New Cuban gar, Atractosteus Tristoechus

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
thanks

it'll be mixing with my original fish(2 spotteds , a gator, and an af aro, along w some bichirs) they won't be affected by the salts would they. okay thanks i'll keep that in mind. anything else that i might want to beware of?

hmm, what kind of pH and temps do they seem to do best in?
 
How big are your other fish Xander?

pH around (7.5 stable) seems to be fine for them IME... Solomon I'm sure might pop up here in a bit on his observations. Temp is good from 75 to 80f plus or minus 5 degrees. Just try to keep it stable and not fluctuate too much or too quickly.
 
spotteds are 14" and 15.5"
gator is 11.5"
2 senegals are 9"
endli is 7-8"
af aro is 10"

although the previous owner has mixed this gar w fish 6-7" fish such as af pike and such, with no aggression
 
nice find for sure, congrats! at the same time there are several cautionary issues i would bring up (some of which have already been mentioned by richard).

first and foremost (and probably most obvious) is that the fish is quite large and the tank is likely too small. an 18" Cuban is a large, stout fish...and being a gar, you are increasing the issues of broken backs unless you have a bigger tank on the way (which i would assume is the case since you have a gator).

the good news is that an 18" Cuban probably isn't going to grow a ton more (at least not quickly) in the home aquaria. my two large Cubans are around 18-20" and they are at least 4 years old (potentially older if they were 1 year when imported). they are growing, but quite slowly at this point. given these data (and although i have two big ones now, i've kept a total of 5 of that cohort), i would say a tank 3' wide would probably be good enough for the fish for a long time, if not life. 2' wide, however, is asking for trouble.

all that being said, i would like to reiterate what richard said about stability in the tank parameters. they are very sensitive to changes in pH, ammo/NH2 levels, and will throw up their food readily if these levels are even slightly off. the throwing up often leads to death or serious complications (i've unfortunately gained this knowledge by a decent amount of experience, before settling on some parameters that work well).

i keep mine with aragonite substrate as that buffers the pH really well, especially since they eat quite a bit.

...speaking of eating, Cubans are a very aggressive species IME, rivaled only by the gator gar. since your other fish are much smaller i would be ready to see some damage. the Cuban may have gotten along with a pike before, but mine have always beaten up on other gars. if any are small enough to be swallowed i would remove them. i've kept them with all the species you mentioned, and have had varying results with aggression...most of the time bichirs were ignored, as was the African arow, but other gars were shredded quite often. be prepared for that.

also...(and this should be the case with any large predatory fish)...NEVER do a water change shortly after feeding them as this will easily induce the puking response (which has proven fatal in the past).

again, congrats on the pick up, but realize you have quite a bit of challenging work ahead of you :) --
--solomon
 
E_americanus;1510422; said:
nice find for sure, congrats! at the same time there are several cautionary issues i would bring up (some of which have already been mentioned by richard).

first and foremost (and probably most obvious) is that the fish is quite large and the tank is likely too small. an 18" Cuban is a large, stout fish...and being a gar, you are increasing the issues of broken backs unless you have a bigger tank on the way (which i would assume is the case since you have a gator).

the good news is that an 18" Cuban probably isn't going to grow a ton more (at least not quickly) in the home aquaria. my two large Cubans are around 18-20" and they are at least 4 years old (potentially older if they were 1 year when imported). they are growing, but quite slowly at this point. given these data (and although i have two big ones now, i've kept a total of 5 of that cohort), i would say a tank 3' wide would probably be good enough for the fish for a long time, if not life. 2' wide, however, is asking for trouble.

all that being said, i would like to reiterate what richard said about stability in the tank parameters. they are very sensitive to changes in pH, ammo/NH2 levels, and will throw up their food readily if these levels are even slightly off. the throwing up often leads to death or serious complications (i've unfortunately gained this knowledge by a decent amount of experience, before settling on some parameters that work well).

i keep mine with aragonite substrate as that buffers the pH really well, especially since they eat quite a bit.

...speaking of eating, Cubans are a very aggressive species IME, rivaled only by the gator gar. since your other fish are much smaller i would be ready to see some damage. the Cuban may have gotten along with a pike before, but mine have always beaten up on other gars. if any are small enough to be swallowed i would remove them. i've kept them with all the species you mentioned, and have had varying results with aggression...most of the time bichirs were ignored, as was the African arow, but other gars were shredded quite often. be prepared for that.

also...(and this should be the case with any large predatory fish)...NEVER do a water change shortly after feeding them as this will easily induce the puking response (which has proven fatal in the past).

again, congrats on the pick up, but realize you have quite a bit of challenging work ahead of you :) --
--solomon
Click to expand...

firstly, thanks for the great reply and info.

secondly, why and who's back is in danger here?
this fish is kept in a 4x2x2 in the current owners home, so i figured it wouldn't be that much of a change fer the gar. and yes i'm planning for at least a 3' wide in future, but this will not be anytime soon. plus, what made me decide to get it although it was 18" was that at 18", he's only 3" bigger than my spotted, adn so i figured it wouldn't be too much of a squeeze for him and the tank. am i wrong here? unfortunatly this is probably the best i can offer the cuban, but given how it is being kept now(no filtration, just weekly water changes) my concious is pretty clear.

yes, the cuban is abt 2.5yrs old. and as i mentioned previously, 2' wide is unfortunately the best i could do for at least a year. so i'm gonna have to take my chances.

ATM, the gar is kept with no filtration, just weekly water changes, so i'm guessing i should be fine, but of course with a fish like this i'm gonna do all i can to keep the water steady.

thanks for the warnings, gars shredded isn't too much of a problem, but i will keep a wary eye nonetheless. the cuban will(obviously) be priority number one, so if i have to i won't hesitate clearing tankmates if it need be. but i don't see a cause for this(unless of course they are being too badly damaged)

once again, thanks for taking the time to type that out, i really appreciate it. and yes, i'm aware of this isn't gonna be a walk in the park for a one legged man.

--i'll keep all updated once he gets here
 
oh yes i forgot to mention, the gator's only a temp grow out for a friend.
 
oh my goodness, one more day...can't wait!!
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