Tropical Gar

[bacon]

Any chance these will be more common for purchase? I never see them for sale. They definitely aren't showing up in any central Illinois LFS..ha. Anyone bought one recently?

 

[fwprawn]

They are one of the rarest gars - They do pop up once in a while. I actually had mine up for sale last year or the year before - only got lowballers, so I kept her - so… this isn't a fish you'll see at your LFS.

 

[bacon]

Thanks! What prices do these usually sell at?

 

[the lion who ate the sun]

Thanks! What prices do these usually sell at?

+1

Also, what is their growth rate like?

 

[jsodwi]

Well I sold my 3 big ones a few years back for $250-300 each. So if anyone in the ny/nj/pa area knows where they ended up let me know I want to buy them back

 

[fwprawn]

They seem to be getting rarer - They could be had for about $150, and then $250-400, and now - probably closer to $400. (From a fellow fishkeeper. Retail, if you ever found one, would be twice that probably, here in the US, anyway.)

Growth is pretty slow. I got mine at about 14 inches, 2 years ago - She is now about 18 inches. This is under "natural" conditions - room temperature, an aberrant feeding schedule - so I'm sure her growth is close to what you can expect from a fish in nature.
My longnose, and alligator, have similar growth rate, under the same conditions - which says something, since Alligator gars usually grow very fast when babied / fed a lot in a tank.
They all live together and couldn't be happier.

 

[cnel124]

I bought mine in Alaska at $125, picked up a few here for around the same price, those gars that looked hybrid which turned out to be Trops were $80 (thought I might as well buy them regardless of their genetics, cheap deal for trops).

Mine have usually grown to 14-16 inches, inch per week if fed feeder fish constantly, but then slowed down.