Hey guys, i have a Spotted Gar with some tank mates, and he eats pellets & frozen food & market shrimp. when i feed him the market shrimp, he has it in his mouth and starts chewing on it, & my Tinfoil Barbs which are about his size, gang up on him and try to steal it out of his mouth! they get away with it sometimes as well, but i was just curious since he has the upper hand with the teeth and all that, lol. Any clue why or is he just pretty tame? Thanks in advance.
Why is my Spotted Gar such a wimp?
- Thread starter Young_Fish_Keeper
- Start date
Florida gar aren't typically aggressive fish or eaters. More aggressive fish, even tin foils in your case, will out-compete him for food. Feed them first, then the gar - or find more suitable tank mates.
wow, wasn't expecting that answer, he gets his fair share of pellets with the tinfoils, they just love the taste of the shrimp as well, i hand feed him so ill just give him portions that he can swallow at once. thanks for the advice.
They are typically around other fish. Mine has gotten to the point where he waits for my oscar to eat before he starts. But the way they eat minnows and fish in the wild, they really don't need to be competitive around other fish besides maybe other gar. When I had an alligator gar on the other hand, he would chase the oscar around when he would grab food because the oscar would filter some of the pieces of the pellets out of his gills. As long as your gar gets to eat the food he will be alright.
When I had my 500g community gars were always last to eat. They avoid aggression and seem fine waiting to snag a meal. Not sure what you were expecting but they arent a "monster" when it comes to feeding
Alright, well i guess i was just being impatient, i guess as long as he's still eating the food he needs, he'll be healthy.
I have a pond with an ALG, large (17", large for a florida) FLG, and a TSN. The alligator gar will bite the catfish's mouth sometimes in a bid for food. The FLG will wait until everybody else has settled down before coming to the surface.
In my tank with two smaller FLG's (with one bichir and one really shy brown bullhead), the gars will be the first ones to the surface to eat, but sometimes it takes them up to 5 minutes to get there. Definitely a relaxed, non-aggressive species.
In my tank with two smaller FLG's (with one bichir and one really shy brown bullhead), the gars will be the first ones to the surface to eat, but sometimes it takes them up to 5 minutes to get there. Definitely a relaxed, non-aggressive species.
my FLG nips up tinfoils because it sees a flashy silver fish and gives a reaction bite. Mine nipped my arowana to A LOT!
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Gars don't always have the best grip on their food, I've seen several fish escape their grasp before. It's kinda like, the tinfoil barbs take the food when the gar has its "backed turned" or when it can't prevent them from taking it.
Also, Florida gars (can't speak for spotted, pretty much the same) aren't extremely aggressive so they probably won't go out of their way to attack other fish in the tank, unless they think they're food.
Also, Florida gars (can't speak for spotted, pretty much the same) aren't extremely aggressive so they probably won't go out of their way to attack other fish in the tank, unless they think they're food.
Ya my 4-5" Oscar would take goldfish out of my gars mouth .... An also rip a piece off of the goldfish while the gar had it .... Gars r not the best when it comes to food competing
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