smallmouth captive?

Question

I was thinking about catching a little smallmouth preferably fry and putting it in my aquarium basically I was just wondering if anyone has ever done this before and how to. My uncle works for DNR freshwater fisheries so he is making sure all the permits and everything legally is taken care of so no worries there just need help keeping him thanks

Answer 1

You can do that, but be sure you have plenty of tank space. They are very active swimmers and even a small one will need 6' of swimming room.

You might look into some small rock bass or dwarf sunfishes. They are smaller, demand less space and usually have much better color.

MM

Answer 2

I've kept them before, starting when they were small and starting them in a 29 gallon and moving them up as they grew. As MM said, they need plenty of space, and they should have some cover (driftwood, rocks, plastic reptile "caves"), and they don't take well to having any tankmates. After my first one killed a bullhead and a largemouth half again his size, I stopped trying to keep other fish with them.

They'll do well on pellets made for cichlids, plus some frozen foods (bloodworms, enriched brine shrimp) and fresh "bait" (worms, fathead minnows).

I just treated mine pretty much like a Central American/South American cichlid, minus the heater (I didn't use a chiller either, but had an oversized filter for dissolved oxygen and added filtration).

I always tried to get my natives between July-Sept when the water was it's warmest, so there was less of a temperature acclimation. I brought the fish back in minnow buckets, added an airstone, and let them sit in the bucket overnight in the same room as the tank. The next day, I did a slow drip acclimation in the bucket to get them used to the new water chemistry, then put them into quarantine tanks by size, temperment, and origin location before I would add them to my habitat tanks with other fish.

Answer 3

If your thinking of catching a small mouth then i would do the proper research and prepare the tank at least one week prior to the date of capture. Also make sure you know what to feed them and that you have a filtration system set up. Not a heavy duty one but just to keep the water clean enough so that you can see the fish. Also make sure they have alot of room for your fish to swim arround. Small fish enjoy arorund 6 feet of swimming room. medium fish enjoy 10ish feet and large fish like 15 feet. Also smallmouths enjoy hiding under rocks or in kelp/weeds. putting plants into the aquarium wouldnt be a bad idea. Hope it goes well :D

Answer 4

I would suggest trying to put the water from the pond, lake etc. you got it from in the tank if the water is clean enough for you to see the fish. I say this because they need the nutrients in the water to survive and be happy I would also suggest feeding what it ussaly eats in the wild so just in case you ever need to realse it it does not die beacuse it can't catch its own food I would also buy some products such as nutrients that are used for pond fish

I hope this was helpful also try to recreate its enviorment by taking some rocks from the place you got it from and make hiding places for it especially if you are puting other fish in the tank and I would suggest having a pretty big tank such as a70-80 gallon

Answer 5

you wouldnt be able to keep him in a normal tank because they arnt big enough, you might want to try a large pond or something. I once had a blue gill because my dad and i went fishing and we caught alot of them and it was the only one that was alive by the time we got home so we stuck it in our large aquarium and fed it whole earth worms. It lived for a few years then we put it back in a lake somewhere when I moved.

Answer 6

ultimately i think you'll need a 125 gallon tank or larger, they get big and are very active.
make sure there's no heater in the tank and there's an airstone.
don't feed it only minnows as this will encourage it to develop hole in the head disease, which does not look pretty. instead feed it mostly large cichlid pellets and frozen bloodworms, krill, shrimp, and beef heart (occasionally. too much red meat is not good)

Answer 7

Its worth a try, peacock bass do very well in fish tanks, and a relative of mind has a large mouth growing in his.
Feed the small mouth minnows, and make cure its a large tank for your fish to swim in.
Good Luck

2N!$H