Which Gar Species Do I Have Exactly?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
And strangely, here is a picture of a juvenile Spotted Gar from that same website ( first picture ) and what is said to be a juvenile Florida Gar from another website ( second picture ). Confusing...

Untitled-TrueColor-02.jpg

Untitled-TrueColor-01.jpg
 
Sarcosuchus;557519; said:
And strangely, here is a picture of a juvenile Spotted Gar from that same website ( first picture ) and what is said to be a juvenile Florida Gar from another website ( second picture ). Confusing...

The top fish I know for a fact is a spotted as that fish is currently swimming in one of my tanks...Your fish however has multiple traits of a few different fish.

The dark dorsal stripe is making me think Spotted or Florida..Really I'm not sure you can get a good ID until this fish gets just a bit bigger.
 
Polypterus;557524; said:
The top fish I know for a fact is a spotted as that fish is currently swimming in one of my tanks...Your fish however has multiple traits of a few different fish.

The dark dorsal stripe is making me think Spotted or Florida..Really I'm not sure you can get a good ID until this fish gets just a bit bigger.


Yes I'll just have to wait for it to grow. By the dark dorsal stripe, you mean the line that begins from the top of the snout further above the body before it is followed by spots right? I cannot assume you to mean the dorsal fin as all the pictures of these three species have stripes or pattern on their dorsal fins that confuses me although some seem to have a more of a spot than lines or stripes. We will just have to wait and see then:) I will keep it updated. Thank you very much Polypterus, it means a lot.;)
 
Sarcosuchus;557545; said:
Yes I'll just have to wait for it to grow. By the dark dorsal stripe, you mean the line that begins from the top of the snout further above the body before it is followed by spots right? I cannot assume you to mean the dorsal fin as all the pictures of these three species have stripes or pattern on their dorsal fins that confuses me although some seem to have a more of a spot than lines or stripes. We will just have to wait and see then:) I will keep it updated. Thank you very much Polypterus, it means a lot.;)

By the dorsal stripe I do mean the one running from the snout to the Dorsal fin. Please definitly keep updating on the fish every month or so as it grows, the ID will become more solid and better defined as time goes on.
 
Polypterus;557587; said:
By the dorsal stripe I do mean the one running from the snout to the Dorsal fin. Please definitly keep updating on the fish every month or so as it grows, the ID will become more solid and better defined as time goes on.

Yes I definitely will, here are some new pictures I just took though. ( While & After Water Changing ).

He has been great, he freaked out a little when water changing ( probably because I flashed my camera at him or because my Climbing Perch freaked out ), but then he was just calm. A good hunter as well, keeps his tummy full as you can see. He is not as fat as he was when I baught him though ( the shopkeeper said he ate a lot ), right now he is doing the "fighting my shadow" at a corner of the tank, it does give him a good work out.

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg

5.jpg

6.jpg

7.jpg
 
Sarcosuchus;557519; said:
And strangely, here is a picture of a juvenile Spotted Gar from that same website ( first picture ) and what is said to be a juvenile Florida Gar from another website ( second picture ). Confusing...

as polypterus said, the top gar is a spotted gar in this pic; i don't know where you were pulling these pics from, but if they were from the original site (my pics from aquaticpredators.com or primitivefish.com) then the bottom gar should be properly labeled as a crocodile gar type II (Florida or spotted x alligator gar).

the second gar in your pictures (your gar), i believe, is a Florida gar. i can see how the patterns look similar to a tropical (we'll have to chat about this stuff again sometime polypterus, it's been too long! :)) but that spotted pattern shows up in small Floridas and spotteds...given the snout narrowness and length, i would say Florida gar--
--solomon
 
E_americanus;560600; said:
as polypterus said, the top gar is a spotted gar in this pic; i don't know where you were pulling these pics from, but if they were from the original site (my pics from aquaticpredators.com or primitivefish.com) then the bottom gar should be properly labeled as a crocodile gar type II (Florida or spotted x alligator gar).

the second gar in your pictures (your gar), i believe, is a Florida gar. i can see how the patterns look similar to a tropical (we'll have to chat about this stuff again sometime polypterus, it's been too long! :)) but that spotted pattern shows up in small Floridas and spotteds...given the snout narrowness and length, i would say Florida gar--
--solomon

It always does help in an ID when you get a pic that shows the fishes traits well.
In the above pics that clearly show the fish from the top I also would very much lean toward it being a Flordia rather than spotted.

What do you mean Solomon are you telling me Trops do not have a Longnosed color pattern ? ;)
 
I would guess the last one is a tropical gar...
Thats the coolest gar in world... like an alligator but much smaller!
gl!
 
judging from the latest pics of that 2nd gar, i would agree with e_americanus and polypterus that it isn't a tropical. but since i'm no gar expert i can't tell between florida and spotted lol

btw great looking gar, especially the 2nd one.
 
Infblue;564805; said:
judging from the latest pics of that 2nd gar, i would agree with e_americanus and polypterus that it isn't a tropical. but since i'm no gar expert i can't tell between florida and spotted lol

btw great looking gar, especially the 2nd one.

Your not alone on this as the two are nearly identical in almost every way. The only way I know of to tell them apart is if the distance from the eye to the gills are greater than 2/3 of the over lenght of the head then it is a Spotted Gar. If the distance is less than 2/3 the overall legnth of the head then it is a Florida Gar. There maybe other ways to tell them apart but I am not aware of anyother way at this time.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com