who have the largest alligator gar here !

[ethnics]

i think raising it with tankmates could be very important and beneficial so i disagree with poly on that. raise a gator alone for a long long time, then toss him in with tankmates hes never had or delt with and all of a sudden your supposed to assume your tankmates are going to be safe? and gars are very spazmatic, so having the appropriate room for a spazmatic fish to me is very important. my lil guy in a 150gal with a 6'x20" platform was pinging off the sides and lid every time he was spooked. having the room available to spaz out is only a plus. i don't see having proper room to grow such as the wild ahem ahem causing stress or improper weak immune system... it just doesn't make sense

 

[minizookeeper]

well poly was right as soon as i put my 6" gator in a 55 all bye himself within 5 mins he had stocked and killed his first meal at my home(1 lrg goldfish).he looks alot less stressed(weird).some dedication huh? here it is midnight x-mas and just got done with fish stuff.how many gars have you raised poly?

 

[Polypterus]

my 12" gator loves his 400gal tank. along with many tankmates.

grew him from 2" to 12" in a few months in a 150gal then moved him just a week or 2 ago.

nowhere near biggest, but give me a few more years, and if you know me as well as others on here do, you'll see some updates of him in the future.

and yes i still have my shortnose gar you denied me of, and yes he's 2ft long now, and yes he's more then healthy.

Thats nice that yours seems to be doing fine but yours are an exception. For as many successes I've heard of in raising gar like that, I've read five accounts of how it failed and ended with a dead fish.

Step wise progression of tank size on the other hand has almost a 90% success rate and is well documented. This husbandry protocol was developed over many years with co-operation of many different people it is not a singular experience or opinion. It is a tested and proved technique.

So for those that wish to raise gar which would you use ???? Pick one it is your choice.

You can hope and prey you get good results on anecdotal successes or you can use a tested technique and achieve good results.

 

[Polypterus]

well poly was right as soon as i put my 6" gator in a 55 all bye himself within 5 mins he had stocked and killed his first meal at my home(1 lrg goldfish).he looks alot less stressed(weird).some dedication huh? here it is midnight x-mas and just got done with fish stuff.how many gars have you raised poly?

Excellent... You should be able to get it nice and big in no time and it should be ready for a larger tank very soon if all goes well.

I've personally raised well over 200 gars in both professional and hobby situations, many where raised from larvae to sub-adult / adult. I have kept all seven species and a couple hybrids.

Currently I'm working with Tropicals, Cubans, and Shortnosed. This spring we (Gar Illuminati) will be collecting (and or spawning) Spotteds from known locality so there is no doubt as to what they are. Data is deficient on these fish in terms of captive husbandry and morphology. Wild data from their Northern range is also deficient so it is a win win project.

 

[minizookeeper]

thanks for sound advise.it really worked. moving him was not so bad.....yet!!!!he really perked up almost instantly. from now on my gar questions will be directed your wayi will keep you posted on how fast he grows.i might have a new favorite fish.these things are way cool and cant wait till he is pond size.

 

[Jamietron]

Putting a tiny fish in a huge tank can stress it and weaken it's immune system much more than netting it.

That is such a load of ****. How the hell do you think they survive in the wild where the rivers and lakes are millions of gallons or do they rely on you and your tiny tanks to survive. Get off your hobby horse.

 

[Polypterus]

That is such a load of ****. How the hell do you think they survive in the wild where the rivers and lakes are millions of gallons or do they rely on you and your tiny tanks to survive. Get off your hobby horse.

OK.... can I ask you something???

How is a glass box and captivity "the wild"?

Also do you know anything about patterns of movement in Larval and Juvenile gar in the wild? Have you done any work on this? What do you know about these fish at all? I'm sure you have all sorts of knowledge coming from New Zealand about Locally native fish in the US that us here working with them on a regular basis have no knowledge of.

Thanks.... now feel free to shut the hell up unless you care to give some data or information that can back your points...

 

[E_americanus]

That is such a load of ****. How the hell do you think they survive in the wild where the rivers and lakes are millions of gallons or do they rely on you and your tiny tanks to survive. Get off your hobby horse.

i definitely agree with richard (polypterus) on this, and have confirmed it myself many times in the wild.

YOY gar, although in large river or lake systems, actually confine themselves to pretty small areas of slow-moving water around aquatic vegetation. they don't make seasonal migrations or local migrations based on food like the larger juveniles, sub-adults, and adults do.

and although there are few good comparisons that can be made between glass boxes and the wild, setting up a small tank with a lot of floating vegetation for a YOY gar can go a long way towards making them feel secure, generally less skittish, and healthier as they grow towards moving into bigger tanks and new tankmates.

please do some research before you claim statements are incorrect (or **** as you so eloquently put it) --
--solomon

 

[killerfish]

huhh this is MFK and seeing as gator gars get over 10 FEET i'd think alot more people here would have huge gars hmm just have to give them time i suppose

and no i don't have a gator gar or any true gar for now at least

 

[minizookeeper]

i agree there are only a few real monsters and the gator gar is for sure one of them. i feel lucky to keep one.(8") this experience will teach me and my 11 year old daughter alot.there is one question i do have for you and that is should i be seeing huge belly like a catfish when eating, or should they eat just enough and stay lean? my very small needlefish(gar?)eats a big gf or rosy and stays thin.ive also noticed that it likes to swim next to moving floating plants.would debris work the same?i think im going to try a stationary tree branch from my lfs.