Bluegills or Rock Bass in an aquarium??

re: rockbass

thanks for the info, i was hoping i could get a few people that have had either of these before or know someone that did to respond.

i was thinking about a 2 in a 55g or a 75g. looks like 75 would be alot better than a 55. thanks

the 2 fish per. tank goes for either....
also, anyone know anything about a Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis). we just call them a Sun Perch around here.
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/longearsun.html

1 more thing. i know how aggresive those little sunfish are. they will come up and nibble on your legs while swimming in the lake.
do you think a pair of those guys would kill each other in a 55 or 75?
 
As mentioned in a previous post, these are messy fish. Guess it would be alright to "grow out" some Bluegill fry and then release them... I did that once way back.. I remember how messy it was.. LOL . I also tried some very small Speckled Perch and Bass. Never again for me, as they belong in the local lakes - they do get big quick!
 
Wow! great site, just what i was lookin for. thanks alot!!

*i notice several of these people, when the fish was introduced very small (2" or less), got bass and sunfish to eat flake foods and such. this is reassuring.
 
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In PA, keeping native fish isn't a problem, as long as you have a fishing license. Any fish you catch and keep do count towards your daily limit. I wouldn't recommend bass to most people, unless they have a large tank and they're willing to pay for a lot of food (those guys have a huge appetite).

I have a rock bass, pumpkin seed, and a few bluegills in a 30 right now. They're growing, and the rock bass is pretty territorial, so I'm working on moving everyone into a much larger tank right now. I've kept south american tropicals, african cichlids, and natives, and of them all these are my favorites. The rock bass is by far my favorite of the tank-he's very active, pays attention to everything that goes on in the room, and he "begs" for food when its feeding time. The only down side is his mouth is big enough that he can (and will) eat anyone small enough to fit, so that puts a bit of a crimp on the sort of fish you can keep with him. I had a creek chub that was almost as big as the rock bass in there for a little while who seemed to enjoy nipping at everyone (including me), and one day the rock bass decided enough was enough and ate him.

I'd really recommend at least a 55 for the rock bass, preferably something more like a 90. Rock bass in particular get pretty big, and they're active. Planting the tank will help with the mess, but you really need to keep up on the water changes.

As long as these fish are legal in your state, go for it-you'll love them.
 
Originally posted by Ptolemy
crew th lw
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????

watcher: thanks for the comments. what do you feed your rock bass, and how often? have you gotten it to eat anything other than live foods? how did you get it, was it a catch or from a stocker? sorry to load you down w/ questions but finding info. on keeping these fish in an aquarium is a real pain.

any other comments are welcome.
 
Originally posted by SimonWoodstock

????

watcher: thanks for the comments. what do you feed your rock bass, and how often? have you gotten it to eat anything other than live foods? how did you get it, was it a catch or from a stocker? sorry to load you down w/ questions but finding info. on keeping these fish in an aquarium is a real pain.

any other comments are welcome.
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SimonWoodstock:
I'm more than happy to answer any questions you have. There is far too little information available online about keeping these guys. It doesn't help that many folks think it is illegal to keep natives.

I usually feed the rock bass a nightcrawler every other day. I feed all of my fish a mix of frozen food (a selection of brine shrimp, krill, plankton, and glass worms, usually just two of them a day), and flake. The rock bass doesn't like the flake too much, although the pumpkinseed and bluegills took to it very quickly. He finally took to the frozen food after a few weeks of trying, so as long as you're persistent about it you'll be fine.

I've also fed him crickets and grasshoppers, which he took to very quickly. I dropped a crayfish in one time, and it didn't last more than 5 seconds. Occasionally I'll catch some minnows and drop them in for food. The first time I did that I tried to acclimate them in the tank, but the rock bass was so enthusiastic he killed two through the plastic bag before I gave up and released them in the tank. I don't even bother to acclimate the minnows anymore, they aren't going to live very long in there anyway.

I've caught all of the fish in the tank on regular fishing gear. I usually crush the barb when I'm fishing for fish to keep in the aquarium, and I try not to hook them anywhere but the jaw or top of the mouth. They all came from streams near my apartment, so I don't have any troubles with water chemistry.

I tried to keep a yellow perch a couple months ago, but I couldn't get him to eat anything. That's a common problem with perch, sadly. I won't try again unless I can get one when he's a fry.

If you want to buy some fish, I've heard good things about Jonah's Aquarium (http://jonahsaquarium.com/). I haven't bought from them myself, so I can't personally speak for their service. They do have some unusual fish that you may not be able to catch in your area, though.
 
thanks for your help, and that website too...it is good, and if i cant get a pond stocking business to sell me some small fish...i can always try him out.

i am really starting to consider setting up a SW tank, then a tank for rock bass or another native fish once the SW tank is up and running smoothly instead of just 1 or the other...(if i had a tank for every fish i wanted to keep...maintaining them would be my full time job)

check back every now and then, i may have another question or 2 for you. as for now, i will keep searching for more info. on them. let me know if you happen to come across anything else.
 
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