# Getting some alligator gar fish soon



## mad about reptiles

Hello i am setting up a fish tank and im hope fully gonna get some alligator gar fish for it yes i know they get very big but dont they grow to the size of the tank or do they just keep on growing because it is gonna be the only fish in the tank anyway.


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## mad about reptiles

And if you definetly dont think i should 1 then what other fish should i get i has to be predatory though o and not piranahs all ready got some


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## madaboutreptiles

You copied my user name........nice one......:lol2::lol2:


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## mad about reptiles

hehehe didnt know there where 2 of us lololol


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## madaboutreptiles

mad about reptiles said:


> hehehe didnt know there where 2 of us lololol


The more the merrier...........................:no1:


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## rum&coke

what size tank do you have?, And no its a myth that fish grow to the size of the tank


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## mad about reptiles

well its a 60l fish tank so they will just carry on growing and not stop


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## rum&coke

mad about reptiles said:


> well its a 60l fish tank so they will just carry on growing and not stop


they will carry on growing untill they get so big the volume of water wont be able to cope with there waste and then they will die, thats how the myth works people keep a fish that grows big in a small tank for a few years and then say well I had one and it only grew to 8 inches ect


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## renton

rum&coke said:


> they will carry on growing untill they get so big the volume of water wont be able to cope with there waste and then they will die, thats how the myth works people keep a fish that grows big in a small tank for a few years and then say well I had one and it only grew to 8 inches ect


I do believe i read somewhere that fish from the carp family do slow/stop there growth size with the size of the tank. Something to do with a chemical they realise if in crowded conditions in the wild. So more fish could live in tight spaces by staying small.

I know the gars arnt in the carp family just throwing in a fact. And no i dont condone doing this in any way. :2thumb:

check this out Alligator gar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia look at the picture from 1910. Not really a home aquarium fish.

Think you can get smaller gars though???


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## pendelm

renton said:


> I do believe i read somewhere that fish from the carp family do slow/stop there growth size with the size of the tank. Something to do with a chemical they realise if in crowded conditions in the wild. So more fish could live in tight spaces by staying small.


some fish, mostly goldfish that have been captive bred for years and years, are able to slow their own metabolic rate if they feel they are encroaching on their space, but they will still grow as has been explained. anything wild caught or only newly captive bred (eg - less than 10-20years) wont be able to do this though.


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## renton

i'm pretty sure its been proven that the carp family, so goldfish included, do this in nature like i said. A chemical they give out
I'm now looking for it......


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## renton

Got it, was sort of right and sort of wrong. 

Hormones they produce caused by a reaction with excess waste stunts the growth in some members of the carp family.

But either way an alligator gar will grow big.: victory:


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## connor 1213

please think twice about getting them they grow massive


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## mad about reptiles

Well my dad owns a garden center and he gets all of his fish from a big aquatics center over in ireland somewhere my dad has been to see it and its huge he gets a list every week from them and the gars are on it every day so they might be able to slow them selves down


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## Adambrogan

a friend of mine has one on its own in a 260ltr tank and its to big for the tank now its grown 5" in about 6months 

dont get me wrong u can keep them quite easily i would just go for a bigger tank if you are going to get one, or just get a red bellied pirhana much eaiser : victory:


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## Graylord

It depends whether theu are true alligator gars or not i`ve seen spotted gars passed of as alli .

On the stunting front it isn`t true that wild caught fis can`t be stunted though doing it will eventually cause deformities .

Even a young one needs 20 gallons to itself they can take a lot of abuse but that wouldn`t excuse anyone trying it.


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## owlbassboy

ok heres my views and what i have been led to believe. the skeleton will stunt but the internal organs will jus keep on growing which is why you can sometimes see fish that should be big in small aquariums that have oversized eyes


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## mad about reptiles

well then are there any other predator like fish but plz dont reccomend piranahs iv already got 1 any other type of fish i like the red snakehead but iv heard they grow big to or do they stay small but any suggestions


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## Mark83

What size tank are you going to get?


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## owlbassboy

yeh depending on tank size a nice little group of channa bleheri


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## colinbradbury

no member of the true gars should be kept in a 60l , honestly that is just irrasponsabe. gars like all fish stunt in tanks because of the high nitrate readings from the tank , which is unavoidable with such a large fish in a small tank . but a 5 foot fish will never stunt to 12" they keep growing and there spine will actually deform to alow them to grow. an true ali gar is totally out of the question unless you have a 10ft plus tank , the spotted gars still demand a two foot wide tank of over 500l more the better. 

snakeheads come in over 40 vatieties , from the just as irrasponsable 3ft min micropeltis to the very aquaruim freindly orientalis at 4-6" and every size in between , one of the smaller snakeheads would be fine for your tank , belheri ,assam , panaw , bankanensis. but you need to do a bit of research as many are sub-tropical (kept without heaters) some are aggresive some are peacfull 

i personally would not suggest pirahna either as they also outgrow a 60l and like to live in groups.

for a tank your size i would go for , if looking for preds a group of exodon paradoxus would work well .you really do need to stock for the maximum size of the fish , it is neither fair or even pleasing to the eye to keep any stunted fish , a fully grown mature fish with fins compleate that grows to a max of 6" is a far better fish to look at than a fish that grows to 2ft stunted to 1ft 


hope you find something that suits your needs , and if in doubt post any new ideas up before buying , it is better to find out before you buy ,like with the ali gar. 

cheers col


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## blazingtortoise

Hi

You do not want aligator gars. I'm thinking the reason they stay on the stock list is that people don't want to stock them. My friend has two, but in a room sized aquarium. They are very big fish. To keep them in a small tank hoping they will 'grow to fit' is wrong. 

