Recently i have lost my hujeta garfish, it died of a strange "lump" that grew from the base of his throat which eventually ripped through the skin causing huge amounts of stress to the fish.

I tried all forms of medication but nothing caused the lump to grow away and when it tore all the jaw open it was still there. Instead of disposing of the fish curiosity took over.

Looking at the fish his two upward facing "teeth" (used loosely as they are actually hardened skin which regrows periodically) and many tiny backwards facing recurved teeth. The lump was conical and bony at the tip yet moved freely which was odd so i decided to open its jaws. This is where i made a discovery, the "lump" was the fishes tongue, and it fitted in a groove along the lower jaw, yet it was too big for it. The fleshy part of the tongue was not swollen, so i believe it was the cone which caused it not to fit.

THis has piqued my curiosity as i used to feed him a high diet of guppies until i coaxed him on to cheaper processed food, about a month later the lump started to grow......

I theorise that the lump was a type of harpoon, as this "gar" is actually a tetra and did not hunt like a gar by swiping at its prey bit instead attacking in a direct line. If this is the case, the narrow snout a few large teeth would not be enough to aptly hold the prey so i think it must use the bony tongue to jab into the victim. Sounds daft, but this kind of action would wear down the tip, maybe even snap a bit off now and then, and like a puffer not fed snails, it simply outgrew the gars mnouth and ripped it up.

I propose to get a colony of hujetas and see what happens when i feed them on guppy fry for a while, then ill try a single individual on dry foods and if the lump develops switch back to live? I want your honest opinions as i am going to get these "gars" but wondering whether A my theory is sound and B would the fish be able to have it s harpoon trimmed by switching its diet back?

cheers guys ill know youll give advice based on knowledge and experience not knee jerk reactions

anybody?

I think it's a really interesting proposal! Honestly, i have never researched the whole tetra harpoon thing....so I'm pretty clueless as to if your theory has merit or not...I would suggest that you conduct an experiment with some fed guppies, and others processed foods...then you could chart and compare the tongue growth in each fish...You'd probably want to take measurements on a weekly basis...so it might get a bit stressfull for the you and the fish....

Dude...any one else?

I have five of the little monsters on their way within the fortnight

I think it would be a good idea to try....I mean if you would document it, it would be a way for others to know about the proper care of their fish!!!!

I would imagine if the tip "snaps off" when feeding that it would probably file it down again...but I don't know much about gars.


I think it would be worth the time & effort to see what results you get and help out other gar owners.

Well a quick re visit of this topic now, i did my little research project, I got a colony of 6, three aer very happy healthy fish still fed on guppies, tho my wallets not happy and healthy!

The other three however all developed the lump! Must be a hunting mechanism! well i switched them onto guppies and several things happened:

One couldnt open his jaws tho he tried, and before i could net him out to help him he ripped his throat out, so a fast dose of clove oil to end it for him was applied....

one managed to spear a victim, and lo and behold it gotr away, with a large bony protrusion in its side! But, the gar was unable to hunt effectively and starved :(

The third, couldnt open his jaws like the first, but i netted him in time, coverring him in a damp cloth i gently prised his jaws open, and with a small pair ofwire clips, took a few cms off the tongue, hes recovering now, his throats not swollen and hes happilly stalking livebearer fry, so my theory is partially true at least :)

In any case heres a pic of the recoveree:

Wow, that was very interesting... I applaud you for making the effort. Most people just throw there dead fish away and never look into why they didn't make it.

holy cow... i ve NEVER heard of that happening.. you should send that story into a tv animal channel.

I definitely would want more info on it to see what EXACTLY causes it

Cool, glad to hear that one of them is recovering. You should do a writeup for the FAQ section on them.