Tropical Gar Not Eating

[knobhill]

I am having a run of bad luck getting gars to feed in my 1100g. First, I had a sb plat gator who wouldn't eat so I rehomed him. Now, I have a 22" tropical gar also not eating. He is very chill, is animated when I walk by the tank, almost begging for food. When I feed, he then retreats or stays at his spot by the surface. No one is bullying him that I can see and his fins are in perfect shape, but I do have a half blind silver aro who is pushing close to 30" and needs to be hand fed. The aro is aggressive with food but not other fish in the tank, just a big cruiser. When I bought the gar he was in a 600g tank with an asian aro that was much smaller than him, I saw him eat shrimp from the bottom.

I have tried the following:

Tilapia, shrimp, prawn, tuna, yellowtail, sole, frozen bw, mysis shrimp, beefheart, massivore, food sticks, silversides/smelt.

I did put some feeder minnows in the tank once and all the other fish ate them within in minutes (it is only the rare occasion like this that I feed live)


The rest of the tank mates are:
RTGG, 5x widebar SD, 3 pike cichlids, rosequeen cichlid, bocourti cichlid, fly river turtle, flagtail, 2 very large but friendly niger cats, NGT datnoid,


He was the last fish added to the tank, I could add a couple bichirs, marble goby, and fire eel that are in my other tanks. Just thinking that if he was higher up in the pecking order, he might feel more comfortable...

Any help, ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[reptilerancher]

gar tend to be slow eaters and like to feed at dawn and dusk I would get as many feeder fish as I could and over feed a bit to give him time to hunt. also give him a night to eat.

 

[knobhill]

gar tend to be slow eaters and like to feed at dawn and dusk I would get as many feeder fish as I could and over feed a bit to give him time to hunt. also give him a night to eat.

I have tried feeding at different times of the day, and usually feed at night. I will mix it up and try the next couple of mornings when the lights are off.

I'm still hesitant to feed live, but perhaps if I quarantine some feeders, I might give it a go. If I do my normal feeding, THEN introduce feeders, the gar should have a good shot at catching one.

Thanks for posting

 

[reptilerancher]

all my feeders are fed pellets that I feed my gar so I gut-load the feeders before he gets a shot at them. This makes the feeders more nutritious for the fish and provide mental stimulation.

P.S would love to see a feeding video of this tank it sounds like it would be fun to watch