new spotted gar in 125 growout. feeding tips?

[Conner]

how ofter do u feed, conner?

When they were under 12", I was feeding once daily. Now that the majority of them are over 12" (except for two), I feed more like every other day or even every third day now. Sometimes I'll target feed the smaller two just to make sure they get enough to eat, as some of the larger guys can be real pigs.

 

[mos90]

there is a good possiblity that my gar may be a tropical gar. im having a hard time telling. my lfs doesnt know know the difference. when i bought him i knew it wasnt a gator gar for sure. it is either a tropical or florida/spotted. ill post some pictures tonight.

 

[Madding]

All three fish are very, very different in their appearance. ID should be easy with pics.

 

[Polypterus]

It is not a Tropical if it is 7 inches long. None have been imported for years now.

 

[mcredimus]

i had a little trouble at first but i took a single strand of wire out of a peice of electrical wire put frozen krill on it and made it dance around like it was alive. shortly after that every time i went near the tank he thought it was feeding time and would take anything i gave him. even bit my finger once when i tried to unstick a pellet from the side of the glass. he was only about 8" then and his teeth felt like lots of little splinters and drew little blood drops in a v shape.

 

[Noddy]

even bit my finger once when i tried to unstick a pellet from the side of the glass. he was only about 8" then and his teeth felt like lots of little splinters and drew little blood drops in a v shape.

I found that wiggling a small defrozen feeder in the watersurface gets him eating all the time.
But i have been handfeeding eversince i got my gar.
And yesterday he took a go at my finger again, and got me good.
And i was wondering why i keep doing this...
Usually he comes up in stealth mode, but if he swims in like crazy, he'll end up grabbing my fingers.
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlsgE7qVJVw[/YT]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlsgE7qVJVw

 

[mos90]

i keep forgeting pictures.

had to recalibrate my ph monitor. it was reading 6.3 and dropping. with my drip system i found this odd. ph from drip is 7.2. used api test and ph was 6.9. i guess its good to recalibrate every few months.

 

[mos90]

i moved him to my 300g. it is definately a spotted gar. its been 3 day he hasnt eaten, since feeders ran out. ive been using tongs trying to feed him frozen silversides. no luck yet. he is very shy. hides in the corner for the most part. i tried to leave a silverside laying on the sand but my silver arow can and scooped it up.

how long should i wait, if he doesnt eat, to add some feeders to the tank?

 

[xander]

i moved him to my 300g. it is definately a spotted gar. its been 3 day he hasnt eaten, since feeders ran out. ive been using tongs trying to feed him frozen silversides. no luck yet. he is very shy. hides in the corner for the most part. i tried to leave a silverside laying on the sand but my silver arow can and scooped it up.

how long should i wait, if he doesnt eat, to add some feeders to the tank?

chances are that with a 7" gar in a 300gal, it could be difficult to get the fish off live, especially with a silver aro as a tankmate. it would be much easier (& not to mention safer for the gar in question) for you to monitor & feed the gar if you were to place it in a smaller grow out tank. with gars, it's usually a good idea to have a "step up" kind of relation between the gar & tank. ie; as the gar grows, you move it to a larger tank that is better suited to its needs (a bit of husbantry that could have been learned -along with reasons for this husbantry and other benefits of it- through reading up old threads)

edit:
http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=667

another reason for doing your own reading & digging up old posts. i don't see anyone re-doing anything on this level anytime soon

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

ps its def a florida unless u caught it urself or got it from solomon