Florida Gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus)

Meet the Florida gar, a spotted living fossil from Florida

The Florida gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus) is one of the most primitive fish still alive. Its long body is clad in diamond-shaped, interlocking ganoid scales, its jaws carry a row of sharp teeth, and it can gulp air at the surface through a lung-like swim bladder. Olive-brown above and pale below, it is covered in bold round black spots from head to tail. In the wild it hangs motionless near the surface like a floating stick, then snaps sideways at passing fish. For the right keeper, with the right tank, it is an extraordinary centrepiece.

This page is deliberately honest about size. The Florida gar is a large predator that grows quickly, and the Florida Museum of Natural History calls it unsuitable for home aquaria because of its size and tank needs, although it is often displayed in public aquaria. Please read the section below on what it needs before you buy, and browse our oddball fish or the other freshwater fish category if you want something with the same prehistoric look in a smaller package.

Check the names on the label

According to FishBase, the genus name comes from the Greek for "scale" and "bone", a description of its armour. The species lives from the Savannah River drainage in Georgia to the Ochlockonee River drainage in Florida and Georgia, and throughout peninsular Florida. FishBase lists it as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Tell it from the spotted gar

The Florida gar is very like the spotted gar (L. oculatus). FishBase and Wikipedia note that the Florida gar has no bony scales on the throat. The Florida Museum gives a measuring rule: in the Florida gar the distance from the front of the eye to the back of the gill cover is less than two-thirds of the snout length, while in the spotted gar it is more. Both have spots on the head, body and fins, and young fish may also show dark stripes along the back and sides.

Read this before you buy

Every source we checked says the same thing in different words. The Fishkeeper profile calls the Florida gar a peaceful predator for very large aquaria and says it must be housed in a tank of vast proportions. Seriously Fish, writing about the closely related spotted gar, says it needs a tank at least 2 m long, suits only very large public installations and can live for several decades. OATA's guide to very large fish notes that tanks for such species are often over 500 litres, advises buying the tank for the adult size because these fish grow quickly, and suggests indoor heated ponds as an alternative.

Answer five questions first

1. Space: do you have, or will you have within months, an aquarium at least 2 m long and well over 500 litres, or an indoor heated pond?
2. Width: is it deeper from front to back than the fish will be long, so an adult can turn without bending?
3. Food: are you happy to feed prawns, lancefish and whole fish for many years?
4. Lid: can you fit a heavy, close-fitting cover that still leaves an air gap?
5. Time: are you planning for a fish that the Fishkeeper profile says lives 15 years or more?

If the answer to any of these is no, please choose a smaller oddball. Never release a gar or any aquarium fish: OATA points out that release into the wild is illegal and usually ends in a lingering death for the fish.

Know exactly what you receive

One purchase supplies one live Florida gar at the standard size we currently send, which is a juvenile far below adult size. Sex cannot be chosen; the Fishkeeper profile notes that males and females cannot be told apart by appearance, although the Florida Museum says females grow larger. Young gars can look different from adults: the Florida Museum describes dark stripes on the back and sides and a delicate filament on the tail that vibrates constantly and is lost in the first year. The photographs show the species, not the individual.

Prepare before it arrives

• Have the final tank, or a large grow-out tank with a firm upgrade date, running and fully matured.
• Stock up on small frozen prawns and lancefish sized for a juvenile.
• Fit the lid and heater guard before the fish goes in.
• Read our delivery and Live Arrival Guarantee information and be at home on delivery day.

Plan for a fish of 60 cm to more than a metre

Published sizes vary because some sources describe record fish and others typical adults. Plan for the middle of the range and hope for less.

Size the aquarium

Use the largest tank you can house. For a fish that commonly reaches about 60 cm, Seriously Fish's 2 m minimum length for the spotted gar and OATA's "often over 500 litres" are the starting points, and the front-to-back depth must exceed the fish's length. Our tank volume calculator converts your measurements into litres, and the stocking calculator shows how much of that a large predator really uses.

Set up a dim, open tank with surface cover

FishBase describes the adult habitat as sluggish, mud- or sand-bottomed pools of quiet lowland streams and lakes, usually near vegetation, and Wikipedia adds that the fish often hide in weed beds 4–10 feet (about 1.2–3 m) deep. The Florida Museum notes that they gather in spring-fed rivers. In the aquarium the Fishkeeper profile recommends dim lighting, sand or gravel, and floating plants or wood near the surface, where the fish spends most of its time.

