Spotted Gar

About

The spotted gar is a living fossil with an armour of enamel-like ganoid scales, a beak full of needle teeth and a swim bladder rebuilt into a lung — it comes to the surface and gulps air, and it will do that in a tank as readily as in a Louisiana backwater. It is also one of the more honest disappointments in the trade, because everything about it is slow: slow to grow, slow to move, and slow to stop growing. Sources disagree about how big, and the disagreement is worth knowing. Animal Diversity Web says it rarely exceeds 91 cm and averages 76; FishBase gives a common length of 100 cm total and a maximum of 150 cm; Seriously Fish gives a maximum standard length of 1000–1250 mm. This catalogue uses 125 cm, the top of Seriously Fish's range and the largest figure a source states as a maximum rather than as a typical length; FishBase's 150 cm is not corroborated anywhere else consulted. Weight follows the body plan — it is a slender fish, and 4.4 kg is the maximum FishBase has published. It lives roughly eighteen years, and one specimen at the University of Saskatchewan passed twenty. Seriously Fish's verdict on keeping it is one sentence long and hard to argue with: this species clearly should not be considered a home aquarium subject at all, given its eventual size and the fact it can live for several decades. They list it because juveniles turn up in the trade and because public aquaria can hold it.

Care

Not a home aquarium fish. Seriously Fish gives no tank size at all for it, saying it is suitable only for very large public installations; the gates here — around 4,000 litres over four metres of floor — are the least a single adult could occupy, not a recommendation. Length matters far more than depth: this is a surface-oriented ambush fish that hangs motionless just under the film, so give it a long, wide, shallow body of water rather than a tall one. A tight cover is not optional and not only about jumping: gars breathe atmospheric air through a vascularised swim bladder, so a small gap of humid air must be left under the lid and the fish must always be able to reach the surface. Otherwise it is undemanding — Seriously Fish calls it relatively unfussy provided water flow is not too strong and lighting not bright, and gives 12–20 °C, pH 6.0–8.0 and 90–357 ppm hardness, while in the wild it spawns at 21–26 °C — a breeding trigger, not a maintenance figure. Keep it at 14–20 °C, which is what both keeping sources actually publish. A cool-room fish, then, not a tropical one. Keep one. Seriously Fish's whole behaviour note is that it is best kept alone, or with similarly-sized, non-aggressive fishes it cannot fit into its mouth, and Animal Diversity Web lists the species as both solitary and territorial; anything small enough is food. Feed adults once or twice a week at most. On legality: gars are not restricted by the US federal injurious-wildlife list at 50 CFR 16.13, and Lepisosteus oculatus is not on the EU's Union list under Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 nor on Lithuania's separate national invasive list, so keeping one in Lithuania is lawful — but individual US states and Canadian provinces regulate native gars in their own right, in Canada the species is protected under the federal Species at Risk Act, and lists change. Check your own jurisdiction rather than this paragraph.

Diet

Ambush carnivore on small fish and crustaceans. Frozen prawn and lance fish for smaller specimens, whole fish such as trout or sprats for adults; new imports often need a short fast before they take dead food. No mammal meat, and feeder fish only as a last resort.

Telling males from females

There is no reliable way to sex this species by eye. That is the honest answer, not a gap in our data.

Similar species

Same category and the closest water parameters — if this species isn't quite it, start here.

Sold in Lithuania

These Lithuanian shops listed this species in their public catalogue (checked August 8, 2026). Stock moves — ask before you travel.

These links are unpaid: we get nothing for them and ask for nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What tank size does a Spotted Gar need?

A Spotted Gar needs an aquarium of at least 4000 litres (1056.7 US gallons) with a footprint at least 400 cm (157.5 in) long — for this species, swimming length matters as much as raw volume.

What water parameters does a Spotted Gar need?

Spotted Gar does best at 10–30 °C (50–86 °F), pH 6–8 and a general hardness of 5–20 °dGH.

Is the Spotted Gar suitable for beginners?

Spotted Gar is a demanding species best attempted with some experience — it needs stable, closely watched conditions to thrive.

Sources

• Seriously Fish — Lepisosteus oculatus (Spotted Gar)
• FishBase — Lepisosteus oculatus (Spotted gar)
• Animal Diversity Web — Lepisosteus oculatus (spotted gar)
• Wikipedia — Spotted gar
• eCFR — 50 CFR 16.13, importation of live or dead fish, mollusks, and crustaceans (current text)
• Wikipedia — List of invasive alien species of Union concern
• Kauno Tado Ivanausko zoologijos muziejus — Invazinės žuvų rūšys Lietuvoje