Aquarium Bass

[hamer08]

Based on aquaculture methods, LMB fingerlings (4") eat 2-4% of there biomass daily (feed = 40% protein). They are growing at 1-2% daily under these conditions. So, if you don't want the fish to grow you'll need to feed at about the 1-2% of biomass daily. This should at least give you an idea of the amount of food you'll need.

A medium fathead minnow (2 1/4") is about 0.0075 lbs, so at 1% and 1 minnow a day, this would support a .75 lb LMB or at 2% a .375 lb LMB (with a zero growth rate). I can see the numbers and cost could quickly add up.

[SuskyDude]

Keeping any more than one bass in a an aquarium less then, say, 240 gal. is a bad idea. Keep the bass where they belong, they get TOO big and they eat TOO much. Get a small sunfish. Much smaller , much easier, much prettier, and they behave alot like bass.

[bassbanger]

What about taking bass from lake or river, and bringing it home and transferring to our pond at home it has tilapia, bream and such in it. when we moved there it had 2 or 3 bass but we had an algea bloom or something that killed some fish?  Any input?

[fivesixone]

Keeping any more than one bass in a an aquarium less then, say, 240 gal. is a bad idea. Keep the bass where they belong, they get TOO big and they eat TOO much. Get a small sunfish. Much smaller , much easier, much prettier, and they behave alot like bass.

Agreed. Bass grow very quickly! You're gonna need a really big tank very very soon.

[SnowBass23]

Like many others here, my buddy and I experimented several years ago with bass in home aquariums. I had a couple of 180 gallon setups among all my other fish (I was breeding and selling different fresh water species for a time).

Personally, I'd discourage you from keeping bass. I never had problems maintaining quality for my bass, but I honestly found them to be rather boring fish. Yes, watching them eat minnows, mice, and anything else cool you can think of is certainly entertaining, but there is also a lot that goes into keeping them. For me, the payout of 30 seconds of feeding wasn't worth the expense and work of upkeep.

I would really recommend getting bream, or even better: several Warmouth. Most bream are pretty tame the instant you put them into the tank. They have a ton of personality and color once they get a little older and comfortable with the tank. After about a week in the tank my bream would be tame enough that I could start hand feeding them by holding crickets and other food down next to the water.  The bream would stick their heads out to take whatever food I was offering.  I would constantly feed them a varied diet of chopped shrimp, live crickets, worms, meal worms, and pellet foods. They are also significantly smaller than bass and can generally be housed together. In fact, I am planning to convert an African Peacock tank back into a bream tank very soon.

Good luck and let us know what you do (preferably with pics! )

[FR0G]

What size tank do you recommend for raising a bluegill? I have been wanting to get a bluegill for awhile now, but don't know where to start as far as aquarium stuff goes.

[SnowBass23]

Personally, I would not put bream into anything smaller than a 75 gallon tank.  Most bream are going to get anywhere from 7+ inches and they are messy.  I would have a few juveniles in a 75 (or extremely young specimens in smaller tanks, but remember before you know it they'll need a bigger home!).  The bigger the tank the better!