Shortnose Gar

[warmouth]

Wow I had no idea...... LOL, I go swimmin with 3+ft Longnose gars almost every summer.

 

[E_americanus]

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.

great info and advice connor, generally holds up with the observations/experiences Richard and i have had with shortnoses over the years. we're hoping to (at some point in the relative not-so-distant future) include this sort of detailed species-specific info on the gar sites as well. thanks for sharing...how is the spotted doing? --
--solomon

 

[Madding]

Before my shortnose died, I was also noticing its growth seemed much more rapid than my juvenile longnose, florida and spotted. They were all around the same size at the start.

 

[Polypterus]

Before my shortnose died, I was also noticing its growth seemed much more rapid than my juvenile longnose, florida and spotted. They were all around the same size at the start.

It is very likely that Shortnosed may have one of the fastest growth rates in the Lepisosteus genus, followed close behind by Longnosed. They also appear to be the quickest to mature. Unfortunately there is no detailed study on them regarding this. Obviously we have all observed it, but there has been no real study of this to really compare to the rest of the genus. Hope to rectify this someday. There is also very likely some amount of Counter-gradient variation in the growth rate across the range of the fish as well. Fish in the more northern parts of their range seem to get really big really fast. Southern ones seem to have a more tempered growth rate more matching that of Wild longnosed.

Longnosed gars are an interesting fish in captivity. Their captive growth rate actually does not match the wild data at all. They frequently slow in growth very quickly. Reason for this is really very much unclear and I've seen it across the range of the fish.

 

[Conner]

great info and advice connor, generally holds up with the observations/experiences Richard and i have had with shortnoses over the years. we're hoping to (at some point in the relative not-so-distant future) include this sort of detailed species-specific info on the gar sites as well. thanks for sharing...how is the spotted doing? --
--solomon

The spotted is doing good. He's out in the pond with 3 of the Shortnosed gar. I've been having to go out every morning to break ice up because we've had a week straight of nights in the single digits.

He is still one of the smallest of my gar, even after having been transferred outside to the pond. What kind of growth rates have you noticed with spotted gars? Do they seem to grow slower than Florida's? Because mine seems to be.

I've also noticed that Shortnose gars seem to put on a great amount of length in the first 6-8 months, without adding much girth whatsoever. Its not until they hit about the 17-18" mark that they really start to thicken up at all. I guess that would probably mark the time when weather starts getting colder and they start to bulk up for the winter months of inactivity?

 

[koltsixx]

Same here my Shortnose was 4 inches smaller than my Florida when I purchased him. Now the Shortnose is longer than the Florida by a inch. Also don't know if this is common but my Shorty was easier to get off live than the Florida's. Didn't require any starvation he just followed suit after seeing the other fish eating pellets. Though I know I'm lucky he's by far my most stable Gar. Both Florida's have jumped at least twice, but not my Shorty. He's the least skittish and became responsive to me after a month as he started associating me with food. Though I also do water changes every 2-3 days so most of my fish are pretty used to my presence plus the tanks in a high traffic area. Even the Armatus which also have been reputed to be skittish are very calm. The only jumpers are my Florida's and it's always after lights out. I'm guessing tthe aggressive swimming habits of my Trachy cats freaks them out. Sorry if I'm derailing, just haven't posted in this section in awhile so I got carried away.

 

[warmouth]

Same here my Shortnose was 4 inches smaller than my Florida when I purchased him. Now the Shortnose is longer than the Florida by a inch. Also don't know if this is common but my Shorty was easier to get off live than the Florida's. Didn't require any starvation he just followed suit after seeing the other fish eating pellets. Though I know I'm lucky he's by far my most stable Gar. Both Florida's have jumped at least twice, but not my Shorty. He's the least skittish and became responsive to me after a month as he started associating me with food. Though I also do water changes every 2-3 days so most of my fish are pretty used to my presence plus the tanks in a high traffic area. Even the Armatus which also have been reputed to be skittish are very calm. The only jumpers are my Florida's and it's always after lights out. I'm guessing tthe aggressive swimming habits of my Trachy cats freaks them out. Sorry if I'm derailing, just haven't posted in this section in awhile so I got carried away.

Glad to hear it....I have a friend who has a wild caught shorty in a small pond outside who has never had a problem with him either, his shorty was about 9 inches when caught and is now about 18 inches.