Pond height for gars

[pharmaecopia]

A little background. Picked up 2 larger gator gars a little over a week ago. They are 31" and 33" long. They are currently in a 5' by 3' pond. I know this needs to be upgraded, but felt that this was better than the 24" wide tank that the previous owner had them in. A person I know is giving me their gator tthat outgrew their tank as well. Roughly 18" and this will go in the pond as well.

I'm looking for the pond to last until spring/summer when I will have room to upgrade again. I have most of the materials already for the new pond it's just a question of the dimensions. I was thinking either 10' x 4' x 2' or 11' x 5' x 18". These are the dimensions I can make with the liner I already have. I think the second option will be better but I wasn't sure on the height.

Looking for some opinions.

 

[Conner]

11'x5'x18" will be better, as long as you provide some way to prevent them jumping. Either a wall along the sides, netting across the top, or a lid of some kind.

 

[Wiggles92]

Are you going to keep the gars in this pond outdoors year-round or just during the warmer months?

 

[MonsterMinis]

personally I'de go with the 2' depth. a 3' fish in an 18" deep tank just would concern me about girth issues more then the 4' width.

 

[pharmaecopia]

I should clarify, the current pond is indoors, as will the new pond. It will also have a lid to reduce heating costs.

 

[Conner]

I think the gar will appreciate the wider swimming space versus more vertical space. Even at 4' long, a gator isn't likely to get much thicker than about 6", so the difference between an 18" and 24" tank won't probably be very noticeable to them. But having an extra 12" of turning space will probably make more of a difference.

That's just my opinion, and I might be wrong, but we should wait for some of the experienced gator gar keepers to chime in to be sure.

 

[pharmaecopia]

Well they are currently about 6" thick as it is. Seem a little overweight to me though. So they are being fed every other day.

 

[KingGatorGar]

go big those guys will reach 5ft do u really want to move them again after that id go 12'by6' with a 3ft depth

 

[Wiggles92]

I'd say that you need to go with a depth of at least 2' based on where you live in order to prevent the pond from freezing completely.

 

[Conner]

I'd say that you need to go with a depth of at least 2' based on where you live in order to prevent the pond from freezing completely.

The pond is indoors, so there's no worry about freezing.