Spotted gars help

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Bogwoodbruce;1234167; said:
I went to one of my LFS and they had 2 2" spotted gars at £12.50. These are supposed to get to a more 'manageable size' of 2 foot. would one of these be ok in a 6x2x2 with a silver arowana but be grown on in a smaller tanks fior a few months first. And was that a good price.
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price seems a little steep for spotted gars, but then again i don't know if they are normally more expensive (and by how much) in europe.

a spotted gar at 24" would be cramped in only a 2' wide tank, but it will take quite some time for the fish to reach that size (if it does at all), so you'd have plenty of time to upgrade (that and your silver will eventually outgrow the 2' wide tank too).

another issue is gars getting along with arows, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. i've had luck with the combo in the past, but many have not, it's a matter of careful observation of both fishes, and knowing there is a risk.

hopefully that helps get you started, in the mean time, it will take a little time for the little gars to grow into the big tank anyway. good luck!--
--solomon
 
how big is the aro?? We put our aro in with our t-gar which was the same size and he attacked her atleast twice. taking scales and riping her tail off. She is healed now, but won't be put back in the big tank for a while. I believe this was just during the gars peak growing time, he has settled down now. The thing is, a gar will grow at a faster rate then an aro, so that is something to be careful of. Spotted gar may be a bit less agressive then our t-gar was though. Good luck and i hope it works for you.
 
KaraJo;1234287; said:
how big is the aro?? We put our aro in with our t-gar which was the same size and he attacked her atleast twice. taking scales and riping her tail off. She is healed now, but won't be put back in the big tank for a while. I believe this was just during the gars peak growing time, he has settled down now. The thing is, a gar will grow at a faster rate then an aro, so that is something to be careful of. Spotted gar may be a bit less agressive then our t-gar was though. Good luck and i hope it works for you.
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the issue of gar growth rate vs arow growth rate really depends on what period in the fishes' lives we are talking about. a gar has a very fast initial growth rate (arows are also quite fast), but then plateau. whereas a gar (like a Florida/spotted) will plateau around 13-16" for a while, a typical silver arow will continue to grow and get quite large. so an arow could be considered to have a faster (or more consistent) growth rate from 13" onward. this is part of the challenge in keeping both together.

it's best not to put gars together with arows until the gar has plateaued a bit, and the arow is not so big that it will harass the gar...again, unless you're lucky based on the personality of your fishes, the combo may work for a bit and then go awry since the arow will generally surpass the gar in size (this is looking at silvers -and blacks to an extent- compared to gars other than gators) --
--solomon
 
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