What fish surprised you the most?

[IgnatzMcJockel]

I agree with beau1990 about gar.
I bought my Florida gar around a year and a half ago, and I have loved him ever since.
He's around 17.5 inches atm, and he is trained to eat from my hand.
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IgnatzMcJockel , a 6X3 is plenty of space for a Florida gar to be housed in for many years. You really only see them get 2 foot in captivity.

Nice fishes !
How long did it take you to train it?
Looks like i will do a florida gar growout thread, when i get my bigger tank xD

 

[Hendre]

I agree with Hendre my group of african knife fish are really interactive they have been great to keep!

I thought they would be picky eaters but they eat EVERYTHING!

Very nice! They do like just about anything, mine would sometimes eat out of my hands

 

[Caveden]

Ho

Caveden yup

how long Did it take to recover? Damn yours was a small one and managed to recover. Around the same time yours broke its back mine did as well. Mine was around 13” at that time and it didn’t recover. How did a baby gar like urs recover and a medium sized gar like mine not? Did yours eat while it’s back was broken?

 

[beau1990]

Ho

how long Did it take to recover? Damn yours was a small one and managed to recover. Around the same time yours broke its back mine did as well. Mine was around 13” at that time and it didn’t recover. How did a baby gar like urs recover and a medium sized gar like mine not? Did yours eat while it’s back was broken?

It took him a couple months he still ate and still hunted the live food I'd toss in for him I don't know why mine made it and yours didn't, possibly my wild caught genetics? Who knows it could have been where mine was so young it had the growth spurts to help him

 

[dogofwar]

I'm a fan of goodeid livebearers. Tons of personality, easy to breed (generally), interesting behavior and endangered. Many are mostly brown ... but I've got probably 10-12 tanks of them!

 

[jjohnwm]

I'm a fan of goodeid livebearers. Tons of personality, easy to breed (generally), interesting behavior and endangered. Many are mostly brown ... but I've got probably 10-12 tanks of them!

Me too! After being mildly interested in them for many years, without actually coming across any, I spotted some at a local aquarium club auction. Took them home, raised them, bred them, traded some off, got a couple more species of Goodeid, and pretty soon realized that I was hooked. They're not gaudy, many of them are not the easiest fish to combine with other species, but they would be among the last fish I would get rid of if I were forced to downsize.

At the moment, the predatory Bulldog Goodeid is pretty high on my "want" list.

 

[dogofwar]

Most of mine are in species tanks, although I've got some in communities with New World cichlids.

Try keeping them in big tanks or ponds. Some - like Ilyodon - can get big. And can definitely hold their own. Better, many are good down to the 40Fs.

Me too! After being mildly interested in them for many years, without actually coming across any, I spotted some at a local aquarium club auction. Took them home, raised them, bred them, traded some off, got a couple more species of Goodeid, and pretty soon realized that I was hooked. They're not gaudy, many of them are not the easiest fish to combine with other species, but they would be among the last fish I would get rid of if I were forced to downsize.

 

[jjohnwm]

I have Amecas, Xenotocas and Skiffias. The Xenotocas are probably my favourite, but I like them all. None are in species tanks, most are with cichlids or other larger fish that balance the Goodeids' usually feisty temperament. My 360-gallon tank has a few medium-sized non-predatory cichlid species and a healthy (and increasing, now that the weather is warming) population of Ameca splendens and Xenotoca lyonsi. I am especially fond of watching a sparring match between one male of each of those two species.

And, yes, I appreciate their temperature hardiness and usually have a couple of stock tanks outside all summer with them. They are usually the first fish to go outside in the spring and the last to come inside in the fall. And finding all those babies when the tubs are emptied is like Christmas!

 

[Polypterus_36]

Nice fishes !
How long did it take you to train it?
Looks like i will do a florida gar growout thread, when i get my bigger tank xD

I got him from a local lake, so he was only eating live at first. I trained him by using a fishing pole and wiggling a piece of fish with it near his face. He eventually figured out that whatever I drop in the water is food. He took to pellets right after that.

Hand-training took a few months, as he still had to get used to me.
The funny thing is that I just got another Florida gar today. He is has an oddball pattern, and he is absolutely gorgeous!

I got him for a steal as well. 29 dollars!

 

[IgnatzMcJockel]

I got him from a local lake, so he was only eating live at first. I trained him by using a fishing pole and wiggling a piece of fish with it near his face. He eventually figured out that whatever I drop in the water is food. He took to pellets right after that.

Hand-training took a few months, as he still had to get used to me.
The funny thing is that I just got another Florida gar today. He is has an oddball pattern, and he is absolutely gorgeous!
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I got him for a steal as well. 29 dollars!

Do you feed it sinking or floating pellets?
Your new gar looks great. How long is it? 13" - 15" ?