Baby alligator gar now growing

[jjohnwm]

I've only kept Longnose and Spotted Gar, never Alligators, but I suspect their care as infants is similar. Definitely sounds like there is something missing from their diet...and, as stated above, it appears to be food! Gar I have raised from smaller sizes than yours have been greedy eaters and grew very quickly. With all due respect to duanes I feel that while of course water quality is important, growth rate or lack of same in this case is related most directly to food intake...or lack of same in this case...

Thaw out a cube of frozen bloodworms in a glass of water, and observe how little actual food it contains...and, incidentally, bear in mind that by dropping the cube into the tank, all that inedible juice is polluting your tank unnecessarily as well...never mind all those tiny bits and pieces that gar simply won't bother picking up to eat.

IMHO, the best way to get nutrition into your fish while minimizing pollution is to feed particles of food that are close to the maximum size that they are able to swallow whole, without forcing the fish to break it into smaller bits. Gar in particular are not very adept at dismembering food; they are adapted to swallow their prey whole.

At four inches, yours are past that delicate, tough-to-feed stage. They are easily capable of swallowing small livebearers, earthworms (easy to cut to appropriate size pieces), krill, Mysis, etc. And once they...finally...start to put on some size, they will be easy to switch over to pellets and/or DIY gel foods.

Considering the array of appropriate foods that are available, I can't imagine why you would even consider feeding something like chicken. I'm sure that adult Alligator Gar will...occasionally...catch and eat a bird. Pretty sure that 4-inchers don't. Get some actual fish food into that fish, watch it grow, switch it over to a nutritionally complete pellet diet...and then, if you must, experiment with alternative foods as an occasional snack.

Thinking outside the box is great; it's probably better to completely master the inside of the box first and then branch out from there.

 

[Karalak42]

You have neglected to mention the most important factor. for growth, your water change routine...

I did the water change. Plus nitrates are under 10ppm all time

... Sorry. Didn't read all. Ok il try some heavier water changes. But isn't it a too big Schock if I change too much at once?

... Sorry to reply in 3 times but I had to think about it a bit. Ok so actually those hormones are produced and cannot been seen or tested bit still are there in the water. And Even if nitrate tests are good I have to change more water more often just to be sure then I guess.

I've only kept Longnose and Spotted Gar, never Alligators, but I suspect their care as infants is similar...

OK thank you
. Il try some prawn pieces il cut or silverliners

 

[duanes]

Alligator Gar live in rivers and tributaries of the Mississippi, and are under constant flow and water change.
That said......Frequent water changes are the best way to keep water stable
If you do only one large water change, occasionally, the chance that the water will be quite different on water change day, from the water that has been in the tank is quite high.
If your tap water has a pH of 8, but during the period between water change for a month, pH drops to 6.5, it would be prudent to do more water changes to reduce and avoid shock.
If your tap water has 0.00 nitrate, but inbetween water changes rises to 20ppm, to reduce shock more water changes are needed, and they don't need to be that large.
On my tanks, I tend to do 30-40% water changes every other day,
Using that water schedule, nitrates stay undetectable, and pH remains at 8.2 water change to water change, very stable.

 

[Karalak42]

Alligator Gar live in rivers and tributaries of the Mississippi, and are under constant flow and water change.
That said......Frequent water changes are the best way to keep water stable
If you do only one large water change, occasionally, the chance that the water will be quite different on water change day, from the water that has been in the tank is quite high.
If your tap water has a pH of 8, but during the period between water change for a month, pH drops to 6.5, it would be prudent to do more water changes to reduce and avoid shock.
If your tap water has 0.00 nitrate, but inbetween water changes rises to 20ppm, to reduce shock more water changes are needed, and they don't need to be that large.
On my tanks, I tend to do 30-40% water changes every other day,
Using that water schedule, nitrates stay undetectable, and pH remains at 8.2 water change to water change, very stable.

OK better to start that fast now that they still are in a smaller thank wich will be easier to do

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

No to chicken or any other warm-blooded, non-aquatic feeds. There is a potential for a lecture to be typed up here but I've no time. This topic has been well elucidated in many places, e.g. here too in the Diseases forum section sticky threads and others.

Water change is best to be continuous, what is called a drip system, then no shock would ever occur. With occasional water changes, the incoming water parameters MUST be close or match the water parameters in the tank, such basic ones as temp and pH.

