Best parameters for alligator/spotted gar

[Karalak42]

Hello people I wanted to ask you guys what are the best parameters for water for spotted and alligator gar specifically. I know I can find some info on internet but on all sites it's different. And what is the minimum water temp for the winter and max in the summer?

Thankyaw

 

[FLA]

In the wild they go through pretty big swings. Water temps can get down to the low 60's and up to the high 80s. Short periods of time are probably more extreme than that. pH is usually in the 7-8.5 range. It seems that they spawn as rainy season kicks off.

Here is USGS temperature and conductivity data for the Suwanee river. This isn't to say that the fish may seek warmer or colder refuges at times, but it s a ball park. It isn't like manatees when it is cold you don't see thousands of Gar stacked up in the springs. You will also see them in wetland areas that don't have the deep channels and they seem to be handling that well. I am not familiar with research on upper and lower lethal temps on these species, but it has probably been done. I know LSU did some alligator gar research. So I would check there next.





For your alligator gar here is the Apalachicola river at Chattahoochee temp data

 

[Karalak42]

Thank you. Very useful. Here indeed he was at 61fmin to-81/82f in his aquarium. What about kh and hardness?

 

[FLA]

In Florida the water tends to be pretty hard, 200ppm+ is pretty common. I have never tested the water in the swamps, but I would expect it would be softer. I think they are pretty wide ranging.

 

[jjohnwm]

Wow! Shocking to a northerner like me to see that water temps in two separate Florida locations drop down near 50F at any point in the year.

If you look at a range map showing the historical or even current range of the species, you see Alligator Gar ranging much further north than Florida, so it seems reasonable to assume that they are capable of withstanding much larger seasonal variations...in particular, considerably colder minimum temperatures...than those Florida charts indicate. Of course, the origin site of the fish you actually obtain will have a bearing on how adaptable those particular individuals would be. Also, being adapted to "survive" a given low temperature limit does not mean that they could necessarily thrive or even survive if the low temperature persists for an extended period of time.

Interesting thread, looking forward to how it develops.