Spotted gars with drift wood

[orouborus]

Hi all,

i have 2 spotted gars in my 35gal with drift woods, they are roughly 8 an 7" in length, i am planning to get a bigger tamk soon. but im wondering if it would be ok if i have a lot of drift wood in their tank. making it look like a swamp or something. would it hamper their growth?

Cheers!

 

[SimonL]

Well, gars like "swampy" rivers...but make sure they have room to swim, gar are not very flexible...

 

[smpage]

Well, gars like "swampy" rivers...but make sure they have room to swim, gar are not very flexible...

agreed. You don't want to take up all of their swimming room.

 

[phillydog1958]

yep... drift wood is good, but give them a bit of swim room. they don't swim like arowanas but they do swim some. while arowanas pace back and forth, gar actually tend to swim slowly and they do a lot of hovering in one place.

 

[iManipulate]

I had a nice big piece of driftwood in my aquarium where the smaller fish would hide from the gars. I had it against the back of the aquarium but I noticed once I did that my gars swam around a lot less. So I took it out, and now they look much more comfortable. I still made hiding spots for my other fish with plants and rockcaves. I would suggest against it unless you have enough room for them to swim freely without getting stuck.

When they get stuck behind anything they panic and usually end up smashing into glass to try and get away. My gar had a beat up nose from getting stuck behind a plant before.

 

[Cohazard]

2 8" gars in a 35 gal doesn't sound like a lot of room, I'm guessing you mean having the driftwood tall for the gar to swim between?

Since is a grow out tank, focus on doing just that, grow them out. Keep water clean and give them plenty of room to swim.

Save the display tank for when they're in a larger tank.

 

[orouborus]

thanks guys! yeah i guess i have to remove some wood when i get home later. and i plan to get 55gal for the meantime because we have to renovate the house this january so i dont have anyplace to put any 100+ gal of aquarium. hopefully they wont grow that large.

 

[random fish guy]

that looks like plenty of room for them for now.... But there days in thyat tank are numbered

 

[sbuse]

the gallons aren't as big of a deal it is the foot print you should get a wide tank instead of a standard 55gal...

 

[orouborus]

yeah i plan to get a wide aquarium instead of a long one. is 6*1.5*2 feet ok? ill try to make the 35gal more spacious when i get home.