Gar TANKMATES - Share your experiences

Giant Snakehead - Channa micropeltes

Members' experience :

Species & Size of Gar: 3x Lepisosteus platyrinchus - Florida gar (~33-37cm)


Size of tank: 6 x 2.5 x 2 ft ~200 gallon


Size of tankmate: 49 cm


Duration of cohabitation: 7 months


Comments (pros and cons, other comments)

Pros: Channa shows little to no aggression directly towards the gars. If the gars are given too much food i count on the Channa to eat the excess food. Channa micropeltes is 70% of the time(excluding feeding time) not active, usually floating around lessening the chance of spooking the gars.

Cons: The only issue is feeding time. Channa micropeltes can be a very aggressive eater at times, and this in turn makes the gars jolt at every direction risking a broken back. Channa also has a very predatory nature, this is suppressed but not feeding it any live food what so ever. Channa micropeltes has a much faster growth rate.

Other Comments: Personally I would not recommend this combo. There are many things to account for to make this combo work. Both species must be about the same size(mines aren't). The only reason i would believe stopping my Channa from tearing my gars apart is that fact i introduced them when they were at the same size at a very young stage in life(6 inches). You could say that it has accepted them as takes mates, any other newly introduced fish that is remotely smaller then the Channa will either get beat down for territory incursion or eaten(had to learn that the hard way). I keep my Channa strictly off live food. Feeding feeders can bring up its predatory nature. This is a VERY risky combo, approach it with extreme caution. Luck plays a big part.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 5/10

I have moved my FL Gars (with their Tank-mates) to a 200 Gal. tanks a couple of weeks ago.

Can someone (Alex) please edit my posts on this thread to add this part?

Thank you,
Sid

PS: @Vulcan: a 6x2.5x2 tank is 225 US Gal or 186 Imperial Gallons.

i keep my 3 florida gar with a sengal, 3 birbirs, 1 royal knife and red tail gaint gourami. so far no prob. good combo bt sometime red tail gg will spook the gar

xander;4988857; said:

will clean this up soon, sorry guys!

Click to expand...

just a suggestion, since these questions come up perpetually (about "what are the best gar tankmates?"), it's probably worth pinning the topic (no need to worry about cleaning beforehand...you work hard on a lot of this stuff and we know it will get organized eventually!) --
--solomon

Hi guys,
I have 1x Atractosteus spatula (alligator gar). Currently has a length of 38 cm.

When the adults (about 1.5 to 2 meter) I want to add to the aquarium big American cichlids.

I think the Caquetaia Umbrifera, Parachromis dovii, other Parachromis ( managuensis, motaguensis....)

Do you have a chance to survive?

Tankmate : Elodea canadensis

Members' experience :

Species & Size of Gar:
10x Longnosed gar/Lepisosteus Osseus 0.5" to 5" before moving


Size of tank:
10 gallons

Size of tankmate:
10 to 15 inches average- Multiple tankmates of maybe 40 to 50 individuals

Duration of cohabitation:
-2 months approx.


Comments (pros and cons, other comments)
Pros:
The LNG liked to hang out very close to the E. canadensis and they seemed to get along very well.

Cons: -Kind of hard to see the little LNG sometimes as the E. canadensis sometimes tried to hog the front of the tank. E. canadensis is a light loving tankmate so it needs plenty of bright lighting. This is something the LNG at times shy from. Good thing is the E. canadensis seemed to understand that so would try to shade them.

Other Comments:
Overall no issues observed and it may be an excellent tankmate for little gars of any species. It even seems that it actively actually helps in keeping the LNG good tankmates with eachother by reducing cannibalism. Daphina magna the only other tankmate did not do so well as the LNG would chase them a lot and try to bite them. I had to remove the Daphina after awhile and tried small Fathead minnows. The fathead minnows where an awful idea as I needed to keep replacing them. The LNG really liked to bite them up. Had to stop that so tried to house the E. canadensis and LNG with Purina silver cup. Even with this being a non-living item the LNG would bite them..
The E.canadensis though seemed to leave everything alone and I've never had an issue.

Members' overall compatibility rating : 10/10

Pejelajarto's post is the best. I'm not sure what place a plant has in a tankmate thread though.