New Longnose and some questions

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pharmaecopia

Polypterus
MFK Member
Aug 21, 2010
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Ontario, Canada
Finally was able to track down a longnose. Just picked it up earlier today, 16" long. From talking with the previous owners they said that the fish is 3 years old, grew to this size in a 125 gallon before being downsized to a smaller 3ft tank. The feeding schedule for it and the oscar tankmate was roughly 50 feeders added to the tank once a week.

From what I have read the small size would suggest that it is a male. Any idea on growth rates from this point in time? Any other pieces of advice regarding care?

Also would there be any negative impacts of cooling the tank temperature for a month or two. The longnose is currently housed with my florida gars. I have been thinking of dropping all my north american gars tank temperatures down to roughly 65F in preparation for moving them to outdoor ponds as the weather warms up.

Attached is a pic I took of the longnose in the previous owners tank.

201_0293.JPG
 
hey Kevin,

nice pick-up! will try to reply with more later, but in terms of growth rate you are probably looking at growth (at least major noticeable growth) being done for that fish. although males are definitely smaller than females, it is hard to account for early life stunting in that species.
i would not expect it to grow much more at all. just make sure it has plenty of room tank-wise, as LNGs are probably the second most prone to breaking their backs (after SNG). also watch to make sure it gets its share of food; LNG tend to be faster than other gars at getting food, but they can't always hang on to it or keep it from being stolen as their long jaws leave most captive food items open to theft for a while. i usually have to make sure and drop food right by my LNG to make sure he gets food and it's not snatched away by gator/spot/trop/Florida/shortnose haha.

best of luck, and keep us posted on its progress!--
--solomon
 
pharmaecopia;5022878; said:
Finally was able to track down a longnose. Just picked it up earlier today, 16" long. From talking with the previous owners they said that the fish is 3 years old, grew to this size in a 125 gallon before being downsized to a smaller 3ft tank. The feeding schedule for it and the oscar tankmate was roughly 50 feeders added to the tank once a week.

From what I have read the small size would suggest that it is a male. Any idea on growth rates from this point in time? Any other pieces of advice regarding care?

Also would there be any negative impacts of cooling the tank temperature for a month or two. The longnose is currently housed with my florida gars. I have been thinking of dropping all my north american gars tank temperatures down to roughly 65F in preparation for moving them to outdoor ponds as the weather warms up.

Attached is a pic I took of the longnose in the previous owners tank.
Click to expand...

Sounds stunted to me if it's only 16" long at three years old, so it might not be a male. In the wild, males are typically sexually mature at two or three years of age and around 24" long. My longnose gars are at least as long as your new one and are still considered YOY gars; they'll be a year old in late May or early June (not sure on the exact hatch date).

The stunting is probably linked to the face that it was underfed. I was going through 50 small goldfish every few days with my two longnose gars towards the middle of summer and that got bumped up to 100 every few days. They got the same 100 every few days when they were moved to the pond, but this feeding rate was increased towards the end of summer/beginning of fall and was decreased as their feeding slowed and finally stopped for the winter.

I wouldn't expect any major growth from this gar because of its age, but it might surprise you if you get it into a larger aquarium and feed it well. It will definitely pack on some body mass if you put it outside throughout the summer and early fall and keep it on feeders.

The temperature drop shouldn't bother it as long as the drop is gradual and if the gar will still continue to feed.

As far as other care advice, make sure that you have a cover on the aquarium and avoid having any tankmates that will spook them. They're not as bad as shortnose gars, but they are still a bit more skittish than the other gar species.

EDIT: It seems that Solomon beat me to posting the information that I just posted.
 
E_americanus;5022973; said:
hey Kevin,

nice pick-up! will try to reply with more later, but in terms of growth rate you are probably looking at growth (at least major noticeable growth) being done for that fish. although males are definitely smaller than females, it is hard to account for early life stunting in that species.
i would not expect it to grow much more at all. just make sure it has plenty of room tank-wise, as LNGs are probably the second most prone to breaking their backs (after SNG). also watch to make sure it gets its share of food; LNG tend to be faster than other gars at getting food, but they can't always hang on to it or keep it from being stolen as their long jaws leave most captive food items open to theft for a while. i usually have to make sure and drop food right by my LNG to make sure he gets food and it's not snatched away by gator/spot/trop/Florida/shortnose haha.

best of luck, and keep us posted on its progress!--
--solomon
Click to expand...

I kinda figured most growth would be done for the gar. As far as tank size lots of upgrades are in the works for everyone, in the next month or two, so the current accomodations just have to last that long. I think it should be fine, the current setup gives it a lot more room for turning as well as some more length and has less obstacles. Hoping the floridas keep it a little calmer as well. I came across the food being stolen in my research but will definitely keep an eye on that.

I will definitely be sure to keep everyone updated. Very excited I was able to get this guy. It's only the second one I've seen for sale in the past 2-3 years, so it was a little bit of an impulse buy. Though a thoroughly researched one.

Thanks for the infor on cooling as well. I figured it would be fine, but better to check first. I was most concerned about the floridas for that.

Edit:
Wiggles just read your part. Thanks for the info as well.
 
I agree with the above two posts

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com
 
Not a picky eater at all so far. Tossed in a mixture of things this morning and the longnose was the first one to the food. It ate some shrimp, tilapia, mysis and bloodworms. The only thing it wouldn't touch was the pellets.
 
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