Updated Gar photos/tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
OhioMFK said:
Very cool. Do you have photos up? Ill have to check them out if you do. Lep, in your experience when housing multiple gar did they ever rake one another?
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As in scratch or damage? The gars I've kept together were always fine, sure I would see the odd torn fin but it would quickly heal within a day or so. They were always together and would chase each other around the tank in circles. My favorite fish to keep hands down
 
OhioMFK said:
Thanks for the information. I'll have to check out his youtube page. I know where that is just from my job constantly shipping to and from ON. Sounds like an awesome trip, i have to make it up there someday. Heard the fishing is phenomenal. Thanks Dive, I got him about two months ago, . I've been so busy with work havent been on here as much lately. What have you been up to? You finish that Native tank yet? I am thinking about doing a Bowfin to go along with the gar if i can ever find one. The wife finally is letting me get a big enough tank lol!
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The fishing on simcoe is good, I'm going out again later today for some pike and bass in the bay. If you come up here I'll take you out to do some fishing. I wouldn't suggest a bowfin as they can be very mean and aggressive, it will probably work but I'm just giving you a heads up.
 
Lep, I have have to take you up on that offer. Pike fishing is by far my favorite and I have there are some monster up North. We have a lot of Musky in Ohio but a northern is far more rare. I decided against the bowfin today. It just isn't practical to get one and as you stated i do know they can be aggressive. I called around for some Gar today. No one within 3 hours had any. So i will most likely have to wait two weeks to get more. I am thinking of getting two, for a total of three. Then i just need to find my perfect driftwood piece. Let me know how you do on your fishing trip. Btw why did you get rid of your gar?
 
I know what you mean but simcoe has a lot of smaller ones. Further north their huge and saskatewan their monsters. I at one time was able to buy 10 bowfin for 60$ delivered at a 3" size. Tough to find around here as well when small. Don't worry about 2 weeks, I had to wait 2 years. I was moving houses
 
Yea I am not overly concerned with getting the gar right away. I need to setup a QT tank for them anyways. I cant get Bowfin here in Ohio as they are native to the state and fish store cannot sell them. Only way to get natives in Ohio is to go to a fish farm. However no one wants to stock Bowfin in their lake or pond so they are not readily available. They are extremely rare in Ohio and until I tried to get one did not even know we had them anywhere. In your opinion what is the quickest way to get Gar off feeders exclusively and onto pallets and or frozen food? Mine still only takes the dead/frozen foods 50% of the time. With getting to more i don't want to be going through 100 feeders a week. As it is I have pickerel that i cant get off live. I have gotten them to take crickets however so that has been my saving grace.
 
OhioMFK said:
BTW bummer you had to get rid of your gar. What are you planning on keeping now?
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When all is finished I may setup a 150 gallon reef or a 300 gallon gar or cichla tank. My LFS has temensis and orinocensis in right now. To get mine off of feeders I fed tilapia fillet exclusively for around a month. Then I soaked pellets in the thawed out tilapia water to get the scent onto the pellets. Feed those pellets for a while then just drop only pellets in. Once one eats pellets the others follow, that's what it was like for me. 1 started eating then all 5 began eating pellets
 
Awesome information man i appreciate it. Was there a specific kind of pellet you found most effective and or best for nutrition purposes? I am considering a 180 G reef tank in the future myself. I still have a lot of reading to do prior to that. I think im probably about a year out from starting to set it up. Going to focus on my corals and rocks first and add fish later.
 
OhioMFK said:
Awesome information man i appreciate it. Was there a specific kind of pellet you found most effective and or best for nutrition purposes? I am considering a 180 G reef tank in the future myself. I still have a lot of reading to do prior to that. I think im probably about a year out from starting to set it up. Going to focus on my corals and rocks first and add fish later.
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Most success was with hikari carni stix. The bigger sized ones. Never looked into nutritional values for pellets but hikari is a good brand. Even when their eating pellets mix up the diet with fillet and shrimp. Yup so far I'm working out most of the equipment. Got the sump, lighting, heaters, wavemakers, phosban reactor, and pumps for sump. Still need the skimmer and a few other pieces. Live rock and corals I plan on buying off someone who is giving away their reef. I always check kijiji so when I see a tank tear down ad I'm going to jump on it
 
I'll have to look into getting the hikari sticks. I plan on having a mixed diet, figure one day shrimp,one day tilapia filet and the others ill do the pellets if i can get them to take to it. Injecting feeders with needles nutrients has become such a pain in the ass i cant wait to get them on even just fillets. There is a company fairly close to me where i can get used equipment for the right price, so i will be getting it overtime. My main concern is getting good live rock. Seems like you have the perfect situation. Your live rock will already be essentially cured and ready to go.
 
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