Why don't gars attain max sizes in aquaria?

[CTU2fan]

I see it stated on here by lots of folks that FL/Sp can be expected to max out around 24" in the aquarium. But we know they get much bigger in the wild. While on the face of it it somewhat makes sense that a wild fish would grow larger that doesn't always hold true with other species, and in fact if you go on the assumption that a fish can't be expected to reach its max size in an aquarium you'll very likely be flamed on most of the rest of MFK.

To be clear I'm not challenging the assumption about gars, just curious if anyone knows if it's something unique to gars (vs. cichlids, characoid types, barbs, cats etc) that prevents them from maxing out in aquaria.

 

[Polypterus]

Wild Max sizes are actually quite rare in the Wild This is why they are referred to as Record fish. To assume every gator gar out there in the wild is 10 feet long is false, these are rare fish and not a huge section of the population. In all reality a 24 inch Florida / spotted is a pretty typical and average sized fish. Different populations in different areas also seem to have some level of variance in the average size. For example: Longnosed in many Michigan Lakes rarely reach over 40 inches (Average is 35 for a big female, Males are rarely over 24) whereas in some parts of the South it is not uncommon at all to find average size fish this size far larger than this.

In addition to this Captivity poses some challenges to any Predatory fishes physiology.

It is also interesting to note that most info on the Max size of other species is based more on Aquaria data and Not wild data at all, whereas with gar, the upper limit has always been ruled by the Wild RECORD size. So in fact this size assessment has always been judged on just ONE exceptionally large fish and not a cross section of the actual species..

 

[E_americanus]

definitely agree with richard on this. another example i have used when explaining aspects of this issue to others (especially when people are over to see the tanks) is that the tallest person is around 8'5" tall...but that doesn't mean that EVERY human will get that big, the actual average is much smaller. it's of course crossing species (and class/order/family/genus) lines, but the example is applicable--
--solomon

 

[demjor19]

as always...great info guys! i believe we discussed this a short while back on another thread, but i cant remember which one it was. this thread should almost be made a sticky. that may help rule out some of the misconceptions of all gar species reaching 5'+.

 

[beblondie]

Those two are the best gar guys I know of-Anne

 

[CTU2fan]

Thanks guys, that makes a ton of sense. I hadn't even considered the different source data for gars vs. "aquarium" fish; knowing that a 24" wild Fl/Sp is an average fish kind of sets me at ease a bit. I was under the impression that an average wild adult would be considerably larger, and if it was then we might be doing something wrong caring for the gars. I would assume that a captive gar kept in a more ideal situation, something like a large pond for example, might be expected to surpass the captive norm?

 

[city_of_evil6661]

i was waiting for richard or solomon to read this. great info.

 

[channarox]

great info here.