need info for first gar
- Thread starter catfishlove
- Start date
Lepisosteus platyrhincus or florida gar would be your best bet. they are commonly found at lfs all around and also are commonly mislabeled as alligator and other gars. they stay a reasonable size. i would recommend a 180g tank size for adults. a 75g growout tank would do for quite a while, and some people on here have successfully kept multiple gars in a standard 125 and theyre doing well
I had a longnose gar and he was pretty hardy. He was cool until i had to get ride of him. But florida/spotted are the easiest to obtain and stay realitively small
creepyoldguy;4388697; said:
well said. although i'd personally go with a minimum of 2.5' width, 2' is usually acceptable for an average florida gar.
manlyfish, that would depend on what you'd consider as "hardy". by the conventional definition, most gar can be considered "hardy", as they are tolerant of low oxygenated waters and fluctuations your water parameters (with the exception of cuban gars).
however, these "hardy" fish could be susceptible to a range of other factors that can and do cause injury and death. for example, shortnose gars are more prone to psychotic back breaking episodes. this would mean that while the fish is considered "hardy" in the conventional term, one might have great difficulty in keeping it alive and healthy. you also have to consider that the care of a juvenile gar can differ quite a bit from caring for an older specimen of the same species.
in short, i'm trying to say you can't just pigeon hole gars as being "hardy" or "good for beginners" as there are a lot of different factors to consider.
cheers,
xander
^+1 i have heard that the spotted/florida or shortnose is the best starter gar, cause they are smaller and easier to obtain.
Experiment397;4389543; said:
only true for florida gars. although spotted gars may have similiar captive care requirements, they are pretty darn hard to get. shortnose are not good "started" gar. i'll leave it open to your own research to find out why
just found out why^ they can be aggresive little snots, and they get big!!! like 4 feet i never knew that!!! holy crud!!! i feel so stupid
Experiment397;4389671; said:
they all get big, especially since shortnose gars are the smallest species (wild max-wise). speaking of which, they don't get to 4' long as the largest individuals are still just under 3' long.
there are specific reasons why shortnoses aren't good beginner gars
----solomon