Should I get a gar? question!

[mustang98]

Hello everyone,

I got a 150 gallon tank with the following:
5 silver dollars
5 clown loaches
1 bichir
1 ghost knife fish
1 baby fire eel

at my LFS it has a fish labled as a niddle nose fish....is this a gar?
Secondly, would a gar be an appropriate fish to add to this tank?
The fish are not aggressive and they are not competitive over food..

Your help would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[Hao]

its not a gar its a characin and yea they do fine

 

[Oddball]

The most commonly available needlenose gar is Xenetodon cancila. These are predators that feed on small fish, shrimp, insect larvae, tadpoles, etc. I've heard of them being able to train onto sticks, some pellets, mealworms, and crickets in aquaria. They prefer some top cover and do better in numbers. They inhabit delta and estuary zones so, a bit of salt is preferred in their water.

 

[nitrofish1]

i wouldnt put a true gar in that tank

 

[channarox]

agreed.if it is in fact a true gar.
if not,take oddballs advice.

 

[Gar keeper]

Yes you should get a Gar, I think everyone should have one so they can enjoy the majesticness of the creature know as a Gar.

Don't worry too much about your other fish, once you get a Gar you will see that nothing else matters and you should feel proud if the Gar eats your other fish. They are the dominant species in the wild or at home

 

[xander]

Yes you should get a Gar, I think everyone should have one so they can enjoy the majesticness of the creature know as a Gar.

Don't worry too much about your other fish, once you get a Gar you will see that nothing else matters and you should feel proud if the Gar eats your other fish. They are the dominant species in the wild or at home

actually GK, as far as dominant goes, i don't think gar(for the most part at least) should be placed in this catagory. it reinforces the false assumtion that gar are sturdy/good tankmates for other "dominant" fish, eg oscars, pbass, silver arrows..and then you get people searching for pictures of gars residing in the same tanks as silver arrows, oscars, aggressive cichlids and thinking that a gar would be able to hold it's own against those other fish.

more importantly to the thread starter..

if you're asking those questions it means you haven't been done yr reading on lepisoteids(nothing wrong with that at all, as long as you plan on reading them before actually purchasing the fish.), and so no. you should not be getting a gar at this point in time.

 

[Noddy]

I started out looking for characin-pikes, and ended up with a Gar.
Never regretted it though.
But i know im upgrading from6x2x2 to 12x3x3 in a lil while...