well, I just got a deal on some SPG (actually I will only get 2), I want to put them in my new 875G out door tank/pond. The thing is will they be OK if the water temperature about 33-35F degrees?
Spotted gar in an outdoor pond in North Texas
- Thread starter HungDang
- Start date
I've never owned gar, but I wouldn't imagine that low temps would be good for them. Especially in such a small body of water. Larger bodies of water might get that cold, but the rate of change would be much slower
Since you say spotted gars I'm assuming they are locally collected spotteds. They should be able to take the winter temps provided they have enough time to prepare for winter. At this time of year I would not risk introducing them though, with summer already past they might not be able to bulk up enough to survive the winter.
If you haven't already I would look through some of wiggles threads on how he overwintered his longnose gars in a 500 gallon pond.
If you haven't already I would look through some of wiggles threads on how he overwintered his longnose gars in a 500 gallon pond.
they are almost like captive breed, but the parents are wild caught. The guy got the parents live in a huge pond in his farm and they spawned in there! I will bring them inside if they don't look good!
Will the pond be in-ground, above-ground, or somewhere in between? That and the dimensions of the pond will play a big role when it comes to being able to overwinter them. There are some other things with the gars themselves that could make or break their ability to be overwintered outdoors, but lets get these details out of the way before moving on to other factors.
given the info we have so far, put them in the pond and you'll get gar-cicles. no way they are making it through 35F temps in the little of water--
--solomon
--solomon
Umm yeah... That is a Negative there on that. Will not make it that low. Are you sure your water temps would really go that low?
the temperature is that low because I can do something to keep it up like that! Last winter we have some bad storm, the temperature stay bellow 20F for like a month, a lot of pond around here frozen solid. Usually, the winter temperature around here only go under 30 for a few days then up to the 40s again. I think I will have to get a 150G stock tank to bring them inside if thing go bad!
the pond will be above ground, it's 8' diameter and 28'' high (the water will be 26'').
I wouldn't risk it especially since it's above ground since it will have the potential freeze completely solid, so I'd say that this would be a spring/summer pond rather than a year-round pond then. If it were in-ground, then there would be some insulation from the ground and the layer of ice that will form on top of the pond, but it's still a big risk if the gars aren't properly conditioned, of proper size, and/or have the proper genetics.