Shrimp for my Lepisosteus Oculatus, peel of the head and skin or feed it whole?

[uprisingjohn]

Do I need to remove the head and skin of the shrimp if I want to feed it to my Spotted Gar(Lepisosteus oculatus)? Because in the qild they eat shrimp as a whole so why do other people remove the head and peel the skin? I can buy a fresh caught shrimp in our wet market. I live in the Philippines so getting fresh food for my Spotted Gar ain't difficult. What's difficult is getting him to eat non-live food. As of now I'm feeding him live feeders which I catch from the river not far from my house. My Spotted Gar is 6" from the looks of it.

 

[kno4te]

Would feed it whole.

 

[uprisingjohn]

Would feed it whole.

Thank you sir. Since they eat it whole on the wild anyway.

 

[TheReefer]

Either or, doesn't make much of a difference, I usually peel it though because of the sharp tail unless I'm feeding puffer fish.

 

[duanes]

I agree with Kno4te, when you feed the entire shrimp you are giving the gar all the nutrition from the other organs, what's in the digestive tract, and the calcium from the shell. Just the muscle leaves out too many macro and micro nutrients, I would say the same to someone feeding only Tilapia fillets, that, that is quite lacking in what a fish normally gets in nature (unless you are injecting those foods with vitamins and minerals..

 

[burntrubber]

Just cut out the spikes on the head and tail to be safe.

 

[uprisingjohn]

Do gars eat snails to? I have so many snails on his pond to help control tye algae, will the Gar eat them?