Would You Do It?

[pwmin]

I'm getting a pickerel from John tomorrow and was wondering if there's a big risk to putting it in the same tank as my cuban gar. They should be about the same size. I would be distraught to lose my cuban, so I don't want to take an ill-advised chance. It's too small to go in my bichir/gar tank and I don't want to put it in with my p-bass or other cichlid tank. I have spare filters that I could set another tank up with, but would rather grow it out with my Cuban if it's okay to put them together. I'd assume they'd be okay together, but really couldn't find a good thread with the info I'm looking for.


thanks.

 

[E_americanus]

depending on the size of the pickerel (which i can only assume will be bigger than your Cuban...since we all have Cubans from the same batch), i would say don't do it. pike are even more notorious for fatally attempting to swallow prey of similar size to themselves, particularly in their first years. the pike may swallow the gar successfully, or kill both of them while trying. definitely an ill-advised combo for such valuable fish--
--solomon

 

[xander]

wouldn't do it either for similiar reasons stated above, I would probably remind myself how hard the small cuban was to come by

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[fishticuffs]

paul- do you have a divider for the grow out tank?

 

[Madding]

I'd be a nervous wreck, especially after some of the LARGE bait fish I've caught pickerel on here in NY.

 

[pwmin]

alrighty, thanks a lot. The pickerel are supposed to be between 6 and 8 and I'd say my gar is about 7. I'll either set up my 40 breeder and divide it or figure something else out. If only I could move all my cichlids out of the 120 and just put it in there with my smaller bichirs...


definitely not worth the risk

 

[fishticuffs]

if your 120 is the same dimensions as my 125 i have a home made divider you can barrow for a while

 

[E_americanus]

alrighty, thanks a lot. The pickerel are supposed to be between 6 and 8 and I'd say my gar is about 7. I'll either set up my 40 breeder and divide it or figure something else out. If only I could move all my cichlids out of the 120 and just put it in there with my smaller bichirs...


definitely not worth the risk

good move...keep in mind the gape on an Esox is generally larger than that of a gar of the same size...so in this case i would still say the gar would very much be a potential prey item (or at least viewed as such by the pickerel).

if you have a dependable divider go for it, but other than that i would set up an entirely different tank. pickerel are durable, and although very cool fish, you can likely find another one if anything happens (john is quite dependable in his supply!), another Cuba, however...like xander said, think about how tough that was to come by and how expensive--
--solomon

 

[pwmin]

if your 120 is the same dimensions as my 125 i have a home made divider you can barrow for a while

no, it's 4x2 not 6x1.5....thanks, though

good move...keep in mind the gape on an Esox is generally larger than that of a gar of the same size...so in this case i would still say the gar would very much be a potential prey item (or at least viewed as such by the pickerel).

if you have a dependable divider go for it, but other than that i would set up an entirely different tank. pickerel are durable, and although very cool fish, you can likely find another one if anything happens (john is quite dependable in his supply!), another Cuba, however...like xander said, think about how tough that was to come by and how expensive--
--solomon

very true.

yeah, I'll just set up another tank for now

 

[pwmin]

So, I throw the bowfin in with the p-bass and the biggest one tries to eat one even though they're just a little bigger than the smallest p-bass, so I have to take them out immediately and of course the gar tries to eat one, but lets go almost immediately. Do you think bowfin about 3" will be alright to keep with the 7" gar (obviously if they grow differently it won't work)? I don't think at this point it will try to eat them again, but maybe so. I'll just keep a bunch of FHM in with them and hope they grow fast enough to move them. Then, I put the pickerel in my 120 (bigger than I thought it was going to be) as it's just a little too small for the 210 as there's a big TT eel in there and the male moto of course is picking on it so I get pissed and throw all the cichlids and SD's from the 120 into the 300. I don't think anyone will get eaten, but it's a risk. I was eventually going to do this, but wanted to wait 'til they were a little bigger. Luckily, the biggest fish won't eat feeders.

/rant (a poorly written one at that)