(See Longnosed gar profile here: http://forum.nanfa.o...p?showtopic=416 ) Again it is advised to use a "step up" method in housing these fish and to be wary of their tendency to break their backbone when startled. Shortnosed gar are particularly prone to this and great care should be taken to not startle them or force them into a quick start.
Adult size of the Shortnosed gar is considerably smaller than most in the family. Average adult size is 20 to 25 inches.
A tank of 72 inches long x 30 inches wide is a desirable minimum size for an adult fish. Juvenile and Young of the year fish can be kept in considerably smaller quarters but should never be cramped.
Like all gars these fish are hardy but not indestructible. Very good filtration and regular water changes are needed. Again as with all gar great care needs to be taken in regards to ammonia. Ammonia is very toxic to these fish and must always be kept very low. Shortnosed gar like the Longnosed will tolerate more flow than most other Lepisosteids. Young fish under 6 inches however should not be kept in a high flow environment as they do not do well in such circumstances.
Shortnosed Gars like all gar "breath" air. How frequently they do this depends on the temperature of the water and associated Dissolved oxygen content. Gars should always be allowed surface area to "breach" or "breath" air.
Shortnosed gar are a bit more general in their diet than most other gar species. In the wild they readily take a variety of food items. This diversity in diet easily carries over to captive husbandry. These fish are very easy to feed and will take a variety of Live, frozen, and prepared foods. It may take some patience at first but these fish quickly adapt to a captive varied diet of primarily prepared foods.
This is but a brief look at Shortnosed Gar husbandry.
Questions comments and additions are welcome.
Here are a few ID pics of juvenile and adult Lepisosteus platostomus:
Juvenile fish where obtained from Iturnrocks and details about them with much younger pics can be found here http://forum.nanfa.o...?showtopic=1893
As a note a key characteristic of juvenile L. platostomus is a much deeper caudal peduncle, 'Medium length snout' in fish above 9 cm, a faint dorsal stripe with no white on top of snout and a goldish yellow band above the dark brown lateral stripe.
These adult fish where caught in the Famed garvana as part of a yearly fishy get together put on by the staff here and at Aquaticpredators just to play with these guys. Look under local edition Midwest for this years Garvana trip.
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