Gar sizes and tank requirements

Alligator gars.....continue to grow in size. At maturity in capitivity are between 4 to 10 feet long. I do not recommend this species of gar unless you plan on having a tank of at least 5,000 minimum gallon tank within 6 years of owning a gar.

Sources:

I own alligator gar

makbarracuda;4436356; said:

If someone were really wanting to get gars, what are the reasonable tank sizes ex.(24"x6'x18") be for each species? also include a small list of reasonable tank mates for each species.

I want info on:
Florida spotted gars
Cuban gars
Longnose gars
Shortnose gars
Crocodile gars
Alligator gars

Thanks for all the info in advance.

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alright, this really is a toughie. opinions will vary greatly on this. we have something in the works for getting some sort of guide up, but it will take a good amount of time before anything solid is produced.

if you want a very rough guide, here's something that i personally go by

spotted/florida
min--5x2x2
comfortable--5x2.5x2

longnose/tropical/cuban
min--5x3x2
comfortable--6x4x2

gator
min--10x4
comfortable--bigger the better

the important thing to remember is that there isn't yet a definate guideline to go by. you have to be aware that individual species of gars have specific requirements and hence their requirements may differ from a similiar sized gar of another species(eg: a shortnose gar might require lots more space compared to a florida gar of a similiar size due to it's psychotic nature). also, you need to know that even within a single species, the fish has different requirements at different stages of it's life. for instance, with a 6" longnose gar, too large a tank could possibly be harmful to it, whereas with a 24" longnose gar, the more space it's given, the better. th best advice i can currently give is to do lots of reading to get to know the species of gar you intend to keep, and make your own decisions.

that being said, florida gars are pretty forgiving, in that a 5x2x2 would probably serve it well for a long time. hence i would recommend starting there to get the feel of keeping gar before moving on to the tougher species

xxxamorexxx;4436411; said:

Alligator gars.....continue to grow in size. At maturity in capitivity are between 4 to 10 feet long. I do not recommend this species of gar unless you plan on having a tank of at least 5,000 minimum gallon tank within 6 years of owning a gar.

Sources:

I own alligator gar

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i've got to question your source, by citing that alligator gars can hit sizes of 10ft in captivity, are we to assume you have said specimen? also, how many alligator gars have you owned? i have to assume it's a large enough number that you can use it as a source.

Thank you Alex for the information.

Is there any rough guideline (current body length to tank-width ratio) which can be used to check if a current tank is not enough to house the gar at the current size?

I hope you get the question. I am trying to get guidance on how to determine the time for an upgrade

Also,

xander;4436611; said:

i've got to question your source, by citing that alligator gars can hit sizes of 10ft in captivity, are we to assume you have said specimen? also, how many alligator gars have you owned? i have to assume it's a large enough number that you can use it as a source.

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You sound like a grad student (especially like a certain grad student from UMich)

Also, (obviously) you're 100% accurate in stating that is not a large enough sample size to give a statistically sound estimate.

Cheers,
Sid

Sidrock;4436674; said:

Thank you Alex for the information.

Is there any rough guideline (current body length to tank-width ratio) which can be used to check if a current tank is not enough to house the gar at the current size?

I hope you get the question. I am trying to get guidance on how to determine the time for an upgrade

pretty hard becaues as i said, at different points of their lives they have different requirements. and there are really a lot of other factors to consider. this's a very rough guideline that i personally go by, 3x1.5 is the min. please don't quote me on this though. im thinking we could go by surface area vs length of gar instead of length n width..

Also,



You sound like a grad student (especially like a certain grad student from UMich)

Also, (obviously) you're 100% accurate in stating that is not a large enough sample size to give a statistically sound estimate.

Cheers,
Sid

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haha who're u talking about?

i have a Florida gar (hence the name) lol but anyways i was told anything over 5ft long and 2-4 ft wide since they are big i have one a Florida gar they don't grow very fast hes still small but that depends on when you feed them

floridagar;4436733; said:

i have a Florida gar (hence the name) lol but anyways i was told anything over 5ft long and 2-4 ft wide since they are big i have one a Florida gar they don't grow very fast hes still small but that depends on when you feed them

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Ever heard of proper grammer? That was hard to read!

As to the OP, since I have seen this gator and know that it was raised in a 90, wonder if it was stunted. I believe you should post some pics of this beast. The gar looks great, but being that it was raised in a 90g makes me wonder if it was stunted. Do you know anything about the age of the gar or w/c schedule?

xander;4436611; said:

alright, this really is a toughie. opinions will vary greatly on this. we have something in the works for getting some sort of guide up, but it will take a good amount of time before anything solid is produced.

if you want a very rough guide, here's something that i personally go by

spotted/florida
min--5x2x2
comfortable--5x2.5x2

longnose/tropical/cuban
min--5x3x2
comfortable--6x4x2

gator
min--10x4
comfortable--bigger the better

the important thing to remember is that there isn't yet a definate guideline to go by. you have to be aware that individual species of gars have specific requirements and hence their requirements may differ from a similiar sized gar of another species(eg: a shortnose gar might require lots more space compared to a florida gar of a similiar size due to it's psychotic nature). also, you need to know that even within a single species, the fish has different requirements at different stages of it's life. for instance, with a 6" longnose gar, too large a tank could possibly be harmful to it, whereas with a 24" longnose gar, the more space it's given, the better. th best advice i can currently give is to do lots of reading to get to know the species of gar you intend to keep, and make your own decisions.

that being said, florida gars are pretty forgiving, in that a 5x2x2 would probably serve it well for a long time. hence i would recommend starting there to get the feel of keeping gar before moving on to the tougher species

Click to expand...

Seems this question and the "how big does__________gar get"? go equally in hand. unfortunately in both cases there is nothing that can be noted as an end all guide to these questions. They both will always have issues due to individual variations in husbandry and in the individual variation between individual fish themselves.

That said it has been my rule to follow the individual fish in reGards to tank size. Monitor the variables within the fish it self (growth rate, behavior etc.) to determine what size tank it should (or should not) be put in.

Gar are somewhat unlike other fish species in captivity. They do not follow formulas that we like to create for them well. As Gar husbandry advanced over the past several years and new things came to light, we keep finding a distinctive common thread.... One needs to be very flexible and not so rigid with an individual fish. There is an obvious species based care approach that needs to be recognized but also there is an individual based care approach as well.

^^ I think this is the best approach to raise a healthy gar.