Haley the Cuban Gar

[neverrain]

good luck.. more follow up pics please!

 

[xander]

hope she pulls through.
btw,you said the gator and bichirs were fighting?
the gator may be able to kill them.

the gator IS going to kill them. im selling off either soon.

update on hayley.
i've bumped up the filtration, added circulation and it seems to be doing the tank good. the fish acts normally but colours haven't returned to normal. i shall add ceremic rings(filter media) and aragonite substrate tomorrow. a question though, how am i to add the substrate and rings without causeing a sudden increase in pH value.

thanks and cheers

 

[demjor19]

i hope it pulls through as well, although a basic knowledge of water changes and toxins in the aquaria should be a requirement for keeping such rare species (unfortunately there is no way to make that so). hopefully the situation hasn't gotten too far out of hand to be fixed--
--solomon

i couldnt agree more.

goodluck w/ the fish, but more research in the future would be very helpful before purchasing such a fish.

 

[headbanger_jib]

any more updates on the gar

 

[E_americanus]

the gator IS going to kill them. im selling off either soon.

update on hayley.
i've bumped up the filtration, added circulation and it seems to be doing the tank good. the fish acts normally but colours haven't returned to normal. i shall add ceremic rings(filter media) and aragonite substrate tomorrow. a question though, how am i to add the substrate and rings without causeing a sudden increase in pH value.

thanks and cheers

where do you intend on putting the rings? they are neutral and therefore will not affect pH...rings generally go in filtration devices (mainly sumps), so unless your filters have space for the rings, you'll have to build a sump or rig something differently.

as for the substrate, you can take all the fish out and put the substrate in (especially since -at least the Cuban- is a big fish in a relatively small tank...at least too small to put the substrate in without disrupting the gar while in the tank). you could leave all the fish in, but it will be cumbersome. you may just want to take the Cuban out and leave everyone else in. it will cloud up the water temporarily.

also...what kind of substrate did you get exactly? i wouldn't advise straight aragonite, usually a cichlid substrate that is made with aragonite and other sand...or at least use it in small portions with your present substrate.

also...did you get a test kit? have you tested anything since the gar started having problems? this is probably the first step before anything else--
--solomon

 

[xander]

where do you intend on putting the rings? they are neutral and therefore will not affect pH...rings generally go in filtration devices (mainly sumps), so unless your filters have space for the rings, you'll have to build a sump or rig something differently.

as for the substrate, you can take all the fish out and put the substrate in (especially since -at least the Cuban- is a big fish in a relatively small tank...at least too small to put the substrate in without disrupting the gar while in the tank). you could leave all the fish in, but it will be cumbersome. you may just want to take the Cuban out and leave everyone else in. it will cloud up the water temporarily.

also...what kind of substrate did you get exactly? i wouldn't advise straight aragonite, usually a cichlid substrate that is made with aragonite and other sand...or at least use it in small portions with your present substrate.

also...did you get a test kit? have you tested anything since the gar started having problems? this is probably the first step before anything else--
--solomon

i installed another filter, so i'll have the space. i would have thought ceremic rings made the pH higher, as it has done for my friends tanks. im gonna get the sand used for salt water tanks.

pH is ard 7.

 

[xander]

currently, i have essentially 4 pumps running on the tank. a 130gal pump for mech & bio filtration, a 100gal pump for bio filtration, two 80gal & 100gal pumps for circulating purposes. the gar is silll really dark coloured. am getting the sand and media in an hour or so

 

[xander]

i would have thought ceremic rings made the pH higher, as it has done for my friends tanks.

my mistake, i know that's not right now....

 

[xander]

hayley just got back some gold colour!! now she's not completly brown. progress!!

 

[xander]

great looking fish, nice and thick too!

as for sizes, Cubans can supposedly get up to 6' long in the wild, but most specimens are around 3' long. in captivity...who knows since there isn't a whole lot of solid data floating around; i would guess around 20-24" would be right around the mean captive max...and it would likely take them a while to get to 24"--
--solomon

after asking around here abt cuban gars, it seems that most cubans from this batch(2.5yrs+) old are at around 2' rather than 20, 21 inches. just some info...