Lowest Temp to Winter an Alligator Gar

[simeonchambers]

Hi all. I have not posted in awhile. All our gars are doing great. 1 Alligator Gar, and a bunch of longnose, shorts and a couple spotted.

Last winter, my boys and I (age 8 and 11) kept "Garry", "Skinny" and "Spotty" in the aquarium inside. The temp was a constant 70 degrees (I was not trying to grow them huge in the winter). Garry is the Alligator Gar, skinny and Spotty are our original Longnose Gars. We fed them native minnows all winter, usually sticklebacks. They did great. We put them in our 1500 gallon pond in the yard in late May, they are all still there. We have had a warm autumn, water temp still gets to 61 or so each sunny day.

Anyway, maybe Solomon can help with this question. What temperature can Alligator gars take in a wintering situation if we were to keep Garry in the pond outside?

The historical range shows the Ohio River and even central Illinois. This would mean at least 2 months of water below 40 degrees. However, if Garry's ancestors came from south Texas, he may not handle the cold.

What do you guys think?

simeon

 

[simeonchambers]

I forgot to mention we are in Denver Metro area. It gets cold, but not like Wisconsin where I am from. I expect 5 months of sub 45 degree water, 6 months below 50.

 

[Polypterus]

60 is minimum temp nothing lower to be safe.. Without knowing the exact locality your fish are from I would not go lower than this.

 

[Venom SS]

In north Texas / Oklahoma the lakes get well into the 50's and even 40's some years, if we have extended cold spells. We have an abundance of gator gars in this area.

 

[rostratusgar]

60 is minimum temp nothing lower to be safe.. Without knowing the exact locality your fish are from I would not go lower than this.

I do not understand. This is talking about degrees below zero? Where do I understand you mean -60 degrees Celsius? Translate me to translate special. Sorry

 

[apennell07]

I do not understand. This is talking about degrees below zero? Where do I understand you mean -60 degrees Celsius? Translate me to translate special. Sorry

that would be 60 deg. F not C. so roughly 15c i think. if it was below 0c it would be an ice cube

 

[MonsterMinis]

never done it w/ Gar, but w/ my koi I always put a trough heater in my pond over the winter. think it was like 30$ never even crossed my mind to try a gator outside in Wis.

 

[rostratusgar]

I thought about it and I already got it. You know I have degrees Celsius. So it confused me.

This means that the GAR stands at 15.5 degrees Celsius (60 F). Too bad that in Slovakia we freeze the lake. We fall in the lake water below 0 degrees Celsius.

 

[simeonchambers]

In north Texas / Oklahoma the lakes get well into the 50's and even 40's some years, if we have extended cold spells. We have an abundance of gator gars in this area.

Hi- what city or town are you in? I will look up the meteorlogical data for that area. i suspect your water would be in the 30s even sometimes. this is the data i need, from an approximate town or city. yes, i have heaters, so i am trying to determine if i have enough, or put Garry inside for the winter.
thanks
simeon