WOW! i woke up to this today! (very sarcastic)

[demjor19]

UPDATE for ya....he seems to still be breathing heavily, but he is sitting upright on the bottom of the tank. I get to class this morning, pull out my notebook, and imediately smell fish...He must have at some point flopped over the notebook! He's a fighter...seems like he will make it.

ewww! i saw the fish slime this morning all over your papers.

if you get a chance could you post some pictures of him. now that i am awake i would like to double check how he looks.

 

[demjor19]

Hopefully he will be ok! Sorry to hear about this Jordan...

I have done water changes and forgot to close the lid before to happens to everybody!

My 13" Florida gar jumed out and landed on a tile floor and flopped around for just a min. when i was right there thankfully and he was just fine. GL

-Mike

my 18"er has had a few out of tank experiences as well, but i was right there doing water changes...so it was only for a matter of seconds.

the one this morning seemed to have been out for quite a while. he was very sticky and dry feeling. hopefully he makes it...so far so good.

 

[aquatic_wonders]

yeah it's good you just caught it in time and you where there hope everything is ok now.

 

[dzb912]

u have a tiger????????

 

[Perch Jerker]

hows the gar doing?

 

[demjor19]

last night he ate a few small pieces of shrimp and this morning he was swimming around doing fine! other than looking very beat up i think he will make a full recovery.

 

[E_americanus]

glad the fish is ok jordan, definitely a close call...and definitely a good demo of how tough these fishes are. i have had my share of gars jump out for various reasons. if you have not done so already, i would tape down (along the corners) of the glass tops on your tank. this works well to keep cats (and other terrestrial creatures) out, and fishes (a big gar can eventually become strong enough to push open a typical glass top) inside.

another thing regarding the recovering gar; bump up your water changes for a week or so to stave off infection, but don't use melafix as it seems to create issues with oxygenation at the surface and water column in general. you may also want to put in a bubbler just to increase water movement (and therefore oxygenation) if the gar is still sticking to the bottom for the most part. good luck, and keep us posted!--
--solomon

 

[KaraJo]

glad the fish is ok jordan, definitely a close call...and definitely a good demo of how tough these fishes are. i have had my share of gars jump out for various reasons. if you have not done so already, i would tape down (along the corners) of the glass tops on your tank. this works well to keep cats (and other terrestrial creatures) out, and fishes (a big gar can eventually become strong enough to push open a typical glass top) inside.

another thing regarding the recovering gar; bump up your water changes for a week or so to stave off infection, but don't use melafix as it seems to create issues with oxygenation at the surface and water column in general. you may also want to put in a bubbler just to increase water movement (and therefore oxygenation) if the gar is still sticking to the bottom for the most part. good luck, and keep us posted!--
--solomon

He is staying on the bottom a lot, but also swimming around. We have a big bubbler in there for him so hopefully that helps. Wonder what caused the jump?? It was in the morning and no sudden movements around him. we weren't even awake yet.

 

[E_americanus]

He is staying on the bottom a lot, but also swimming around. We have a big bubbler in there for him so hopefully that helps. Wonder what caused the jump?? It was in the morning and no sudden movements around him. we weren't even awake yet.

sounds good with the bubbler kara, nice job.

as for causing a jump, anything can cause it really...even basic interactions between the tankmates. my big tank with the big gars have random occurrences like this all the time...one gar may spook another, or they just happen to do a particularly acrobatic breach...either way, gars, like many other fishes are big jumpers!--
--solomon

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

I hope that he makes a full recovery.