New Longnose Gars - Not liking light

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Idealconcepts

Feeder Fish
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Mar 8, 2006
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I got some new long nose gars, 3 of them that are all between 7-10 inches. Have had them for about a week in a 20gal tall that is in a stand under my 180gal tank. Anytime I turn the lights on in the tank they freak out and sporadically around so I have to turn the lights off to keep them from injuring themselves. I have other larger gars in another tank and have had longnose gars about the same size that didn't freak out with lights at all, this was in a 10gal in the same stand. Any ideas how long this should last or what I can do to get them to stop freaking out? I leave the door to the stand open so they get light from the window that I have partially open. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks.
 
although fish can benefit from a stable photoperiod, they aren't plants and don't require light to grow...therefore 'leaving the door open so they get light' doesn't really benefit them a whole lot.

longnose gars are notoriously skittish as a species, so you may have gotten lucky with previous specimens. also, there is a chain-reaction effect with gars, when one of them is spooked it will often set off the other individuals in the tank.

i would highly suggest getting them a bigger tank, as a 10" fish in a 20g tall is more or less too small. you may want to time the lights differently as well...this has worked in the past (for myself and some others) in helping to calm skittish gars. put a timer on the light so the lights go on after there is already some natural light...this way the fish are sort of 'eased' into the light transition as opposed to an abrupt difference between light and dark.

from that point avoid walking too quickly nearby the tank, as the quick changes in light will spook them further. gars will often calm down to some extent (at least when raised in aquaria from juveniles) as they get older (as opposed to a wild adult fish which will tend to be just as skittish if not moreso).

hope those suggestions help; other than that, make sure there are no other tankmates that may exacerbate the problem--
--solomon
 
3 long nose in a 20 TALL??
i hope ur growing them out to put them in the 180...
*note* yes yes i know off topic
 
E_americanus;2446628; said:
although fish can benefit from a stable photoperiod, they aren't plants and don't require light to grow...therefore 'leaving the door open so they get light' doesn't really benefit them a whole lot.

longnose gars are notoriously skittish as a species, so you may have gotten lucky with previous specimens. also, there is a chain-reaction effect with gars, when one of them is spooked it will often set off the other individuals in the tank.

i would highly suggest getting them a bigger tank, as a 10" fish in a 20g tall is more or less too small. you may want to time the lights differently as well...this has worked in the past (for myself and some others) in helping to calm skittish gars. put a timer on the light so the lights go on after there is already some natural light...this way the fish are sort of 'eased' into the light transition as opposed to an abrupt difference between light and dark.

from that point avoid walking too quickly nearby the tank, as the quick changes in light will spook them further. gars will often calm down to some extent (at least when raised in aquaria from juveniles) as they get older (as opposed to a wild adult fish which will tend to be just as skittish if not moreso).

hope those suggestions help; other than that, make sure there are no other tankmates that may exacerbate the problem--
--solomon
Click to expand...

Thank you for the insight. My intention for keeping the door open was to let some light in since the stand is completely enclosed to view as well as less of a shock when I tried to turn on the light, which doesn't seem to be working. Kinda what you were already describing.

They are the sole tank inhabitants.

Lepisosteus platyrhincus;2446812; said:
3 long nose in a 20 TALL??
i hope ur growing them out to put them in the 180...
*note* yes yes i know off topic
Click to expand...

This is just the quaranttine (SP?) tank, only had them for about 7-8 days. Like to keep them in a smaller tank for 2-3-4 weeks to make sure they are healthy and get them to eat and hopefully within that time eat pellets. I do 50-60% waterchanges each week sometimes twice a week on my smaller tanks like this one. Yes they are being grown out to go into either my 180, 240, or 300.

I have a 40gal breeder that I plan on moving them too, once that tank is freed up, have other fish I'm growing out in it also. It's been eaiser to get the gars I have had to eat when they are in the smaller tank, then when I've moved them to the larger tank they are already use to going after food at the surface.
 
Well I just tried the leaving the light on and they calmed down after about 10-15 seconds of spazzing out. So I think they are fine.

On another note I did notice some bug like creaters about half the diameter of a pencil eraser head and appeared to be flat disc shape with little feet on the outside. Found a few that appeared dead on the bottom and one that is on one of the gars. I will try to take pictures tomorrow, I just did a 60-70% water change, added some salt and its kinda late. Anybody have guess on what this bug things are?
 
Idealconcepts;2448407; said:
Well I just tried the leaving the light on and they calmed down after about 10-15 seconds of spazzing out. So I think they are fine.

On another note I did notice some bug like creaters about half the diameter of a pencil eraser head and appeared to be flat disc shape with little feet on the outside. Found a few that appeared dead on the bottom and one that is on one of the gars. I will try to take pictures tomorrow, I just did a 60-70% water change, added some salt and its kinda late. Anybody have guess on what this bug things are?
Click to expand...

daphnia600pk7.jpg


Nikon 70-300mm, with 100% crop insert.

They are Daphnia. (waterflea)

Think of them as open water swimming algae eating freshwater brine shrimp. Simple enough to breed as food for fish, and live longlong term in freshwater, unlike brineshrimp.
 
I took the above photo, but here is one from the net that shows their physiology.

daphnia_macro_550.jpg


Size: 0,1 - 0,5 cm, 0.04 - 1/4 inches

Water fleas are usually used as fish food. They are tiny crustaceans and are easily recognized of their jerky vertical "swimming". They are completely harmless and really interesting creatures.
 
get a pic of the bugs.
they are most likely still adjusting to their new surroundings and get frightened easily.
give them time.
 
Well I tried to find the bugs and looks like it fell off the gar and got sucked up in the filter so I can find it any more.

The gars aren't freighted of the light as much anymore just the first 10-15 seconds and they calm down.

Thanks everyone for the help.
 
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