How many for a 90g

[lukep77]

Hey I recently picked up a silver needle nose gar, and I was wondering if I could get away with getting him 3 more tank mates.
I currently have a 90g planted tank, with 2 rope fish, 3 clown loaches, 3 ameca splendas, 2 spiny eels, 1 horse faced loach and a pleco. I also have some platys, white cloud minnows and cherry barbs that I'm hoping that the gars will eat.

The majority of my fish are bottom dwellers and I'm sure are too big for the gars to get at, so I was thinking of getting 3 more gars and that would be it for tank inhabitants.

Does this sound like a good plan?

[lukep77]

So I will have to wait for another order to pick up the 3 others that I want, so in the mean time here is a pic of the one I have now. We spotted him hunting the other day, when he caught the minnow the coolest thing I have seen in a while.


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a339/lukep77/gar.jpg

[omotocycle1]

very cool fish

[McFly]

If the others are bottom dwellers and you supply him with a few fish every month, whether it be some more cherry barbs or red rosies, it should be fine to get another, or maybe two, but three, thats a lot of fish to buy for food. If you keep another ten gallon to the side with red rosies or a cheap alternative feeder fish and supply them with one, two, maybe three or four a day, they should stray away from the other fish. I'm not sure if gar are cannabalistic or very territorial. Might wanna research that as well. Good Luck and nice looking tank!

[garman]

Yes. They do well in groups of three or more. This fish will injure itself easily by smacking itself on the sides of the tank, so I suggest having some sort of cover on the sides of the tank be it plants or something on the outside. This will make it hopefully avoid running full speed into the side and breaking it's snout. Most times you will not be able to raise these fish without them having some damage to their snouts.

It's also good to add some salt to the water as they will get bacterial infections and die a paralyzing death. I forget the suggested amount for a freshwater tank, but this is important.

[Wild Turkey]

If you are going to keep that many fish that need live food i would highly recommend getting another tank and breeding ur own feeder fish. When you are putting that many feeders in a tank ur are bound to introduce one that has some kind of "funk" sooner or later.

[cocoa_pleco]

this thread is from june 2006

[garman]

Try freeze dried krill avaliable at aquarium stores and even Petco. My Florida spotted gars love it.