Thoughts on Gar

[northtexasfossilguy]

I was thinking of getting a gar, I really love their prehistoric look. Anyone have any thoughts on them? I want one that stays relatively reasonable size and won't try to eat my hand off when I'm in the tank. I want something that will eat max of 2-3" fish and leave my 4-5" S.A. cichlids alone, or am I asking for too much there? Input is appreciated, thanks!

[Payton]

possibly needle nose but im not sure i dont think they get bigger than a foot but again im not 100% positive
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[donkey]

The florida gars work great with cichlids and when your hand is in the tank they usually swim to the other side.Unless your stupid like my wife and hand feed the gar.Then he thinks you are trying to feed him everytime you put your hand in.Biggest problem I have found is that the cichlids eat the food quickly and you have to over feed sometimes to get the gar to get food.Never had a problem with the gars eating cichlids

[northtexasfossilguy]

Awesome thanks donkey, sounds like a plan when I set up my big tank.

[gacericardo]

I hand feed my florida gar everyday. he does not watch where he is biting and sometimes hits my fingernails but nothing harmful. He is an awesome fish

[pam916]

Use a feeding stick. You can make one out of a wooden dowel.

[Austin]

agree with above, florida is the best option if you don't want it big. my tropical is more social though.

[northtexasfossilguy]

Purchased the last one they had at Fish Gallery. He is an AWESOME fish, I absolutely love it! Working on the 150 gallon upgrade as we speak. I went over to theBassEpidemics and saw his massive tank in his living room and said, "ohh ohh I want one!!" :D Plus I was sort of planning it since I bought that alpha-male, alpha-female Jaguar cichlid pair. The plan is to keep some convicts around to use the inevitable hoardes of babies as food for the big fish, I'm hoping the gar will develop a taste for them on occasion.

[northtexasfossilguy]

Okay, so I have that Florida gar and a Jaguar in a tank. I have a pair of convicts and a pair of Jack Dempseys, but I want some feeder types that won't be decimated. I just want them to breed and then have some of the fry for food. They took out 6 of my Buenos Aires tetras last night, as I thought they would, so it has to be something bigger than that. Or I might face the possibility of it not happening at all. I just want a more complex tank.

I was thinking of building a pyramid of different size pipes to hide behind some rocks and put some marbled crays in.

Any other larger fish? Giant Danios maybe? Buenos Aires tetras are expensive feeders :confused: These fish are taking out anything even remotely small.

[Austin]

Not gonna happen. Unless you have a massive colony of breeders they won't keep up with consumption. Gar can eat quite a bit not to mention everything else in there. My 20" tropical can put down 3 or 4 whole smelt every feeding

[BODYDUB]

The florida gars work great with cichlids and when your hand is in the tank they usually swim to the other side.Unless your stupid like my wife and hand feed the gar.Then he thinks you are trying to feed him everytime you put your hand in.Biggest problem I have found is that the cichlids eat the food quickly and you have to over feed sometimes to get the gar to get food.Never had a problem with the gars eating cichlids
roflmao

[gacericardo]

lol

[northtexasfossilguy]

Not gonna happen. Unless you have a massive colony of breeders they won't keep up with consumption. Gar can eat quite a bit not to mention everything else in there. My 20" tropical can put down 3 or 4 whole smelt every feeding

Yea :( I'm thinking I'm going to do a colony of crayfish. They have a better chance of survival than anything else. I'll put lots of lace rock in and some plastic tubes so they can hide. I know over at Balmorhea they lived under this algae type of carpet mat they had hanging down from the walls and some in the rocks.

[northtexasfossilguy]

http://www.dfwfishbox.com/forums/production/picture.php?albumid=570&pictureid=5730

[markstanfill]

Ever thought of buying a cast net and feeding your gar some shad? Shad is free fifty free.

[northtexasfossilguy]

Yeah I need to man, or breed my own guppies in some plastic bins on the cheap. This &^*% gets expensive. Someone also told me to get a deal with a butcher and have them save me the leftover bits of good fish also.

northtexasfossilguy added 1 Minutes and 30 Seconds later...

agree with above, florida is the best option if you don't want it big. my tropical is more social though.

haha I like my antisocial fish

[northtexasfossilguy]

Heres a new pic from the tank, I started planting it, added some new rocks and such. Added some lighting for about $70, its a fixture at home depot that has silver reflectors on 4 T8 bulbs, got the 6500k bulbs in a 10 pack for $24, pretty affordable.

http://www.dfwfishbox.com/forums/production/picture.php?albumid=570&pictureid=5798

[Typical Tony]

How are the crays?

[northtexasfossilguy]

They're hiding most of the time. I didn't put them in that tank by the way, I have three tens with them in there. They are slow growing for sure, I'm waiting to see if that mama has her babies sometime, haven't checked to see if she ate the eggs instead. Thanks for asking