in light of the impending tropical gars, i've decided to start a thread for members (especially those who are in on the Sgp T-gar order to clear doubts and fire as much questions as possible in preparation for arrival of the little gars.
Tropical Gar : The Singapore Order
- Thread starter xander
- Start date
in light of the impending tropical gars, i've decided to start a thread for members (especially those who are in on the Sgp T-gar order to clear doubts and fire as much questions as possible in preparation for arrival of the little gars.
While I may not be getting a tropical gar in the immediate future, I had a few questions that others might also be curious about because they're not clearly stated in the Gar Captive Care Guide.
- What are the minimum recommended aquarium dimensions for an average size adult tropical gar? How many tropical gars could one keep in such an aquarium provided that there is ample filtration?
- How difficult is it to get them off of live food and accept prepared foods and pellets?
- Are there any problems associated with them that one would not normally run into with other gars (e.g. jumping, broken backs, etc.)
Wiggles92;4970506; said:
will comment more later, but brief answers are above in GREEN.--
--solomon
Agree with Solomon on all counts... my smallest arrived at around 13" and took to pellets just as easily as the larger ones. In fact sometimes mine seem to prefer carnivore pellets to tilapia, although I give both every night.
I also have dealt with two separate Tropical jumps while they were in my 150g. They each survived but were a little worse for the wear for a week or so. Definitely jumpers - especially risky during feedings in my experience as all Atractosteus are pretty kamikaze to get at food. No jumps since moving them to the 500g.
I've also noticed some pockmarks on the big trop that I got from Shark Aquarium, where it had been sitting for a couple of years... I am guessing this is the face erosion, although it's my first time hearing it 'diagnosed'. It came as such and hopefully a full diet has stopped it.
I also have dealt with two separate Tropical jumps while they were in my 150g. They each survived but were a little worse for the wear for a week or so. Definitely jumpers - especially risky during feedings in my experience as all Atractosteus are pretty kamikaze to get at food. No jumps since moving them to the 500g.
I've also noticed some pockmarks on the big trop that I got from Shark Aquarium, where it had been sitting for a couple of years... I am guessing this is the face erosion, although it's my first time hearing it 'diagnosed'. It came as such and hopefully a full diet has stopped it.
No need to add anything in particular as Solomon and Micheal covered it pretty well.
Just wanted to make a note on diet or I guess really try to burn this in.. Use Whole frozen fish whenever possible or always supplement with a good Pellet. TPG really are much like the gator (just smaller) they are utter garbage disposals and will take just about anything you offer.
Just wanted to make a note on diet or I guess really try to burn this in.. Use Whole frozen fish whenever possible or always supplement with a good Pellet. TPG really are much like the gator (just smaller) they are utter garbage disposals and will take just about anything you offer.
Pejelajarto;4971390; said:
i would add that Richard has been known to get gar embryos to convert to pellets
----solomon
E_americanus;4971158; said:
Madding;4971237; said:
Pejelajarto;4971390; said:
Thanks everyone! Hopefully the soon-to-be tropical gar keepers find this discussion useful.
E_americanus;4971443; said:i would add that Richard has been known to get gar embryos to convert to pellets
--solomon
Are you serious?!?
just to add to the anticipation as well as revisit the past, here are a few pics of the first order (at least in the past 10+ years) of tropical gars to come in to the US (summer 2005). first shot was at the airport when i picked up the box with the first batch of fish (after they were imported through Shark Aquarium in NJ). second pics are while the fish were in the bags...i was very excited to finally receive these fish (and that's an understatement).
i look forward to similar documentation when xander and co. receive their new fish too!--
--solomon
i look forward to similar documentation when xander and co. receive their new fish too!--
--solomon
I desperately want another tropical gar for my 220g. *sigh*
Just to add to the above comments, I wanted to offer an anecdotal comment on behavior. While my trop gar (about 24") used all of the tank levels, he prefers the lower 1/3. I am not sure if its because he is in with only bichirs otherwise, or if he is just a weirdo. He also prefers to eat off the bottom of the tank vs. floating/food in the water column.
He also, oddly, has gill curl on his left side.
Just to add to the above comments, I wanted to offer an anecdotal comment on behavior. While my trop gar (about 24") used all of the tank levels, he prefers the lower 1/3. I am not sure if its because he is in with only bichirs otherwise, or if he is just a weirdo. He also prefers to eat off the bottom of the tank vs. floating/food in the water column.
He also, oddly, has gill curl on his left side.