Avalonjohn44 Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I used to have lizards snakes, and so have a bunch of aquariums laying around doing nothing. One is very large, I forget the gallons, but was pretty big - enough to house a boa... I have been toying with the idea of throwing a bass and some bluegill in there, some crawfish and leeches and making my own little ecosystem. Any thoughts/advice about what I need to keep in mind? Quote
Super User .dsaavedra. Posted July 15, 2008 Super User Posted July 15, 2008 a REALLY good water filtration system :-X Quote
Smallie4130 Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 If you have the extra aquariums, why not raise some crawfish, crickets, etc. for bait? I dont think it would be possible to have a bass live in an aquarium Quote
Avalonjohn44 Posted July 15, 2008 Author Posted July 15, 2008 If you have the extra aquariums, why not raise some crawfish, crickets, etc. for bait? I dont think it would be possible to have a bass live in an aquarium I want to have a bass so there is something cool to look at in the winter when I'm snowed in and can't go fishing. I was thinking about putting a turtle in there too... Quote
hamer08 Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I think its doable, I would shoot for a small bass 6-8" a couple things to remember, Use a powerhead pump to keep the water moving, the more the better. Use a biofilter to control urea, I typically use sponge filters for low costs applications. Very important that you prime the system- That is start with a few small fish or minnows to get the filter working (biofilm established). If you just dump in a bunch of fish they will choke to death on urea before the bacteria/biofilm become well established. I played around with keeping my own minnows (20 Dozen 4" shiners). It was a lot of work. I think I could keep a couple small bluegills or a small bass alive. Quote
Avalonjohn44 Posted July 15, 2008 Author Posted July 15, 2008 search - we've been over this one before I searched... I get 9 hits on the word aquarium (one of them being this thread), and none of them deal with keeping bass in one. The closest is the swimming pool turned into a pond...this is a little different IMO... Any other suggestions that would be at all helpful? Slomoe - Is one of those topics that becomes heated... which I guess is what you mean with the popcorn emoticons? Quote
Avalonjohn44 Posted July 15, 2008 Author Posted July 15, 2008 Use a biofilter to control urea, I typically use sponge filters for low costs applications. Very important that you prime the system- That is start with a few small fish or minnows to get the filter working (biofilm established). If you just dump in a bunch of fish they will choke to death on urea before the bacteria/biofilm become well established. Awesome, thanks! Quote
CFFF 1.5 Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I have two 5-6" bass and two very small bream and a large crawfish in my fish tank. Wild fish can handle water temperature changes and lower quality water better than pet store fish. I use tap water and bio stuff to treat the water and all is good. I have had my fish for about 5 months and they are already growing. It is amazing to watch them eat. they are so fast. Be prepared to feed them tons of minnows. they eat like crazy. I go catch about 60 minnows once a week and this seems to keep them happy. Give it a try it is not as hard as you think. I also tried to keep shiners this is much harder. Quote
hamer08 Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I good plan would be to practice by keeping some fathead minnows. Once you conquer that you can move up to bigger fish. Then you can run two tanks, one with minnows and one with predators. I would feed them the minimum amount. Quote
=Matt 5.0= Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I dont think it would be possible to have a bass live in an aquarium Think again. Quote
Low_Budget_Hooker Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I good plan would be to practice by keeping some fathead minnows. Once you conquer that you can move up to bigger fish. Then you can run two tanks, one with minnows and one with predators. I would feed them the minimum amount. Yup, and good luck affording THAT!! A bass eats 2/3 it's body weight per day. It will survive on much less but do you want to do that to a WILD animal? Quote
bassinandrew88 Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I good plan would be to practice by keeping some fathead minnows. Once you conquer that you can move up to bigger fish. Then you can run two tanks, one with minnows and one with predators. I would feed them the minimum amount. Yup, and good luck affording THAT!! A bass eats 2/3 it's body weight per day. It will survive on much less but do you want to do that to a WILD animal? This is the truth! When I was about 11 or 12 I kept a 8" bass that I caught out of a pond by my house. I had it in a 40 gallon aquarium and it did fine. The eating habbits that Low_Budget described are dead on. I used to feed it a dozen minnows 3 or 4 times a week and then whatever small fish and crawfish I could catch at the creek. It would inhale a dozen minnows in literally 60 seconds tops. Back then mommy and daddy told me I had to get rid of it or get a job. Quote
NBR Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 Call your state DNR they can fill you in regarding the how's and legality. Quote
chasescott Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 i had a 50 gallon tank which i kept a bass and about 6 or 7 bream, a catfish and probably 6 or 7 crawfish. They were not very hard to maintain and very entertaining. The bass started out about 6 inches and grew to be about 10 inches before i released him back into the pond which i caught him out of. For food i would either go buy small minnows or i would just go outside during the summer and find crickets and other bugs and throw in there. The bass got real familiar with feeding time and new when he saw me open the top it was time to eat. One time i feed him a small frog and he loved it. -chase Quote
st00pid Posted July 15, 2008 Posted July 15, 2008 I do saltwater reef tanks and compared to something like this it is easy as pie. Depending on the size of the tank is where to start. You do not want to stress the fish by giving it too small of a home. I had one in a 125 gallon for a while. He was 7-8 inches. Only had him for a couple months i just wanted to make sure the tank would hold water. Filtration has to be top notch. For water circulation i prefer powerheads Over just canister filters. Bass eat alot and crap alot so your tank clean up can be a pain but water quality doenst have to be the best. Substrate can be sand or small rocks Give them a place to hide so they dont get stressed as much. If you have a place to catch feeder minnows and or tadpoles its not so bad. Switch it up dont just feed them one thing. Like us everything needs a variety of diff things for a proper diet. If you want to keep it simple two of the biggest filters you can find and maybe a powerhead pointed at the surface. Quote
slomoe Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Slomoe - Is one of those topics that becomes heated... which I guess is what you mean with the popcorn emoticons? http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1168836765/0 http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1158854961/0 http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1156167326/0 Quote
Low_Budget_Hooker Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Call your state DNR they can fill you in regarding the how's and legality. Another good point. In MANY states, it is illegal to keep a game fish in captivity w/o the proper license. The Chinese restaurant near my house found out the hard way. After the fines were paid, they bought a few Oscars,lol. Quote
MA_Bass Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Very interested thread. My roommate has a ~100 gallon tank that we've been talking about putting bass in. I feel like I need to say that we would never think of acquiring them illegally and that we would eat them when they get big rather than release them! But my roommate knows how to maintain a tank. Its set up but empty. It sits below one of the 3 horizontal six-rod wall-mount racks we so it would really complete the bachelor redneck pad motif. We already know that its a significant endeavor which is why we haven't set it up already. Quote
NEKvt Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 Europeans keep pumpkinseed quite commonly. I had two rock bass in a 110 gallon for about two years, they were easy to keep, ate pellets or worms and got really used to me being around. Both would be a better option than one of the larger bass species. Everything said about taking care of the water, and feeding enough is true though. I trapped these two at about 1 inch and raised them to about 10 inches before putting them back in the small pond they came from. Quote
crankybaits Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 they are very dirty and grow extremely fast as well. They also eat a ton. Quote
bassfanatick Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 They are quite fun to raise Especially at feeding time. Quote
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