GAR

[firstone]

I was at PetCo the other day and saw a needle nose gar, or something along those lines, it must have been a baby, it was about 4in long and about 1/2 wide, i was admiring what an awsome fish this was so i went home and decided to do some research turns out they are huge fish, why would petco sell a fish that would get that big? or is this a different species?

-sorry for all the posts, i think about fish way too much
thanks in advance

 

[mobilecow]

why would petco sell a fish that would get that big? or is this a different species?

For the same reason my Wal-Mart sells Columbian sharks as community freshwater fish (i understand they need a brackish environment and can get quite large)and sells albino oscars to a guy with goldfish... My theory is that most chain stores have little to no idea what they are doing with fish...

 

[Xavi]

I work in a box pet store. There are many fish that we should not carry, but do. The reason that we have them is because people will buy them. Those of us in the store who know a little about fish will try to steer people away from certain ones, but we are not allowed to not sell them to someone who wants them.

I disagree with a lot of the practices at the store, but it would be nice if more than half the poeple who came into the store did a little research before buying fish.

 

[mobilecow]

Xavi - you make an excellent point - people really ought to research the fish they are gonna buy before popping it into their tank... My aforementioned rant was aimed more at chain-store policy than the actual staff.

 

[sir_prize]

if you what to get an idea of why they sell them, look at it from the store's perspective.

if you stock that big gar or arowana or, as i have seen, albino channel catfish, you will eventually get someone who walks into the store with a lot of money and no clue of what they are buying.

they will first see the size... i don't think that anyone can say that huge fish arn't cool looking
then theyll see the employee pop a feeder guppy in there and watch it eat.
then theyll see the price and think, hey ive got money, why not?

i guess the theory is, there is a market for everything.

 

[fishisme]

Ya i dont mind seeing big fish, in big tanks, Most people buy 5 goldfish and get a 5gal tank..

 

[TimmyB42386]

if it's the "needlenose gar" Im thinking of (Xantodon cancila I think) They don't get that big, around a footish. If you like big fish you should check out our sister site MFK, a full grown gar over there is a feeder for some of the fishes they keep haha

 

[d_thomas_cg]

i live on the mississippi river, which is populated by just about every gar known to the sport fishing industry, including long nose, short nose, florida and alligator, they all get HUGE

 

[TimmyB42386]

To my knowledge petco doesen't sell any american gar (like the ones that live in the mississippi), and a "needle nose gar" isn't a gar at all, hence the quotations. It's an indonesian fish that migrates between fresh and brackish water the sports the gar look but doesen't actually belong to the family.

 

[budley]

Your small gar are known as needlefish, and shouldn't get bigger than 12 inches, I have 4 right now, well, actually about 14, but the rest are just in eggs waiting to hatch and see if they can make me happy by living.