new spotted gar in 125 growout. feeding tips?

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M

mos90

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 20, 2009
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rome,ny
i just purchased a 7" spotted gar. he is in my 125 tank right now. the lfs was feeding him live minnows. id like to keep him on some live food but ideally some dry or frozen would be more healthy in the long run.

is it possible to get them to accept krill/shrimp or pellets of some kind?

any other advise.

once he hits 14" i will add him to my 300 gal. at that point i like to have him off live all together. if possible.
 
Its generally pretty easy to convert gar to prepared foods. There's not problem keeping them on live for now, but it will be a lot easier on you if you do convert him.

The easiest way I've found, is to get the gar to accept live (or freshly killed) feeders from a pair of tongs. Once he eagerly accepts from the tongs, try adding in new foods, like cut up tilapia or small chunks of market shrimp, or even earthworms. He may not take them initially, but don't give up, eventually he will. Once he takes those eagerly, you can start just dropping the food into the tank. He will either catch it on the way down, or pick it up from the bottom. Once he's taking that, try freeze dried krill. It floats, and is colorful, so he's likely to go for it. If he takes the krill easily, try pellets with the krill, chances are he'll start taking pellets pretty quickly.

Once they recognize that when you add something to the tank, its likely food, they will generally start taking new items easily. And every new item they take increases the chances they'll take the next one.
 
sounds like a plan. ill try it out.

right now he is in with my 6" scomb and about 20 feeders. i will wait until all the feeders are gone and maybe try frozen silverside or krill.

here the problem. even if i get him off live, ive never been able to get the scomb to. i will still have to add feeders for him.
 
I haven't had a problem getting my florida to take pellets.. his preference is HIkari Excel. but he'll hit about anything. I pretty much grew him out to 10-12" on minnows. Then started offering pellets as he'd narrow his minnow population down to a few hard to catch ones left. He's lazy enough and smart enough to take the pellets over chasing the last couple of minnows until he feels like it.
 
my gar loves smelt and shrimp, when i feed pellets he sometimes eats it but doesnt digg it too much. he will eventually eat it just keep trying
 
My Florida gars actually prefer pellets over anything else (including live feeders). I guess they're lazy bums who like easy to catch food that floats, versus food that sinks or swims away from them...

The shortnose gars seem to prefer feeders the most, but they're favorite prepared food is by far shrimp. They just gobble the stuff up. Then they go for tilapia, then pellets. But they'll eat pellets just fine if that's all I offer.
 
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