pellet training

[tommy k]

does anyone have an idea of how to successfully pellet train a Florida gar?

 

[dwacudo]

sarvation, dont be sacred of the fish dieing ill would go weeks without food in the wild in certain times of the year

 

[tommy k]

Oh ok thanks for the help, i was thinking the same thing but i didn't know if starvation would kill the fish or not.

 

[E_americanus]

run a search on this topic as there are dozens of threads about the subject. when young, starvation is not a good practice for weaning off live foods; wait until the fish is at least 8" or more before you go with starving. keeping young gars off food early in life can have permanent impacts on growth and health of the fish down the line. i usually feed YOY gars live food (rosies, etc) until they are 6-8" and then switch to non-live--
--solomon

 

[tommy k]

mine is 12" so i don't think there should be any problems

 

[eagle100]

you will be fine it would be even better if you have another fish in there that will eat pellets. floating pellets work best.

 

[Angler]

How long have you had it for? I have two Floridas right now. They are the only gars I've ever had, so I have minimal experience with gars -- to my knowledge, they never ate pellets before I acquired them, but they started eating pellets about a week after I had them. I started them on shrimp and tilapia, and they went after Massivore pellets a week later without need for training. They are the main "bottom feeders" of my tank..lol Any Massivore that gets past my Cichla is cleaned up my these gluttonous guys.