aro is now in the growout tank.

When my cobra snakehead hits about 10 inches I am tempted to throw my oscar in there and let the channa demolish it. Good idea? This though only occured to me because people don't keep fish here, so I can't even give it away. If I buy a fish I am stuck with it, unless I feed it to another fish.

LOL dont worry.. ill get my hands on some sooner or later... tropicals first..

 

[DanDanUK]

Do you miss your oscars?

I do yep, especially the bigger albino !

 

[E_americanus]

just came across this post...i believe the issues/debate with ID'ing joes fish have been laid to rest, so i will leave it at that

i will say, however, in response to ultimate's comment, ALL members of the genus Atractosteus have a prominent double row of teeth in the upper jaw. as ricky (infblue) mentioned, even Lepisosteus has a double row of teeth in the upper jaw (this can clearly be seen in both preserved and live specimens, but preserved are easier to observe)...it's just that one of the rows is prominent, the other row is much more reduced.

therefore, just the double-row of teeth (prominent rows) cannot be used as a diagnostic for separating a Cuban/tropical/alligator gar.

i will say, however, there has been a lot of debate over that pic from jurassic fishes (one of my favorite books i might add). i agree with ultimate and several others that that fish is very likely not a tropical gar, but indeed an alligator gar. the snout and body pattern seem very spatula-like compared to the tropicals. again, seeing the fish in person would be best. i also have no hesitation with being skeptical about the fish's ID because there are several other gar pictures in that book which are mis-ID'd..and gar misidentification is unfortunately systemic within the pet trade at all levels.

good discussion, and GREAT looking Cuban gar joe. given the pic, that's a relatively typical juvenile Cuban pattern/coloration...they change quite a bit from small sizes to their older sub-adult/adult patterns. --
--solomon