I'm thinking of trading in my butterfly and getting a shortnose gar. I know they will grow large (along with the rest of my fish) but curious how long say a 4-6" will take to outgrow a 65G wide? I have a 180G for when they all get bigger, but want to keep them in the 65G for now since the 180G is at my gf's place.
Shortnose Gar
- Thread starter ZeroOne
- Start date
Shortnose Gar grow extremely fast for the first few years usually reaching 15-20 inches at 3yrs old. Fully grown the females max out at about 30 inches and males a little smaller. Check the dimensions on your tank to see if its over 20inches wide in the 65 and 180g.ZeroOne;4699190;4699190 said:
you will see faster growth from a shorty than say a florida in most cases. But these are NOT beginner gar. If you havnt had a gar before, i suggest not getting a shorty
Shortnose gar are very skittish and have a tendency to break their backs by bolting across their tank and slamming into the glass. As the poster said before me they are definitely not a beginner gar.
And shorty's are a little more difficult to keep, if you haven't kept a gar before. I would recommend getting more than 1 if you can, because chances are one (or more) will end up dead within the first 3 months. I started with 7 of them, and lost 1 pretty much each of the first 3 months.
What would you recommend for a beginner then? Yes the 65g tank is about 2' wide. My gf used to keep needle nose and alagator gar, but I myself have not kept any type. She warned me not to get needle nose because of the tendency of them bolting and breaking their nose.
Cheesetian;4702320; said:
Can't believe what I am reading!
Gars are my favorite fish that I have kept (along with Bowfins)! In about the hundred or so species of fish that I have kept in my aquariums/ ponds, I have not run into ANY fish that is in the same realm of "difficult to keep" as I have found Gars to be.
Please do not mislead this fellow into a false sense of security. There is no such thing as a true "gar" for a beginner fish keeper. I have lost 9 longnose gar, 4 florida gar and 1 shortnose gar.
The shortty I had was easier to keep then my LNG's and Floridas! It just jumped out of the deck pond and dry-died, due to my negligence using a net covering with a 1" x 1" mesh. I have since replaced the cover with 0.5" x 0.5" mesh net.
The Longnose are outrageously aggressive for the Lepisosteus genus, and predation is the absolute norm at early ages. It is freaking insane the ability of LNG's to swallow other gars rediculously close in size to themselves. The thickness of the Florida does not seem to help in avoiding predation from slighlty longer LNG's. I had a 14" LNG devoure a florida that was close to 10" and resonably fat.
The Floridas seem to be the most prone to "broken back" from tank bashing (2 of my 4 TERMINAL!)! I have had 1 tiny baby LNG break it's back. It is now ~ 13" and the back has healed perfectly!
Please heed my warning. I am NOT attempting to disuade you from becoming a Gar keeper. In fact exactly opposite, Please enter the MFK Garmy! Do so however with the proper perspective that the difficulty level in keeping ANY true gar is right up there with the most difficult freshwater fish to keep in the hobby!
These beautiful monster fish deserve at least this much.
Screamin, I have 4 Shortnose gars (had 7 to start), 3 Florida gars, and 1 Spotted gar. The Shortnose gars, IMO, are much more skittish and prone to bolting across the tank than the Florida gars are. I've never had a Florida (or the Spotted) gar actually startle and hit the glass head first. They may quickly move away, but they don't spazz out like the Shorties did at first.
When I first got the Shortnose gars, I had to be very quiet and slow walking across the floor from 15 feet away, or they started darting around the tank. It took about a month before they stopped reacting to me entering the room that way.
My Shorties are also the only gar I've kept that have jumped out of my tank. Fortunately I was standing right there both times (one of them actually jumped OVER my head on its way out of the tank), and was able to return them to the tank relatively unscathed.
I would say that while yes, its possible for any gar species to be skittish and bolt and break its back, it is far less likely with a Florida gar than any other species. I think you could start with a Shortnose gar as your first gar, but you have to be a little more cautious, as they have a tendency to be more skittish. They also, IME, grow longer faster than Florida gars do, so you will have to upgrade the tank much sooner with a Shorty vs. a Florida. They will also likely need a larger tank footprint as adults than Florida gar will. My largest Florida is only 18" long, but is at least a year older than my largest Shortnose, which is 21-22" long.
When I first got the Shortnose gars, I had to be very quiet and slow walking across the floor from 15 feet away, or they started darting around the tank. It took about a month before they stopped reacting to me entering the room that way.
My Shorties are also the only gar I've kept that have jumped out of my tank. Fortunately I was standing right there both times (one of them actually jumped OVER my head on its way out of the tank), and was able to return them to the tank relatively unscathed.
I would say that while yes, its possible for any gar species to be skittish and bolt and break its back, it is far less likely with a Florida gar than any other species. I think you could start with a Shortnose gar as your first gar, but you have to be a little more cautious, as they have a tendency to be more skittish. They also, IME, grow longer faster than Florida gars do, so you will have to upgrade the tank much sooner with a Shorty vs. a Florida. They will also likely need a larger tank footprint as adults than Florida gar will. My largest Florida is only 18" long, but is at least a year older than my largest Shortnose, which is 21-22" long.