Florida gar

[RedStarFishy]

What can go with a Florida gar? He's right now in an 55g tank byhimself, with plants and his feeders when its time. my boyfriend desperately wants an arowana, could he fit ok with the gar? thanks

 

[CFC]

Your tank isnt big enough for the gar you have let alone anything else, florida gars can easily top 3 feet and can grow as large as 5 feet. Arowana's depending on species will grow to between 30 inches and 4 feet. Really you need to be looking at buying a tank of at least 240 gallons before you get any more fish.

 

[Clare]

We have 4 Florida Gars in a tank 8ft x 2ft x 2ft. Ours are with a Mbu puffer, and a Perruno Catfish. They are currently around 16" long and have not grown recently, giving us the impression they are nearly fully grown.
We bought these fish from Richard Hardwick, the expert who writes for PFK Magazine, he says he has seen them upto 2ft long but in 35 years has never seen them any bigger.
That said, they are better off in groups, like most Gars,and a group of 4 fish all 2ft long will need a considerable tank.
Ours are soon to be upgraded to a tank 8 x 3 x 2 .Ours eat very well and take whitebait and prawn as soon as i put it in the tank.
Although their bodies bend they are generally stiff bodied and need room to manoever around the tank. Eventually they will go in a tank 14ft long, 5ft high and 4ft wide if they grow big enough.
Great fish if you can provide the right tank and tankmates, not sure about an Arowana with a Florida Gar though, Arowanas can be very aggresive!!
Clare

 

[ryan]

... Arowanas can be very aggresive!!
Clare

Not all Arowanas Clare, if you are talking about a Jardini Arowana then they certainly can be very aggressive! But the Silver and Black Arowanas are resonable docile with larger tank companions, my young Black Arowana has had a number of tank mates and never shown any aggression towards anything from Hatchets and Corydoras to larger catfish/oddballs/predators. Anything that they will not be able to eat is left alone with the South American Arowanas IME.

 

[Clare]

A friend of ours had a large silver arowana, 30"! It was bullied by the alligator gars which were 3ft long.
I know Arowanas aren`t all aggresive i think they are misunderstood. ( shoved in small tanks where they can`t get away from other fish etc.).
Didn`t mean any offence just didn`t want someone to get one then find out later that different types have different personalities!!
We have same problem with people telling us Mbus are aggresive and can`t be kept with anything, ours is lovely with all tankmates.
So really i should of known better shouldn`t I. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RedStarFishy]

Your tank isnt big enough for the gar

oh i know its not big enough for him when he gets bigger, but right now he's small, only a couple of inches. when he gets bigger he will be moved to a bigger tank. he was just wondering what he could put into the tank now for some companionship or as a "replacement" when the gar gets too big and has to move to a bigger tank.

 

[CFC]

They are currently around 16" long and have not grown recently, giving us the impression they are nearly fully grown.

How old are these fish? As with many fish gars have rapid growth for the first year and then slow down to maybe only growing a couple of inches a year. Lepisosteus species have long life spans and it is not uncommon for a large fish to be 20 years old, if your fish are still young then they will have a lot more growing to do yet.

he was just wondering what he could put into the tank now for some companionship or as a "replacement" when the gar gets too big and has to move to a bigger tank.

Anything that wont be aggressive toward the gar but at the same time is too big for the gar to eat will work. Catfish and large schooling fish like bala sharks or silver dollars work well.

 

[Clare]

Not exactly sure on the age of our Florida Gars because they belonged to a man in London first, he had them over a year, then Richard took them, then he took them into the shop. They weren`t in the shop for long though.
The fish don`t look as though they will grow any bigger, you normally get a rough idea but we really hope they do. It would be nice for them to end up in the big tank eventually.
Clare

 

[CFC]

They could well be stunted if they have been kept in smaller tanks until they litterally cant fit in anymore and then moved on This happens a lot with large fish and ends up with what the guys at my LFS call the boomarang effect, a small specimin of a large fish is sold to someone with a average sized tank, the fish outgrows the tank and they bring it back to the lfs once it has grown too large. Another customer with a larger than average tank comes in and buys the fish and then they too keep it until it outgrows their tank and then return it to the lfs. Then the fish sits in a sump tank for years until someone with a enormous tank comes along but by then the damage is done and the fishes growth has been stunted.

 

[Clare]

This could well be the case as one has an arch in his back and the other has a problem with her back end floating up at the top of the water all the time ( although it is not a swim bladder problem).
We knew they were both `disabled` when we bought them and that wwas part of the appeal. Unfortunatley it is not nice for the one who struggles to get low down in the tank but she manages, the one with the arched back you can hardly tell has anything wrong.
Maybe these will overcome in time as we have not had them too long but all we can do is try to give them as good a life as possible. They eat well, whitebait, cockles and prawns ( and anything else they think they might be able to swallow, Eric was swimming around with a prawn in the shell for ages the other day before he finally accepted it was too big and dropped it for the catfish)!!

I guess only time will tell what will happen to these Gars but we will do our best for them and they have great personalities.
Clare