Florida Gar with cichlids

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BayArea_510

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 28, 2011
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$.HAYWARD CA
hey i have a 180 g and a good friend of mine who sells alot of cichlids told me he would give me a nice 10 inch spotted florida gar for $60 with a 3 inch cuban cichlid and the gar is going to be housed with like 15 2-3 inch cichlids
that are
3 synspillum
1 argenteana
1 barred midas
1 creamsickle midas
1 pearsi
1 escolindo
and some more but he said the gar should'nt eat the fish since they have never been fed live , so am i safe or is it going to eat my prized collection
 
10 inch gar actually dont have large mouths. That being said, you have some aggressive cichlids and gar are skittish by nature. This probably means a stressed and/or dead gar when the cichlids start to mature.
 
I definitely do not recommend that combination for two reasons:

  1. Gars and cichlids usually do not make good tankmates due to the aggressive nature of many cichlids.
  2. Gars are illegal to own in CA.
Naturally, Reason #2 should definitely be considered to be an extremely critical factor when thinking about acquiring a gar.
 
I have had a gar in a 125 with two jags breeding pair he got along with them just fine but 10 inch to 2 or 3 inch is quite a difference. It might pose a problem wen I first mixed mine my fish where about 4 and 6 inch and the gar was about 8 inch... By the time my gar was 11 or 12 inch I was feeding him live goldfish on occasion he would not hesitate to trap and eat them at 2 to 3 inch having several as a meal he even gulped one almost 4 inches down once I was concerned it would be to larg but he made it. given my limited space I only kept him till about 15 inch befor he moved on to a new owner.

IMO I advise against it the fish should be atleast half his size in order not to become an expensive meal as they can unhing their jaw and swallow fish that are rather large it was kinda like watching a snake eat. It will sit wait and snap at anything moving nearby that it can swallow
 
k what about a 6 inch gar with them and the gar and fish never been fed live and never will be fed live and this thread is a wut if becuze i know they are illegal so just remember WUT IF
 
I have a 10in gar with a managuense, green terror, red texas, blue texas, JD, Midas, and a Emperor all in my 135. They get along fine. All of mine are at least 4in though. So 2-3 sounds like a meal unless mean enough
 
then i guess metaphorically speaking a 6 inch gar would work
 
BayArea_510;5045217; said:
then i guess metaphorically speaking a 6 inch gar would work
Click to expand...

not really sure there is much of a metaphor here, maybe theoretically speaking.

that being said, this is literally becoming an illegal gar-keepers' discussion. perhaps you all should just PM each other instead of easily stating in open forum that you are keeping illegal fish--
--solomon
 
im not keeping illegal fish i just put that into cosideration since a lfs had them from a drop off i will in not time yet buy a gar i was just wondering if it would work
 
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