Alligator Gar Food

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Gar keeper

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 19, 2009
288
1
0
In a pond with Gars snapping at me
OK, so I started a thread about some spots on my Gator Gar and it turned into more of a discussion about his eating habits.
I basically started this thread to get some more information about a comment that was posted. It read as follows:
"You cant just put him on a diet once you see the signs of his bad eating habits because they don't reabsorb fat like mammals do it all just gets deposited around their liver and kills them (Fatty Liver Disease).

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not sitting here feeding my gar a freggin happy meal or anything, I'm not that ignorant, but I do like to give him some chicken, beef, fish, shrimp etc...
I make sure it's not fried and that it's mostly raw with no bones in it.
These fish are tough and in my opinion are not ment to be served a pampered diet. I have found articles that show these fish can digest nearly anything they eat, but haven't found one thing about "Terrestrial foods causing Fatty Liver Disease".

I'm not trying to stir up a debate here, I love my fish and want the best for him, but I just haven't found anything online to show that what I have been feeding him is really that detrimental to his health.
Here are some links to some of the reads I have found:

http://pdacrsp.oregonstate.edu/WAS/Jaroszewksa.pdf
http://www.atlanticanglers.com/fish/alligator Gar.html
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119416642/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n422236587377003/
 
So what else is in its diet besides echicken, beef, fish, shrimp etc.?
Personaly i'd pay attention to what you.ve been told by Polypterus
and E,americanus they know far more about gars than anyone else
i know in fact they are my go to guys if i have a question.But hey
at the end of the day advice is free to take it is after all your fish-Anne
 
so people are supposed to just sit by while you cheer on what we had described as poor husbantry for gar? i have not always been on the right track of keeping fish, and hence gave advise in the most respectful way i could think of. but i would not have appreciated it if after getting advise from one party saying what i did was wrong, another came up and said i was doing exactly the right thing. neither can i sit by and watch that happen to someone else.
 
my opinion here is that in the wild people dont throw dead beef and chicken in the river all the time.

but theres always live fish out there for the gars to eat

so i suggest giving you're gars a diet that is closest to their diet in the wild

" correct me if im wrong not a gar expert here "
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom