Advice Raising Baby Florida Gar

[SpecialKay]

Hey everyone, I recently got a very young florida Gar (about 3.5 in. ATM), and was wondering on what I should feed it.

I know they only eat live when young, and had a group of guppies for it to eat. However, it completely finished them all in a few days. My lfs says they only have goldfish and rosey red minnows in stock, but I am leery of using those as feeders due to both disease and thiaminase content.

What else could I feed it? I have some ghost shrimp in the tank, but it doesn't seem interested in them. Should I get some minnows from a bait and tackle?

 

[tlindsey]

Hey everyone, I recently got a very young florida Gar (about 3.5 in. ATM), and was wondering on what I should feed it.

I know they only eat live when young, and had a group of guppies for it to eat. However, it completely finished them all in a few days. My lfs says they only have goldfish and rosey red minnows in stock, but I am leery of using those as feeders due to both disease and thiaminase content.

What else could I feed it? I have some ghost shrimp in the tank, but it doesn't seem interested in them. Should I get some minnows from a bait and tackle?

Feeding un quarantined feeders of any kind is risky. Do you have any freeze dried foods such as krill.

 

[SpecialKay]

I only have frozen krill, but I'll drop by a PetSmart to pick some freeze dried ones up if that's what it will eat.

 

[tlindsey]

frozen krill

Give that a try.

 

[SpecialKay]

Give that a try.

I did try to feed frozen first before the guppies, for 3 hours. No luck with frozen silversides, blood worms, or krill.

 

[tlindsey]

I did try to feed frozen first before the guppies, for 3 hours. No luck with frozen silversides, blood worms, or krill.

I suggested the freeze dried because it will float and seem live if placed near water flow.

 

[SpecialKay]

I suggested the freeze dried because it will float and seem live if placed near water flow.

That is what I suspected, I will get some and give it a try!

 

[Fishman Dave]

Earthworms provided they are from pesticide free soil, although you will probably have to target feed with tongs.

 

[jjohnwm]

I don't think you will have any luck obtaining small enough minnows at a bait store to feed a gar that small.

Small earthworms or wormlike insect larvae would be worth trying. You can purchase a "worm blower" at fishing tackle shops, which allows you to inject a tiny amount of air into a worm or worm piece, thus keeping it floating on the surface and making it much more attractive to gar.

 

[Hao]

I've fed baby gars, tiny pieces of cut up frozen fish or tiny pellets. The key is dropping it on their mouth when they are chilling at the top (natural reaction for them to strike when food/something touches their snout)