Sounds exciting bro. about the gar it all depends on how large u get them. I remember i bought mine at around 5-7 inches...i grew them out in a 7 foot tank for 3 months and powerfed them pellets a few times a day. then i transferred them to the pond at 40cm and grew them out till then. they never had any sickness or problems...for gars u have to make sure they have enuf turning space and length because they are quite skittish so a lot of gars have "bent" noses. pretty sad. just go as large as u can mate