So I am about to purchase a Florida gar and I have been reading that young gars always need food at hand. I really don't want to feed guppies or anything from the store because of diseases and I was wondering if I could feed him shiners, smelts, crayfish etc native to the North East region? Do these carry diseases often? Do I quarantine them if I trap them from a lake? because they are in freezing cold temps and in my tank its 76 F I don't know if that will effect my gar... Please provide Info!!
Native food for a Gar?
- Thread starter JNason11
- Start date
imo I'de feed minnows/goldfish... heres why.. most the disease in the hobby are pretty well understood and treatment is usually pretty simple or straight forward. shiners,smelt,chubs, ect may carry disease your pet may not have been exposed to but the potential feeders have, and they may show no signs of carrying. BUT with that being said I knew a few people around that do feed "native" bait fish and have no issues.
reguardless of which way you go feeding live is the best thing you can do for your young fish. if collecting make sure your follwing your state regs regaurding this. I'de suggest checking out a local bait shop, by the time you aquire the equipment ect for trapping or netting, have any permits/liscenses ect... IT may just be more effective to buy the bait shop then collect your own.
reguardless of which way you go feeding live is the best thing you can do for your young fish. if collecting make sure your follwing your state regs regaurding this. I'de suggest checking out a local bait shop, by the time you aquire the equipment ect for trapping or netting, have any permits/liscenses ect... IT may just be more effective to buy the bait shop then collect your own.
Thank you! So I called my LFS and they told me that they have 1 FLA Gar available but it is very big but they do have plenty of 3"-4...." "Spotted Gar" (I am assuming Fla Gar)... and they are only $12.99. Something sounds wrong with that price. And what live foods do I feed a 3-4 inch baby gar?
You would feed it guppies, small rosy reds, and other similarly-sized prey items. That price is on the low side for a small Florida gar, but it's not unheard of either.
mosquito eating fish(a relative of guppies) seem to be part of young gar diet because they are all over around here, also rosy red minnow or small shiner minnow(if you can find them at the bait seller) are good for gar!
I would be positive but make sure they aren't one of the closely resembled carnivorous tetras ( rocket gar, and SA gar being 2 common names Hejutas and their cousins go by)
btw I did buy one of my floridas at 14" and one at aprox 6" if the larger one is a good price I wouldn't hesitate to by a more mature animal. baby gar will eat you out of house and home lol ( at one point I went threw 100 rosies a week because he wasn't large enough to take goldfish, and that was for a 6" FLG)... so if raising it up from a tiny baby isn't a big deal an adult or sub-adult may not be a bad opportunity.
btw I did buy one of my floridas at 14" and one at aprox 6" if the larger one is a good price I wouldn't hesitate to by a more mature animal. baby gar will eat you out of house and home lol ( at one point I went threw 100 rosies a week because he wasn't large enough to take goldfish, and that was for a 6" FLG)... so if raising it up from a tiny baby isn't a big deal an adult or sub-adult may not be a bad opportunity.
How does that work? Did you quarantine them all? Or did you just keep them all in the tank with him? That seems like alot of dish to keep on hand
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honestly, i us a castnet with 3/16 inch mesh (illegal) and catch small mimnows and creekchubs also very young bluegill .25-.5" long. Also, i just just bought a Florida gar last week and he is 12" but they are very different from spotted gar.
I am almost positive that it's a fla gar not spotted, they just label them wrong... So did you quarintine your Chubb or just toss them in?
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