Give the gars all the fish and shrimp pieces they can eat, until they refuse. You will be surprised how much they can eat and how much they NEED to eat to grow.

 

[jjohnwm]

....Frequent water changes are the best way to keep water stable.
If you do only one large water change, occasionally, the chance that the water will be quite different on water change day, from the water that has been in the tank is quite high.

The word "occasionally" is the trap here. While I absolutely agree that infrequent large changes might in some cases expose some fish to larger-than-ideal changes in parameters...I think it is a stretch to say that weekly changes are capable of doing so. Sure, in a high-bioload tank that is heavily fed and produces high nitrate levels in such a short time, maybe...but those levels would need to be really, really high.

Water change is best to be continuous, what is called a drip system, then no shock would ever occur. With occasional water changes, the incoming water parameters MUST be close or match the water parameters in the tank, such basic ones as temp and pH.

Continuous change systems are perfection, if they change enough water per week. Once again, semantics is a trap. A system that effects a 100gallon per week rate is running way faster than merely a "drip". I can't realistically run a drip system simply because, for much of the year, I have no practical way of disposing of the waste water on a continuous basis. But even if I did, I probably would go crazy watching that much water running constantly 24/7.

But I doubt it matters. I know my pH remains stable before and after even a 90%+ change; I am careful to maintain a stable temperature, within a degree or two; and the "shock" of nitrates dropping after a week without changes is nonexistent, in my experience. In fact, for many months at a time during portions of the year, I am absent for 3 weeks at a time and my tanks see no water changes during that period. A 90% change the day before I depart drops my nitrates to undetectable (to my test kit) levels; after three weeks they can reach 30-40ppm in a couple of tanks, but another similar water change done on the first day back causes no apparent discomfort to any of the assorted fish I keep.

I have often thought about letting the levels get much higher in a test tank, just to observe the fish for possible "shock" caused by dropping much higher levels of nitrate down to near-zero. But...I'm not a scientist, and don't care to expose my fish to "test-to-near-destruction" experimentation. I've kept an assortment of species under this regimen for many years, and never had even the most minor issues. Maybe there are some isolated examples of super-sensitive fish that would suffer from this; I can't say for sure (and I wonder if anyone really can)...but have my doubts...

Everybody has their own opinion. Don't forget that there are still lots of folks laughing at us because they consider any nitrate reading in the 2-digit range quite acceptable.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

All of our 60,000 gal of water inhouse is on a "drip" system, pumping in and dumping out 10,000 gal each day (and 85% is RO water made inhouse too). Of course, it is not a drip but a sizeable stream, much more than a fully open faucet in a typical household. If we can do that as a hobby aiming to become a business for the past 11 years, a normal hobbyist could do it at 1/10th or 1/100th scale, maybe?

 

[duanes]

It's funny, the term drip is almost an oxymoron if taken as a utopian idea..
It gives the impression that possibly 5 gallons a day, might be a water changepanacea.
But 5 gallons a day is only about 35 gallons a week on..... for example 180 gal tank.
On my 180 tank, I do about 150 to 200 gallons over a week.
I realize most advanced aquarists know the reality, but a new aquarist might take it literally.

 

[jjohnwm]

All of our 60,000 gal of water inhouse is on a "drip" system, pumping in and dumping out 10,000 gal each day (and 85% is RO water made inhouse too). Of course, it is not a drip but a sizeable stream, much more than a fully open faucet in a typical household. If we can do that as a hobby aiming to become a business for the past 11 years, a normal hobbyist could do it at 1/10th or 1/100th scale, maybe?

Some, maybe most, could if they put their minds to it.

Others...such as those who cannot dispose of waste water at a slow constant rate all winter (like me)...or who cannot be certain of the limitations of their private well (like me)...not so much...

...or, come to think of it...some guys I know whose wives are less understanding than...well, mine, for example.

 

[Wideglide04]

I wish I could do an auto drip system but since I'm an actual hobbyists I just dont see the point. If I had a fish room it makes sense, but imo most folks just need to stop being lazy and change the water lol. Even on this site only a handful of you seem to have ponds worth of fish where auto drips are feasible... I may be wrong but I enjoy doing maintenance because it alerts me to any change in my tanks