Spotted Gar – Lepidosteus Oculatus

Common name: Spotted Gar

Scientific name: Lepidosteus oculatus

Average Adult Fish Size: 40 inches  /  100 cm

Place of Origin: Great Lakes Erie and Michigan. Also the Mississippi River basin to the Gulf of Mexico

It may also be found in the Rio Grande which forms the border between Mexico and the United States.

Typical Tank setup: Very unfussy provided water flow is not too strong and lighting not bright.

Recommended Minimum Aquarium Capacity: 264 gallon  /  1000 litre

Compatibility: Best kept alone, or with similarly sized non-aggressive fish it cannot fit into its mouth.

Temperature: 54 – 75 Deg. F  /  12 – 24 Deg. C

Water chemistry: pH 6.0 – 8.0

Feeding: Gars are ambush predators feeding on smaller fishes and aquatic crustaceans in nature. This can sometimes be tricky to get newly-introduced captive individuals to accept dead foods though most will learn to do so following a short period of starvation.

After a short time most small individuals will accept meaty frozen foods such as prawns, lance fish, etc., while larger specimens can be offered whole fishes such as trout or sprats.

 Sexing: You cannot sex them as there are no external sexual differences.

Breeding: Unrecorded in captivity.

Additional Information: This species clearly shouldn’t be considered a home aquarium subject at all given its eventual size and the fact it can live for several decades.‚