spotted gar OR flordia gar???

[Gar keeper]

I agree i bought an aligator gar as a florida because it had the markings of a florida and i didnt know much about gas then so didnt see the very obvious snout of a gator!

What does gas have to do with ID of a Gar? Not only is it very flammable and dangerous it's not good to have around your aquariums because even a little bit in your water could be bad for your fish.

Now what's the situation on your Gator Gar? Have you been able to keep him and support him or did you have to get rid of him?

 

[Tom500]

What does gas have to do with ID of a Gar? Not only is it very flammable and dangerous it's not good to have around your aquariums because even a little bit in your water could be bad for your fish.

Now what's the situation on your Gator Gar? Have you been able to keep him and support him or did you have to get rid of him?

Haha i didnt mean to type gas, i mean gar's.
I kept him for a short while but i managed to sell him on to a friend with a huge aquarium 11ftx4ft he is very happy, and i am too

 

[Gar keeper]

Haha i didnt mean to type gas, i mean gar's.
I kept him for a short while but i managed to sell him on to a friend with a huge aquarium 11ftx4ft he is very happy, and i am too

LOL...

Not bad, how long did you keep him for if I may ask? Also how was he as a pet and how big was he when you sold him? Can you get any recent pics of him?

 

[krazy4country]

LOL...

Not bad, how long did you keep him for if I may ask? Also how was he as a pet and how big was he when you sold him? Can you get any recent pics of him?[/quot

 

[E_americanus]

i definitely agree with ricky (infblue) and have seen this countless times...museums, zoos, public aquariums all frequently misID fishes, and very often misID gars. even the audubon aquarium in louisiana misID'd their gars on a couple displays...and they have most of the species locally (you would think they could properly ID them).

with the one in question in the museum, it could very well be a spotted, as external traits have degraded with stunting...early one the distinction would have been possible. i would say, however, unless you have locality information for the fish, it could still be a Florida gar. if you know your fish, you'd also know there is another way to tell the difference (especially since you have the fish there in the tank).

ostensibly that fish looks like a Florida, but again stunting will dull the traits. i wouldn't be surprised if it was a spotted though. BUT in reGARds to LFS gars, yes, most of them are indeed Florida gars--
--solomon

 

[chefjamesscott]

i definitely agree with ricky (infblue) and have seen this countless times...museums, zoos, public aquariums all frequently misID fishes, and very often misID gars. even the audubon aquarium in louisiana misID'd their gars on a couple displays...and they have most of the species locally (you would think they could properly ID them).

with the one in question in the museum, it could very well be a spotted, as external traits have degraded with stunting...early one the distinction would have been possible. i would say, however, unless you have locality information for the fish, it could still be a Florida gar. if you know your fish, you'd also know there is another way to tell the difference (especially since you have the fish there in the tank).

ostensibly that fish looks like a Florida, but again stunting will dull the traits. i wouldn't be surprised if it was a spotted though. BUT in reGARds to LFS gars, yes, most of them are indeed Florida gars--
--solomon

I will just quote my earlier post

FOUR WORDS

FIELD COLLECTED CANADIAN SPECIMEN wned:

all in good humour of course

and since I find it hard to believe that someone from florida was up here I am pretty sure the museum got a native canadian specimen for their troubles when they brought it in from eastern canada

I would think the bold and underlined parts are very clear.

I do not see how a gar collected out of canadian waters can be a florida gar, though I am not disagreeing that pet stores sell mostly what you are saying.

My point in even posting this particular gar was to show that there are indeed spotted gars in the care of mfk members. I was given carte blanche with this tank and could have rehomed this gar to one of my own tanks and thereby taken ownership of it, and redone the museum tank fresh.

No matter how tempting that was my thoughts were that to move this 10 year old fish from very bad water to well maintained water would most probably kill it. I thought it better to fix the broken tank at the museum and see if jennifer (as this gar is named) would ride the wave to healthy water.

She has actually put on 1/2 inch growth in the past 2 months and looks to be having what I thought was a permanent tail split start healing. It was a back drop thought of mine wondering if proper water quality might kick start growth from a stunted fish.

 

[E_americanus]

I will just quote my earlier post




I would think the bold and underlined parts are very clear.

I do not see how a gar collected out of canadian waters can be a florida gar, though I am not disagreeing that pet stores sell mostly what you are saying.

My point in even posting this particular gar was to show that there are indeed spotted gars in the care of mfk members. I was given carte blanche with this tank and could have rehomed this gar to one of my own tanks and thereby taken ownership of it, and redone the museum tank fresh.

No matter how tempting that was my thoughts were that to move this 10 year old fish from very bad water to well maintained water would most probably kill it. I thought it better to fix the broken tank at the museum and see if jennifer (as this gar is named) would ride the wave to healthy water.

She has actually put on 1/2 inch growth in the past 2 months and looks to be having what I thought was a permanent tail split start healing. It was a back drop thought of mine wondering if proper water quality might kick start growth from a stunted fish.

the statements made earlier by other members are incorrect in saying there are no spotted gars kept by people on MFK (or other boards for that matter), the correct statement would be that they are in fact very rare in the hobby. most LFS fish are indeed FL gars. as an aside it IS in fact possible to find FL gars in canada, as even natureServ and other databases/research units have found captive-release specimens in canada. so it IS in fact possible, just because it was "collected in the wild" doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't be an FL, but it is very unlikely. do you have the exact locality information on where your gar was found? if so, please share...i have several contacts in canada who have experience with spotted gars, and am working with one of the only people specifically studying the species.
secondly, i have just under 100 spotted gars that i care for right now, ranging from 8 days old to over 14 years...so i'm confident in spotted gar info (and can also agree that there are people on the board who own true spotted gars).
lastly, your fish would not have died if it went into "clean waters"...that's not how gars work. glad you decided to rehab the tank though, and that the fish is doing well.--
--solomon

 

[chefjamesscott]

to that I wish it was possible but saddly the origional fish keeper who built the tank and did the whole wing of the museum where the tank is passed away suddenly abotu five years ago. which resulted in the person whom I replaced taking over the tank.

From what they told me about this palentologist (if it is spelt right) is that he was a radical radical radical naturalist who was totally rigid in the putting together of this tank as being geograpic correct and went to great lengths to setting up the tank with that regard. Though I must say the design of the museum shows his passion and skills a fine testimony of a life lived.

Initially the tank had 2 of these gars, and a bowfin all collected from canadian waters. Saddly that was as much info as I could get on the foundations of this tank.

Though I can say that when I put the 2 gars I am growing out into the tank with this one then a positive id from looking and comparing them one with the other can show the difference or am I wrong in that in thinking that a side by side comparison of spotted to florida will show clear?

Now can you post pics of what you are taking care of that would look so cool

 

[chefjamesscott]

ohhhhhhhhh I have a ? for you.

I just looked at your site and here is the ?, can you ship to canada if you can I am sure the museum would be interested in getting some fish from you.

I have tried to find a source to get fish to put this tank to its former glory but had no luck with anyone shipping to canada let alone having the supply of these kinds of fish.

 

[Gar keeper]

secondly, i have just under 100 spotted gars that i care for right now, ranging from 8 days old to over 14 years...
--solomon

Such a beautiful image. Please provide pics of this wonderful site.
I could only imagine a huge tank/pond with 100 Spotted Gars in it... Oh the money I would pay to swim amongst all those beautiful creatures with the hopes they would be snaping at me

But yeah... Please provide pics.