Lay out the tank

Leave an air gap and fit a heavy lid

The Florida Museum explains that the gar's air bladder is richly supplied with blood and connected to the throat, letting it breathe air and survive hot, stagnant, low-oxygen water. Wikipedia adds that in the dry season it can burrow into marsh sediment and lower its metabolic rate. In the aquarium this means the fish must always be able to reach the surface to gulp air. The Fishkeeper profile advises leaving a small gap between the water and the cover slides, running the tank with a slightly lowered waterline, and fitting tight, weighted cover slides because gars are expert jumpers.

Check the surface set-up

• A clear band of air between water and lid along the whole tank.
• Cover slides weighted or clipped so a jumping fish cannot lift them.
• No gaps around pipes and cables wide enough for a slim snout.
• Floating plants thinned so they never cover the whole surface.

Match the water: warm, steady and clean

FishBase describes the species only as subtropical. The Fishkeeper profile gives 20–28°C, pH 6.0–8.0 and a hardness of up to 20 dH, and warns that the fish does not tolerate elevated nitrate. Note that Seriously Fish gives much cooler values (12–20°C) for the spotted gar, a different species, so do not borrow those. We suggest the targets below, all inside the Fishkeeper ranges.

Match your tap water

The wide pH and hardness ranges mean most UK tap water suits once it is treated with a conditioner, from the hard, alkaline supplies of southern and eastern England to the softer water of Scotland, Wales and parts of the north and south-west. In a very large tank the real challenge is keeping replacement water at the right temperature and dechlorinated in bulk. Our water chemistry guide explains each reading.

Filter for a big predator

A gar eats whole fish and prawns and produces a lot of waste. The Fishkeeper profile calls for powerful, oversized filtration and well-oxygenated water, ideally with a sump. OATA notes that several large filters or a pond filter may be needed to handle the solid waste of very large fish. Read our guide to aquarium filtration and our nitrogen cycle guide before you set up.

Follow a weekly routine

1. Test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH every week.
2. Change at least 25% of the water, as OATA advises, treated with a tap-water conditioner and matched for temperature.
3. Siphon uneaten food and waste from the substrate the same day you feed.
4. Rinse filter media in removed tank water, never under the tap.
5. Check the lid, weights and heater guard.

Feed a predator safely

Wikipedia describes adult Florida gars as ambush predators of fish, shrimp and crayfish that strike in 25–40 milliseconds, while young fish eat zooplankton and insect larvae. The Florida Museum describes the hunt: the gar floats motionless, approaches with slow flicks of its fins, snaps its head sideways to seize the prey and swallows it head first.

In captivity the Fishkeeper profile recommends a varied mix of meaty foods, such as earthworms, mealworms, prawns, cockles, mussels, crab, crayfish, lancefish, silversides and whitebait, on a base of good pellets and foodsticks. Seriously Fish, writing about the spotted gar, advises feeding juveniles daily and reducing to one or two meals a week at most for adults, and warns never to feed mammal meat such as beef heart or chicken. It adds that newly imported fish may refuse dead food until they have gone without for a short time, and that live fish should be used only in extreme cases, after at least two weeks in quarantine. OATA's general advice for very large fish is to feed only what is eaten within a few minutes.

Build a feeding plan

Settle it in during the first weeks

Only add a gar to a filtered aquarium that has been running long enough to process waste, with ammonia and nitrite at zero. OATA describes two methods. For a fish in a bag, switch off the lights, float the bag for about 10 minutes, add small amounts of tank water over up to 20 minutes, then release the fish with as little bag water as possible. For a fish in a box or bucket, drip tank water in slowly through an airline and make sure the temperature does not drop. Our guide on how to acclimatise new fish shows each step.

Use first-week checkpoints

Choose tank mates too big to swallow

The Fishkeeper profile calls the Florida gar a voracious ambush predator that is usually peaceful towards fish too large to swallow whole. It advises choosing companions big enough not to become prey, remembering that young gars grow quickly, and calm enough not to bully the gar. Seriously Fish says gars are best kept alone or with similarly sized, non-aggressive fish they cannot fit into their mouths, and OATA warns against mixing very large fish with much smaller ones.

