Gar TANKMATES - Share your experiences

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Red Bay Snook

Collective Members' compatibility rating : 7/10

Members' experience : Msjinkzd

Species & Size of Gar
24" Tropical

Size of tank
230g

Size of tankmate
12-14" (he won't stay still)

Duration of cohabitation
5 months so far

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: Snook adds a nice bit of activity and color to the tank

Cons: none so far, gar took a piece out of the snook once

Other Comments:

Members' overall compatibility rating : 7/10
(include experience on aggression, spooking, etc)

While the gar has not been spooked at all, the snook is a fast moving fish. My experience with my tropical is he is less top dwelling so this might be a better mix with a trop, but not so much with other gars. Because the snook has a telescopic mouth, he is not dangerous to the gar. I don't have any issues with feeding, spooking, etc. Once the gar took a chunk out of the snook and that has been the only issue thus far.

UDPATE (1/6/2012): My 20ish" tropical gar just killed the Red Bay Snook (13.5") after being together for about a year and a half :(
 
Silver Arowana/Osteoglossum bicirrhosum

Collective Members' compatibility rating : 9/10

Member's experience : Sid (Sidrock)

Species & Size of Gar:
(two) Florida Gars (~15")

Size of tank:
4 footer

Size of tankmate:~22"

Duration of cohabitation:
~ 1 year

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: Activity at different sections of the tank. Good "Monster" look to the tank.

Cons: No observed issues related to aggression etc.. But, this combination seems to have work because the Silver Arowana was at least 50% to 100% larger in size as compared to the Florida Gars.

Other Comments: Feeding begins with the largest fish in the tank. In my Gar tank, this is the Silver Aro. After the Aro is full, he does not bother the Gars and other fish in the tank.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 9/10
(include experience on aggression, spooking, etc)

No issues with aggression or spooking related to Gars and the Aro. The Aro get's spooked if any other fish approaches him from below and behind at a certain angle. Nothing serious.


Other members' comments

sbuse;4882671; said:
i have had my 15" silver attack my 10" florida from time to time. my 23" silver is perfictly fine with my 22" florida. both cases were in a 180gal same gar, different aros. i also have a 14" silver with a 8" florida no problem. 120gal
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Jaguar Cichlid/Parachromis managuensis

Member's experience : Sid (Sidrock)

Species & Size of Gar:
2x Florida Gars (~15")

Size of tank:
4 footer

Size of tankmate:
~10"

Duration of cohabitation:
~ 7 months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: Activity at different sections of the tank. Good "Monster" look to the tank. Jaguar offers a nice contrast to the tank's gray/silver inhabitants.

Cons: No major issues besides occasional show-boating from the Jag. Cichlids and Gars are kept on different types of food and don't perceive each other as competition. Gars are on shrimps/prawns, krill etc. Cichlids (Jag and GT) are on Hikari Cichlid food.

Other Comments: Feeding begins with the largest fish in the tank and ends with the smallest. In my Gar tank, feeding starts with the Silver Aro, then the gars, then the Endli and Jag and finally the GT.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 9/10
(include experience on aggression, spooking, etc)

Occasionally the Jag bumps into the Gars. The Gars are larger and completely ignore the Cichlids' showboating..
 
Bowfin/ Amia Calva

Sceaminleemans' experience :

Species & Size of Gar: Longnose Gar 21"


Size of tank: Deck Pond (160G I think)


Size of tankmate: 16"


Duration of cohabitation: 8 months


Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: The bowfin are considered "ancient" fish just like the Gar. They are monsters that compliment one another nicely. The Bowfins are fairly calm and do not seem to spook the gar. The bowfin is also one of the only fish that I have seen tough enough to take bite abuse from the seriously agressive longnose gar like it was a love kiss.

Cons: These fish work well when they are somewhat similar sizes only after they have reached at least 7". The predation within the two species has NOT panned out well when even similar sized YOY < 6" were housed together with the bowfins winning a slightly higher % of the battles with similar sized juvi. gars.

Other Comments: Could make an interesting theme tank: Ancient fishes

Members' overall compatibility rating : 9/10
 
African Arowana - Heterotis Niloticus

Collective Members' compatibility rating : 6.5/10

Members' experience : Xander

Species & Size of Gar
- 5x ~24" cuban gars
- around 15x 4" - 18" florida gars
- several 4" - 18" alligator gars

Size of tank
I've mixed them in tanks from 2x1x1, 4x1.5x1.5, 4x2x2, 5x3x2 & 6x4x2.

Size of tankmate
Ranged from 2" to 26". but they were always roughly the same size as the gars.

Duration of cohabitation
estimated a year of cohabitation on 3 seperate occasions.

