get it, imo. i have been trying to get one for over 2 years and still no luck. worst case scenario, you cant house it anymore, just send it my way
how big is the trop now? if it's a lightly stocked 150 you could pull it off till it's about 20", but after that it be a close replica of my disastrous first attemt at keeping a cuban gar(well, asides from the crappy water, overstocked, undersized tank and unstable pH...). look up at "infblue" on ap, he currently has 2 21-23inch trops in a 5.5'x34"x2.5' tank. they look monster as heck. and i think he documented their growth pretty well, you could try getting a growth rate off there. or go read up on jordon(demjor)'s old threads, he documented the growth of his t-gar well on here, and he had it in a 6*2*2, which would roughly be the same as yours as it's not the 5' length you should be worried about, rather the 2' width. trop gars get about as bulky and stout as cubans so an inflexible(larger gars are much less flexible than small ones) 22" fish in a 24" wide tank could be asking for serious trouble. if all else fails, pm solomon(e_americanus) if he doesnt chime in here, of look up richard. think i have his email somewhere or other....they will be able to tell you what you need to know. but obviously, do enough reading first before calling it a day and pming them.