The Needle Nose Gar is one of the fish that you can find just by looking in your local river.
You might have always associated gars with big river fish that predate on other small fish and aren’t suitable for fishkeeping.
But the Needle Nose Gar is a bit different and some people even say that they belong to the needle type and not the gar specie.
They aren’t different because they are aggressive, they are different because they’ve got the combination of a gar and needle and can be kept in a tank.
You can get them at a length of around 4 inches but they can grow up to 10 inches in your aquarium if not longer.
They are native to rivers and lakes and can be found in different parts of the world.
They have other names such as the Asian Needle Nose Fish and Silver Needlefish.
In this article, we are gonna know everything about them, from how to properly care for and integrate these special fish into your aquarium today.
The Set up
Tank set up
The Needle Nose Gar is known for getting lengthy, unlike many other freshwater fish.
In their natural habitat, they can grow up to 14 or 16 inches but in captivity, they might reach 10 inches before you even know it.
So given that expected size you don’t want to add them if you have a small tank.
You should put them in a 75-gallon (280L) aquarium as a minimum especially if you’ve got other fish in there.
Water parameters:
For the temperature, it will be good to set it the same as their natural habitat which is usually warmer.
You could keep them at a temperature of 77°F(25°C), you can go higher than that or lower but don’t exceed 82F (27°C) or go lower than 76°F(24°C).
As for pH, tNeedle Nose Gar does well in a neutral pH level which is usually 7 but you can go two decimals higher or lower.
They are top water fish so decoration and other accessories aren’t that important for them. You can just add some rocks and wood if you feel like it.
Diet
Now, this is why some people like keeping Needle Nose Gars. They like to watch them shoot themselves like a needle and devour live fish.
Yes, they prefer to eat small fish especially fry. Some people who have got large tanks with livebearers such as the golden panda molly in them that reproduce a lot like to bring a Needle Nose Gar to their tanks to control the population.
You can try, if you don’t like seeing it eat little fries, to train it by giving it other types of food. Getting them to eat them at first can be hard, but with patience, you can work it out.
You can start by giving them frozen food, brine shrimp, and other meaty food, and try later with flakes and pellets and see how it goes.
You can feed them frozen food in the morning and pellets in the evening to make their diet varied.
Behavior
They are aggressive fish but are limited by the size of their mouth.
That means that they are aggressive and will feast on other fish, but only fish that fit into their needle-like mouth. If the fish is bigger than their opened mouth, you won’t find a problem keeping them together
So you can keep them with big-sized fish without any problem without fearing that they will eat them or get eaten. They have almost no natural predators but can get attacked if you have a curious fish.
You can keep a large number of them and I would recommend keeping two together which will be nice to watch and track in your aquarium.
Health
The most common disease that your tank and your Needle Nose Gar catch will be from the same condition. Which is a bad water environment.
A bad water environment breeds harmful bacteria that spread and quickly infect fish and weaken their immune system.
Which, in turn, makes the fish’s immune system weak and easy to catch other diseases such as Ick and skin irritations.
To prevent any of these sicknesses you need to maintain a clean water environment in your tank by regularly performing water change.
Pros and Cons of keeping them
Pros
You might want to keep a Needle Nose Gar just because you like its outer appearance or how interesting they are. But there is more than that.
The needle nose fish is very good to add if you have other types of fish in your tank, By adding the Asian Needle Nose Gar you are basically making your tank environment more diverse which contributes to building a balanced ecosystem in your tank. And that makes fishkeeping more interesting!
And of course, you won’t get tired of watching and learning about the fascinating acts of these long snout fish.
Cons
On the other hand, keeping a Needle Nose Gar can be your nightmare.
If your tank is small and you decided to keep them they will soon outgrow your tank which in turn ruins the environment and affect other fish.
If you have a lot of livebearers fish in the tank and you want to breed them, the Asian Needle Nose Gar might just be the one fish that will make that impossible.
Conclusion
I remember when taking a walk in the nearby lake and watching people using fishing nets to catch fish. So curious about anything that does with fish I saw people talking about catching a long-nosed gar so I went to take a look and thought this will be a good addition to my tank.
But only years later did they become aquarium popular. People only knew about longnose gar that they barbecue in their Sunday gathering. No one thought about keeping a small variation of them in a tank.
These fish are easy to take care of, and you will enjoy caring for them but I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners as it can ruin their tank. so it’s better to consider it only if you are a bit experienced with fishkeeping.
If you’ve kept Needle Nose Gar before or had caught them before, we would love to hear your tips and story in the comments below.
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