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: They do help clean up the gars uneaten food.

Cons: Very large african arrows can spook gars that are smaller in mass. african arrows occasionally spook out, eliciting similiar behavior from the gars.

Other Comments: i've always noticed that my gars often shredded my aros if they were smaller in size. probably a good idea to ensure that the aro is slightly larger in lengt/mass before mixing the two. i would recommend this tankmate for all species of gars with the exception of gator gars, who will probably get entirely too aggressive/large to mix.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 8/10
(Water-2, spooking-1, boisterous-2, elicting aggression-1, misc-2)
african arrows and gars may be of very different mass although similiar sized. do ensure you take note of this when mixing larger specimens of aros w the more slender species of gars. all in all, a pretty decent tankmate that compliments the gars seditary habits.


Members' experience : Madding

Madding;4893920; said:
It should be noted that my 16" African Arowana lived peacefully with gars for approximately a year, but when introduced to the 500g tank (at the same time as the big tropical gars) they turned aggressive on the Afro and eventually killed it (bit it up, ripped an eye out, died within the night).

I think that underfeeding and the new territory may have been the combo that killed my African Arowana. Most people say it is one of the best tankmates for gar, so I give it a 5/10 instead of a 0, since it may have been my fault it died. :(
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Members' overall compatibility rating : 5/10
 
Smallmouth bass - Micropterus dolomieu

Members' experience : sbuse

Species & Size of Gar:
22" florida gar

Size of tank:
180gal

Size of tankmate:
6-7"

Duration of cohabitation:
2 months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: adds verioty to the tank, good colors.

Cons: bass gets attacked some times, bass is VERY speratic at feedings. spooks the gar some times

Other Comments: not a bad combo bass and gar seem to be fine most of the time

Members' overall compatibility rating : 6/10
 
Peacock bass - Cichla

Collective Members' compatibility rating : 6/10

Members' experience : sbuse

Species & Size of Gar:
18" florida gar

Size of tank:
180gal

Size of tankmate:
6-7", 13"

Duration of cohabitation:
6 months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: adds verioty to the tank, good colors.

Cons: bass are agressive tward everything in the tank at times.

Other Comments: not a bad combo bass and gar seem to be fine most of the time

Members' overall compatibility rating : 6/10

Members' experience : Xander

Species & Size of Gar
- 4x ~24" cuban gars

Size of tank
I've mixed them in tanks from 5x3x2 & 6x4x2.

Size of tankmate
Ranged from 10" to 14".

Duration of cohabitation
estimated 6 months on 2 occasions

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: none for the gars

Cons: large groups of pbass with much smaller gars will cause lots of stress to the gars

Other Comments: i've always noted that as long as the gars were considerably larger in length or could match the mass of the pbass, AND if there were NOLY 2-3 pbass in a sufficiently large tank, it works relatively well. the key thing imo is that one must not have so many pbass that they get incredibly competitive and start demonstrating their insane, biosterous "school" behavior/feedings.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 6/10
(Water-1, spooking-2, boisterous-1, elicting aggression-1, misc-1)
my rating ONLY holds true when the gars are roughly equal in mass and there are very few (2 or 3 at most) pbass.
 
White bass - Morone chrysops

Members' experience :sbuse

Species & Size of Gar:
15-18" florida

Size of tank:
180gal

Size of tankmate:
8-13"

Duration of cohabitation:
6 months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: adds color and movement to the tank

Cons: none really, just the over agressive feeding habit can spook the gar.

Other Comments: bass was agressive at feedings, otherwise it would just swim constantly like aros do.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 8/10
(include experience on aggression, spooking, etc)
 
Yellow bullhead - Ameiurus natalis

Members' experience :sbuse

Species & Size of Gar:
15-18"

Size of tank:
180gal

Size of tankmate:
2"-6"

Duration of cohabitation:
7months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: cleanned up any shredds of the food the gar left.

Cons: gar loves to eat young bullheads. they were always under attack by the gar.

Other Comments:maybe if you could get a large enough bullhead they could mix well, but mine never lived long enough to get big enough.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 2/10
(include experience on aggression, spooking, etc)
 
Bluegills - Lepomis macrochirus

Members' experience :sbuse

Species & Size of Gar:
10"-18"

Size of tank:
180gal

Size of tankmate:
2"-5"

Duration of cohabitation:
8months

Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: more movement into the tank, more of a "native feel" to the tank.

Cons: none, larger gar may feed on some, but i got mine from the lake for free as food for the fish.

Other Comments: hard to get on processed foods, may get agressive tward the gar if they try to spawn in the tank.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 6/10
(include experience on aggression, spooking, etc)
 
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