largemouth bass?

Question

Has anyone had any experience in keeping a largemouth bass as a pet? im feeding mine about 10 rosy reds twice a week.

Answer 1

I have kept them before and would warn you that they will not do well in an indoor aquarium without lots of expensive equipment to keep the tank cool and well aerated. They also need an enormous amount of room just for themselves. A single bass of medium size should have at least a 100 gallon tank to himself. If you really want to keep a bass or two as a pet, then you need a small kiddie wading pool out in the yard.

MM

Answer 2

I've kept largemouth, smallmouth, and rock basses (not all in the same tank, though!). Several species of native sunfish and catfish as well. A chiller is good to have, as it will slow the fish's metabolism and they won't eat (or poop) as much, but I've kept them at room-temperature tanks too (just needs more frequent cleaning). Rather than feed them live fish all the time, I converted my earliest to cichlid pellets as a staple. This would be good for small fish as well. Newer/larger ones I've kept I feed a product called "Lunker Maker", something I found for pond-raised fish that's carried at a feed and farm store near me. (see link below - a 20 pound bag is less than $10)

Largemouths are neat fish - the last one I had would play catch with me - he'd sit at one end of the tank facing me and would try to catch the pellets before they hit the water. From my experience, these fish aren't the best for a community - best kept with their own species with all individuals near the same size and lots of room for each (think large territorial cichlid for behavior and tank size).

Answer 3

Yeah, sure. Here are some things i did to keep mine healthy and lookin good... Also some things you should know.


1) I had never owned an aquarium of any type. It turns out that following the general guidelines one would follow for any fresh water aquarium works pretty well for bass.

2) Before I added bass to my aquarium I put in some live minnows and a small bag of gravel that already contained the much needed bacteria from my pet store. I waited a day or two to let the bacteria grow in the gravel of my tank before I added the bass. That way, the bacteria was ready to help clean the waste of the bass. From what I learned, this is pretty much standard practice for any new aquarium.

3) Every month I'd perform a fairly basic fresh water aquarium chemical analysis. Amazingly, it usually revealed that everything was in check - if not, I'd add the appropriate chemicals to remedy the problem.

4) Every month I would change half the water in my 150 gallon tank. Luckily, I have a utility room (with a sink) not far from my aquarium. I bought one of those special hoses that you hook up to a faucet to help drain and/or fill an aquarium. That made the monthly chore of changing half the water much easier. As you drain the tank move the hose around on the gravel to clean up waste material that collects on the rocks. It all ends up going down the drain of your sink. Very cool.
Along with the three traditional gravel filters I also used a carbon filter that was housed under the tank. It really seemed to keep the tank crystal clear.

5) If you place your aquarium against a wall, tape a dark colored background to the back of your tank to make it standout. This really makes it look sharp!

6) I would recommend putting in bass that were a half pound or less...you won't believe how fast they grow!

7) After one year my two bass tripled their weight. At one and a half pounds each, I think they outgrew my 150 gallon aquarium. I felt sorta sorry for them being so penned up so I released them (the fact that they were turning a little yellow also influenced my decision to release them).

8) Each bass ate at least 5 minnows per day. Sometimes I would feed them "large feeder goldfish" that I would buy from a pet store. Each bass would usually eat 2 or 3 of those per day. Generally speaking I always made sure there were minnows or goldfish in the tank. But if I knew that guests were coming by my house I would sometimes let the bass eat all the food that morning so that by that afternoon I could feed them some minnows and be guaranteed a good show!
The bass didn't seem to like it when I turned on the tank lights...plus the bass would fade their colors when the lights were on (I assume it was an attempt at camouflage). So I rarely turned the lights on.

9) Although my two bass were starting to turn slightly yellow, they seemed extremely healthy and were still putting on weight after one year in captivity. I'm not sure why they started turning yellow but I suspect that they needed more room to move around. I suppose it could also have been something in the water that my fresh water aquarium tests weren't checking for.



Good luck!

Answer 4

We keep them in the aquarium at the Sporting goods store....along with crappie, cats and perch.

Rosy reds are small for your bass but I have no idea how large he is.

You will eventually move up to shiners then larger shiners. Your bass will grow quickly. They really don't require LOTS of water. You can heat the tank or not heat the tank it is up to you. Cold as well as really warm water will effect your fish's appitite. Is he is an aquarium?

Bass are ambush hunters. I would keep a few minnows in the tank with him and allow him to eat at his leasure. A good filter and 10-12 hours of light is also beneficial as well as plants and wood. (More like a natural setting)

They are really cool to watch and aren't real active fish, unless they are eating.

The one we have now is about 6 years old. We have had others, but we turn them loose as they get bigger since the tank is only a 200 gallon and has quite a bit of fish in it.

All are quite healthy and happy. Yu can also feed your bass earth worms. This may help with the minnow munching. They will also eat crickets and other bugs, (If he is really large, a small mouse (sorry people they eat mice, bats and small snakes)

Good luck with your fish.

Answer 5

The fish are actually shifting slower and are deeper, in case you have some adventure at this lake, have you ever seen the lake tiers advance and decrease? in case you have seen the lake at a decrease water point, you could remember being waiting to work out some deeper shape, and which could be a good place to start, .....texas rigged worms, carolina rigged worms, and shaky head rigged worms would be good around deep shape....(inspect you tube for the thank you to rig and fish distinctive malicious software kinds).....endurance is the foremost to malicious software fishing, forged the malicious software out and enable it hit the backside, slowly advance the rod tip, then reel in the slack as you drop the rod tip....as you advance the rod tip to pass the malicious software alongside, that's going to be a trick to understanding the version between the backside weeds and the bass "gumming" the rubber malicious software.... different than that attempt a stay minnow hooked close to the dorsal fin... and attempt to apply 8 to ten pound attempt line and robust line like "Trilene" you could %. up a spool of one hundred yds for approximately $3.00

Answer 6

although i dont have any personal experience i have a freind who keeps game fish, and no knowing how large your fish is, i cant say, but it doesnt sound like enough food to me, but again i dont know your fish

one thing i do know is that they need cold water and get really stressed if the water goes above 75F, and they need hyper oxegenated water, my friend has a chiller on his tanks, and these really huge powerheads, he also has muskies, and small mouth bass

good luck