Screen each companion

If you love the look but lack the space, compare smaller beaked predators such as the Silver Needlefish and the Gar Characin, or other big-tank centrepieces such as the Silver Arowana. Browse our centrepiece fish, rare and collector fish and the oddball fish category, and check every mix with our tank mates tool.

Know how gars breed, and why you will not

The Fishkeeper profile states that the Florida gar has not been bred in home aquaria. In the wild it spawns in spring in shallow water, scattering adhesive eggs over vegetation with no parental care; a mature female can lay up to 20,000 eggs, typically about 13,000. Accounts of the season differ: Wikipedia gives February to March, while the Florida Museum gives mainly April and May, possibly continuing into October. FishBase notes that females may spawn more than once in a season.

Follow the wild timeline

Watch these health signs

OATA describes a healthy fish as having clear, bright eyes, undamaged fins, intact scales and steady breathing, and lists hanging at the surface or sitting on the bottom, colour change, altered breathing, white spots or fluffy growths, weight change and loss of appetite as warning signs. A gar naturally hangs near the surface and gulps air, so learn its normal rhythm in the first weeks.

Pair each sign with an action

Answer Florida gar buying questions

How big does a Florida gar get?

Large. FishBase gives a common length of 59.5 cm and a maximum of 132 cm, and the Florida Museum gives an average of 86 cm. The Fishkeeper profile says most fish reach about half of the 120 cm recorded in the wild. Plan for 60 cm or more.

What size tank does a Florida gar need?

A very big one. Seriously Fish says the closely related spotted gar needs a tank at least 2 m long and suits only very large public installations, and OATA notes that tanks for such fish are often over 500 litres. An indoor heated pond is the alternative OATA suggests.

Is a Florida gar dangerous to people?

FishBase lists it as harmless. Its eggs are another matter: the Florida Museum and Wikipedia both say gar roe is highly toxic to people and animals, including birds.

Can I keep a Florida gar in a garden pond?

Not outdoors in the UK. It needs 20–28°C all year, and GOV.UK guidance requires a licence to keep many non-native fish outdoors. OATA suggests indoor heated ponds for very large fish.

Does it need live food?

No. It takes prawns, lancefish, whitebait, mussels and similar foods, and many also take pellets or sticks. Seriously Fish advises live fish only in extreme cases, after at least two weeks in quarantine, and never mammal meat such as beef heart or chicken.

How do I tell a Florida gar from a spotted gar?

The Florida gar has no bony scales on the throat. The Florida Museum gives a measuring rule: in the Florida gar the distance from the front of the eye to the back of the gill cover is less than two-thirds of the snout length, and in the spotted gar it is more.

What can live with a Florida gar?

Only fish too big to fit in its mouth and calm enough not to bully it, such as large bichirs once they are already big. Seriously Fish suggests that gars are best kept alone or with similarly sized, non-aggressive fish.

How long does a Florida gar live?

The Fishkeeper profile gives 15 years or more, and Seriously Fish says the related spotted gar can live for several decades. Plan for a long commitment.

How many fish come with one purchase?

One live Florida gar at the standard size we currently send, which is a juvenile. Sex cannot be chosen; the Fishkeeper profile notes that the sexes cannot be told apart by appearance.

Consult the care references

• FishBase: Lepisosteus platyrhincus — maximum and common length, weight, range, habitat, air breathing, throat scales and IUCN status.
• Wikipedia: Florida gar — size and weight range, habitat depth, aestivation, strike speed, diet, spawning season and toxic roe.
• Florida Museum of Natural History: Florida Gar — identification against the spotted gar, average and record sizes, feeding method, spawning, toxic eggs and suitability for home aquaria.
• Fishkeeper: Florida Garfish — UK keeping profile: maximum size, lifespan, water values, tank, lid and air gap, tank mates, foods and breeding.
• Seriously Fish: Lepisosteus oculatus (spotted gar) — the closely related spotted gar in captivity: tank length, feeding frequency, food choice and why it suits public aquaria.
• OATA: How to look after very large fish (tankbusters) — UK guidance on tankbuster fish: tank and pond size, filtration, feeding, maintenance and never releasing fish.
• GOV.UK: Introduce or keep non-native fish and shellfish — UK government rules on keeping non-native fish, indoor aquaria and garden ponds.
• Tropical Fish Co delivery policy — current dispatch days and Live Arrival Guarantee terms.