Bass in aquariums
- Thread starter BassMan1
- Start date
The latest edition (December 2005) of Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine features a column (Top of the Food Chain) regarding Mycropterids in home aquaria. It would be a good place for you to get started.
BassMan1 said:
Anything you keep in the tank with it will need to be as large or larger than the bass or he will eat it. I have seen bass with their last meals tail hanging out of their mouth because it was to large to completely swallow. Sunfish are great as long as they are large.
Put a heavy lid on the tank. They will jump and you do not want to come home and find your new pet dead on the carpet.
Very temperature tolerant but would be best in mid to lower 70's.
Here is a site from some guy who did what you appear to be doing:
Bass
BassMan1 said:
NOW WE ARE TALKING !!!!!!!!
too cool 1st I gotta know where you got him & realy would love to see a picture if you can / 200 is a great size for this
OK so you want to have crayfish from the same lake if possible with an area on 1 side with alot of rockwork, if you feed the bass enough he won't snipe them.You should only loose a couple b4 the others get wize. Thease should be on the outake side where the water enters filterhose.
Spraybar should be on opposate side to help create a flow lengthwise from 1 side to the other somewha.(ofcorse there wil be some circular rotation within the tank)
OK so that cleans the bottom where food will collect on bottom & give interest down there. Then your going to want some clams.Thease can go anywhere on the bottom & will be on the most part ignored by everything in the tank. Filterfeeders you may even see them come out of their shell or buck an inch in the air. In tanks they ussualy just open a couple mm & you should keep an eye on them just incase 1 should happen to die but if so the muscle should release & become food.They do fine in my tank. they should also come from same lake if @ al possible.Thease would be found in the 2 - 10 foot deep part of the lake in sand or mud substrate.
if you can find a patch of dwarf hairgrass dig out a patch to supply your snail population & see if plants can be established on the border where the crayfish rockstructuer meets the substrate (it may spread from there & is somewhat protected from excessive turbulence)
The next you said would be sunfish (peacock maybe) again from same lake!!!!!!!. thease fish if mixxed with other species like ciclids or piranna will kill everything in the tank. say you have 12 piranna & 1 sunfish,,, in a mounth their would probably only be 1 sunfish so treat it as a biotope if you can.
The next is perch & will occupy the mid range of the tank. it should be large enough to get along with the bass or many small perch as backup feeders when you go away for weekends.
(same lake)
The next would be a small turtle & a floating driftwood that should settle in an upper corner
you should have zebra snails or something in that lake too
The next is rock bass ,myou may have thease sunfish shaped bass
You may have other fish just avoid toothed fish like Musky & Pike as they get too big
small trout (rainbow) may work
The next is minnows,you can get a minnow trap for them , fill with crumbs from 1/2 slice of bread & plop @ end of lake or river outlet of that same lake. thease would be your schooling fish so you could get dozens wich would also double as feeders(sometimes thease minnows aren't as common as they 1st appear) you coul have sunfish bass perch trout or any other kind or small fish. Next is a small catfish from the foot of your lake caught by hook carefuly(they can stab you) only after you have enough hideing spaces (caveish) on opposite side of crayfish. Some type of overhang that blocks the light in a small area of tank with some kind of ledge maybe just under spraybar. some of the crayfish may make it over to this side @ night.
Next if you turn over rocks you should find shrimp like crustacians also alot of plants can go in calm areas (if you have any)
I suggest u run a hose to a refugium from powerhead(20 gallon longish) with U-tube return to tank on crayfish side for some pond creatures & live sundy mud from that pond that can breed food for your tank like algae & snails & stuff that may grow from the muck . this muck from pond should layer 4 inches or so & have plantlife alreay on it if you can. don't fall in the pond!!
there are also strange fish in most ponds if you can get them(look like massive tadpoles, maybe some kinda catfish)
Im sorry this is so long I just get excited when people get into their own environment.
The rocks in the river following your lake may be a great site for interesting finds (crayfish ,buglike shrimps minnows turtles(small!!!)
If thease creatures should outgrow your rathar large tank ,they should be in better shape than you caught them in & could probably be returned to the environment you found them in without complication.
any more info would be greatly apreciated
Bass in an aquarium. lol, too cool you nut ,what made you think of that!
is your 200 glass or acrylic?
Puffernewbee said:
Thankyou so much for that Bass tank URL lmao I love it ! The bass yawn!!!! woot
If you caught the fish, you should test the water parameters around where your fish was caught, that way you'll prevent any shock! (wild fish are used to seasonal temperatures, not sure if you should be attempting this though!)
Also, if you caught it with a hook, you should keep an eye on the bass in case of parasites!
Also, if you caught it with a hook, you should keep an eye on the bass in case of parasites!
Not sure if it was mentioned, but check your local laws on keeping game fish(do an archive search, this thread has come up a few times in the past). Some states it's illegal, and some states will count your fish against your catch limit. E.g. if you are allowed 2 bass in possesion, you will only be allowed to keep one when you go fishing for the weekend.
Id put my $ on the bass turning yellow because of the pigment in the feeder fish they were eating.