1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
A patient ambush predator that will eat any fish it can swallow.
This one is best kept on its own, or with its own kind.
A patient ambush predator that will eat any fish it can swallow. Keep with very large fish only.
Check your local laws. USA, California: all gars (family Lepisosteidae) are restricted 'detrimental' animals; importing, transporting or possessing live gars needs a state permit. Australia: Western Australia lists all Lepisosteus (named: Florida gar) as high-risk noxious fish and will not approve their import; Queensland bans importing or trading any species not on the federal Live Import List. Check the rules where you live before you buy one, and never release it into the wild.
Not for home aquariums. This fish grows far too big for any home tank. It needs a pond-sized system of thousands of litres, so please don't buy one as a baby.
Live-minded; feed pieces of fish, shrimp and sinking pellets. Avoid feeder fish.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Females grow larger than males; other than size there is no easy way to tell the sexes apart.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Not bred in home aquaria ·
Not bred in home aquaria. In the wild, groups gather in shallow weedy water; females scatter adhesive eggs among plants and two or more males fertilise them, with no nest and no parental care. Spawning is late winter to spring, mostly February-May, sometimes into October.
Pairs cannot be identified reliably, and adults spawn only in huge ponds or rivers.
Needs a very large tank or pond, which is out of reach for most hobbyists.
Not reliably triggered in captivity.
Relatively large, greenish, adhesive eggs scattered in shallow weedy water and fertilised by two or more males; hatchlings stick to plants with a snout disc until about 2 cm (3/4 inch). The roe is highly toxic to humans and animals. No egg count found.
No hobby-scale fry-rearing method is established.
One of the smaller gars (adults about 33-86 cm) and one of the most widespread and numerous gars in Florida, found only in Florida and southern Georgia. It has dark round spots on the head, body and fins, and breathes air with a lung-like swim bladder, so it survives in hot, stagnant water.
James De Kay described the Florida gar in 1842. It is one of the most common large fishes in Florida's lakes and canals. Like other gars it can breathe air, letting it survive in warm, oxygen-poor water.
First described by James E. De Kay in 1842. Named for 'platyrhincus' means 'flat-snouted'.
11 facts checked with sources
Naming trap: legacy alias 'shortnose gar' is wrong; the shortnose gar is a different species, Lepisosteus platostomus Rafinesque 1820 (Catalog of Fishes: central and south-central USA; ADW names it as a separate species). Florida gar is often confused with the spotted gar (L. oculatus) and hybridises with it in the Apalachicola drainage (ADW).
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: species of Lepisosteus (updated 21 Sep 2026) · FishBase: Lepisosteus platyrhincus summaryLegacy has no family.
FishBase: Lepisosteus platyrhincus summaryAll TL. Adults 33-86 cm; legacy 90 cm is within rounding of the 86 cm upper adult size. size-pick: FishBase/Florida Museum maximum record 132-133 cm TL kept in note only. Females grow larger than males.
Florida Museum of Natural History: Lepisosteus platyrhincus (Florida gar) · FishBase: Lepisosteus platyrhincus summaryHunts from near the surface and gulps air, though ADW says it uses all depths and FishBase lists it as demersal.
Florida Museum of Natural History: Lepisosteus platyrhincus (Florida gar) · Animal Diversity Web (Univ. of Michigan): Lepisosteus platyrhincusLegacy has no native range field; legacy 'about' (Florida and Georgia) agrees.
FishBase: Lepisosteus platyrhincus summary · Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: Florida GarADW's sentence has a typo ('there is easy way'); from context it means there is no easy way. Legacy agrees in substance.
Florida Museum of Natural History: Lepisosteus platyrhincus (Florida gar) · Animal Diversity Web (Univ. of Michigan): Lepisosteus platyrhincusSources disagree on timing: ADW February-March, FWC late winter-early spring, Florida Museum mostly April-May. Legacy 'practical only for farms' not sourced.
Animal Diversity Web (Univ. of Michigan): Lepisosteus platyrhincus · Florida Museum of Natural History: Lepisosteus platyrhincus (Florida gar) · Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: Florida GarLegacy says spawning is rarely or never documented in home aquaria; no source says so directly. Wild data added.
Florida Museum of Natural History: Lepisosteus platyrhincus (Florida gar) · Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: Florida Gar · Animal Diversity Web (Univ. of Michigan): Lepisosteus platyrhincusLegacy 'short-snouted' is relative (its snout is broader/shorter than the longnose gar's) and 'so more manageable' is contradicted: the Florida Museum calls it unsuitable for home aquariums.
Florida Museum of Natural History: Lepisosteus platyrhincus (Florida gar) · Animal Diversity Web (Univ. of Michigan): Lepisosteus platyrhincusFlorida rules for keeping a native gar, other US states, Canada, the EU and the UK were not checked individually. Legacy 'no special permits in most countries' is not supported for California or Australia.
Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 671 (via Cornell LII): Importation, Transportation and Possession of Live Restricted Animals · Western Australia DPIRD: High-risk non-endemic fish that are noxious fish elsewhere in Australia · Queensland Government: Your legal obligation for invasive freshwater animals (updated 28 May 2026)