The person who posted above about snakeheads knows a lot more than me but we have a nice one, think it is a Channa Pulchra. Should stay quite small but are a bit newer on the snakehead market (I think)


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## xyra

blazingtortoise said:


> Hi
> 
> You do not want aligator gars. I'm thinking the reason they stay on the stock list is that people don't want to stock them. My friend has two, but in a room sized aquarium. They are very big fish. To keep them in a small tank hoping they will 'grow to fit' is wrong.
> 
> The person who posted above about snakeheads knows a lot more than me but we have a nice one, think it is a Channa Pulchra. Should stay quite small but are a bit newer on the snakehead market (I think)


Pulchra are a smaller snakehead, but they still reach around 10" (25cm) and get quite aggressive once paired I've found (althouigh not as bad as the closely related channa ornatipinnis). I've got a pair which are alone in a 5' tank after indicating their intense displeasure at sharing the tank with others.

Channa orientalis if you can get them would be great though. Little stunners under the right lighting, only grow to 4" long and quite peaceful.

Channa orientalis:










All true gar would be far to big for that size tank i'm afraid.

What about small puffers, a group of dwarf puffers with lots of plants and lots of hiding place and lots of snails gives endless entertainment..










Other things... 

Tilapia njassae, rare but they do turn up. I got mine at a Tim Addis auction, and i think they are there most years. Worlds smallest tilapia at about 3.5" full grown (like in this pic) but incredibally aggressive to other fish. Quite placid when kept alone though, so if you are after amazing feeding displays probably not for you.











What about leaf fish? Interesting little predators. Or a small goby.


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## jenky

gars get huge, need huge tank END OF.

i had a 8ft long x 4ft wide tank a couple of years ago and i was happy to keep a gar or 3 in that no problem but due to keeping stingrays i decided againt it as there rather expencive to have gars snapping at.

please rethink getting a gar its just not fair on the fish, it will live a very short unhappy life.

as for fish growng to a certain size due to chemicals in the water, there not in tanks are they. we do waterchanges and get rid of these chemicals.
one fish in a tiny tank will not produce enought to stop its self growing before we remove them to keep its water nice and clean for it.
in the wild they have 1,000`s of fish in a pond which dont get water changes so they release this chemical in vast amounts as there are so manny of them and it stays in the water.


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## Stan193

mad about reptiles said:


> Hello i am setting up a fish tank and im hope fully gonna get some alligator gar fish for it yes i know they get very big but dont they grow to the size of the tank or do they just keep on growing because it is gonna be the only fish in the tank anyway.


There are some smaller ones called indian freshwater garfish (xentodon cancila), I used to keep them, I think they grow to a maximum of about 8 " and I kept them in a comunity tank of bigger fish. They will eat small fish of course. Mine didnt live very long though, not sure why, I think giving them enough food was a bit tricky, they liked it to be live so I gave them chopped earth worms which they ate some of the time because they still wriggled but the bits of worm were still wrigglinging for ages in the fishes stomache which i dont think must have been very good for the fish.
I think they would have done much better if i was feeding them guppies or something.


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## mad about reptiles

hello i just rang up the dealer and he said he got the wrong name on the list and it ended up being a spotted gar not sure if they are any smaller


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## jenky

mad about reptiles said:


> hello i just rang up the dealer and he said he got the wrong name on the list and it ended up being a spotted gar not sure if they are any smaller


sadly not, the spotted gar is probably just a name it was given because they all look the same, so it could actually end up being an alli gar anyway. 
it will still get huge even if its not a alli gar.
one of the main problems with gars is they are so stiff, there back bones dont allow them to turn around in tanks without alot of room todo so.
a 2ft gar will need atleast 4ft to turn around. so a 3ft gar is gunner have a nightmear! and if they have a proper healthy life in a proper size tank/pond they should get bigger then that in time.
ive never seen one bigger then 3ft in captivity if i honest.

a couple of pics of the "potentional" size.


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## mad about reptiles

Hello again sry for all the confusment this my cause. But i was cruising around the internet on images and got a pic of something called a spotted gar and it matched my gar perfectly i will post some pics soon and i asked my dad and he said that hes got a spare tank that is big its 2m by 2m and then i went on the fish world record size list and found out that spotted gar is 9lb world record size and the average size for a well kept spotted gar is 5-7lb which is the perfec t size for a 7lb fish. And i whould also like to know a really good food to feed him no live fish my mum dosent like it she thinks its cruel and its not so bad like some otheer live food like cricketas but just not fish i also have tried him on bloodworm that in small sacheats he loved it but seems hes a messy eater and single bloodworm float away and contaminate his tank so at the moment hes getting regular cleans but still whould love to find out a less messier food that not fish plz thankyou for listening


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## andy007

The thing you also need to remember is that although a particular type of Gar is smaller, you have to take into account their swimming style. Gars are very fast active swimmers, so inch for inch need a greater swimming area than less active larger fish.


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## danoc2005

andy007 said:


> The thing you also need to remember is that although a particular type of Gar is smaller, you have to take into account their swimming style. Gars are very fast active swimmers, so inch for inch need a greater swimming area than less active larger fish.



agreed.


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