Alligator Gar Size

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Spatula;3673773; said:
I believe allot of people make these statements because when you lookup Alligator Gar, wikipedia comes up in the top searches and when you go to that page it has that old pic of that slave with a HUGE Alligator Gar...
Let me see if I can get it... here this one:
Alligator_gar.jpg
Click to expand...

That man is easily half the size of that gar and he seems to be sitting several feet behind it. Doing that would make the fish seem much larger than it really is. I would say that fish isn't any bigger than eight feet
 
I'm no expert as sexing Alligator Gar, but some specimens definitely seem to grow a lot faster then others... Most of ones I had an almost complete plateau in their growth around 2 feet, but I had one that had made to 3 feet (I'm assuming a female?) in the aquaria, and really seemed to keep the growth once they were all implanted into a farm pond. Such a shame a drought dried up that pond, I would have loved to see what that one would be like now... :( I remember there was a huge decline in bullfrogs in the pond when they were in there... hehe
 
Hi everyone. I keep a piece Atractosteus spatula. I have one question:

For how many years will have dimensions of approximately 1.5 meters? I understand that it depends on conditions and feeding. I am interested about the approximate age Gar. For three years? 5 years? 10 years? or more years?
 
@rostratusgar

I believe you are trying to ask the Growth Rate of the Alligator Gars.

From what I had read they hit 2-2.5 feet in their first growth period (or in one year) and then the growth slows down slightly to about 1" per month. <--- Please let the experts confirm this.. I can't remember if the source I got this from was reliable.


In my personal experience, my two Alligator Gars grew from 4 inch to 11 and 12 inches in less than 2 months.

(Diet was gold-fish for the first couple of weeks. Then they switched to a stable of fresh market shrimps (and assorted sea food like jumbo krill, sliver sides (fish), etc). WC was once a week.)

Good luck,
Sid
 
I've also read that in the first year will grow about 60 cm (2 ft).

Summary:

First Year = 60-75 cm (2 to 2.5 feet)
Each additional month = 2.5 cm (1 inch) = 75-90 cm in the other it's = 30 to 36 months

If I count correctly the size of 1.5 meters will be achieved if age 54 to 60 months. This is an average of 2.2 to 2.5 per year!

If this is correct so GAR grow very quickly. I knew the first year to grow rapidly. I expected to size grows up to 1.5 meters for 5-8 years. Rather not.
 
How about this calculation? Do you agree? Grow A.spatula for 2.5 years to 1.5 meter length?
 
i just re-watched the episode of River Monsters with Jeremy Wade featuring Alligator Gars.
and there's one Angler there who is in the hall of fame caught a 7ft gator gar. in the early 90s.
and he said he saw a 14ft gator gar back in 89.

there's no proof however of that claim.
 
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