Hi guys! My lfs recently put up a spotted gar for sale, so I wanted to jump on the deal and get it for my pond. I live in southern Texas, so winter temps rarely get to below 30 degrees at night, and the pond is 3 ft deep, below ground. The total volume is around 2500 gallons, so I'm pretty sure that I have enough space. The only thing that's stopping me is the temps. at winter; I don't think the gar would handle overwintering well, and I can't bring him inside. What do you guys think? Thanks for any help!
Overwintering a Spotted Gar?
- Thread starter Goodcreature
- Start date
I'd be curious about it actually being a spotted gar. Most gars that show up as spotted gars in the hobby are really floridas.
As far as overwintering, regardless of species, it will need to be given enough time to acclimate to the lower winter temps. This usually requires adding the fish during the summer.
As far as overwintering, regardless of species, it will need to be given enough time to acclimate to the lower winter temps. This usually requires adding the fish during the summer.
Well, the high this time of year is only getting as low as the 70-80's, and won't start to cool off till the beginning-middle of December. Would that be okay? Or does the fish really need quite a while to acclimate? I guess if I have to, I could get a 50 gallon tub to keep it inside until the spring, since it's only about 7-8". Would that be acceptable? Thanks for your help!
Okay, I just checked the pond temperature, and it's 70 degrees. It's not going to change for quite some time. If by acclimate, you just mean the adjust to the temperature, shouldn't the gar be okay? Or do you mean that the gar has to prepare in some way for the coming winter? I'm not quite sure what you're referring to.
The gar has been well fed, and will continue to be so in my pond, and there's plenty of time before cool weather starts to come around. Could you please explain why there needs to be such a large period of acclimation time? I would greatly appreciate any help in my understanding of care for this gar. Also, I need a reply quickly. I don't mean to sound demanding, but I do have time constraints. Thanks again!
The gar has been well fed, and will continue to be so in my pond, and there's plenty of time before cool weather starts to come around. Could you please explain why there needs to be such a large period of acclimation time? I would greatly appreciate any help in my understanding of care for this gar. Also, I need a reply quickly. I don't mean to sound demanding, but I do have time constraints. Thanks again!
The fish needs to adapt for months. It is not like changing tanks.
Put it in the tub, seriously....
Put it in the tub, seriously....
Okay, I understand what I need to do. But could you explain why it needs months to adapt? I don't mean to pester, but I think it would be good for me to understand. Thank you for your reply!
Because living things need to adapt to drastic weather, temps, etc, changes.get slowly used to them, gradually, so it is not a schock.
I have a lot of parrots ( as in birds ) outside, and they allways go outside, at the beginning, in August. Then they gradually adapt to the changes.
I have a lot of parrots ( as in birds ) outside, and they allways go outside, at the beginning, in August. Then they gradually adapt to the changes.
I concur with what Miguel & pharmaecopia have said.
Wait until next spring/summer to put it in the pond. I would keep it on live food by the way.
Wait until next spring/summer to put it in the pond. I would keep it on live food by the way.
they need to adapt in various ways, both getting used to gradual temperature changes but also (and in some ways more importantly for the duration of winter) to build up fat stores to get them through periods of lower metabolic activity, etc. several temperate species of gars, particularly in their first year(s) will slow down feeding and in some cases completely cease feeding when the temperature gets too low. if the fish has enough fat stores this is not a major issue as it will live off those energy stores, but if it is a captive fish that has just recently been dumped into a rapidly cooling environment that may drop past their active feeding temp, they can starve to death (due to lack of fat stores).
i don't know if we resolved the issue of species, but some very experienced gar researchers lost entire batches of FLGs in the south due to temperature drops that did not kill SPGs...so it seems that FLGs (and this may only relate to wild fish and there could of course be other factors involved) may have different temperature tolerances than SPGs (which we wouldn't necessarily expect outright since the species are so similar and do have some overlap).--
--solomon