Bass & Aquariums

[jamarkwe]

A 29g is way to small for an Oscar. As is a 55g.

Peace out I'm going Fishing...

[JiggaMan512]

Hey Btech, i noticed that you lived in Matthews. I used to live in the apartments near Providence High School. Small World!

Anyways, PLEASE listen to these guys about their advice of steering clear of bass, at least at this time, in your scenario/situation.

BUT! you don't live that far at all from the new Fintastic store location. If you haven't been to the (new) Fintastic, i STRONGLY suggest to start there before you set up any kind of aquarium. They have TONS of amazing looking fish, and other aquatic life, fresh and saltwater. They will be able to give you THE BEST advice for your specific needs, etc.

Here's the store info:

2135 Ayrsley Town Blvd # C

Charlotte, NC 28273

(704) 525-0049

Hey my little girl is about to turn 2 years old. She Loves the tank at BPS and can spend all day while i shop watching fish with her mom. I was thinking for her 2 year birthday to get her an aquarium, gold fish are way too common.

Can / Do they have little largemouths', gars and catfish like the bigger ones in BPS? I dont want to make a HUGE tank as our house isnt large enough but figured some small ones would do just fine for her to watch.

I have never owned an aquarium - what am i getting into? Is it expnsive to keep thse fish? what kinds could i put together to make somthing similar to BPS? (She likes the gar and fat cats) id like to add some lmb and stripers if they come in a TINY size.

Thanks for your help.

[Btech]

Ok..ok..OK...   No bass

Anyone recomend a fish that is cheep and easy for me to take care of for my lil girl?

btw odd i was at my local pond fishing for cat the other day and a guy had a bucket of small cat brim and a bass he said he was gona keep for a 40g tank told him to read this thread lol.

He dumped the bucket,

[jamarkwe]

Ok..ok..OK... No bass

Anyone recomend a fish that is cheep and easy for me to take care of for my lil girl?

btw odd i was at my local pond fishing for cat the other day and a guy had a bucket of small cat brim and a bass he said he was gona keep for a 40g tank told him to read this thread lol.

He dumped the bucket,

very cheap and very easy.... a Betta

[Btech]

Come on... beta?

sorry this is for my lil girl turning 2 not the iditot kid down the street!

i got a beta as a kid sat in the kitchen in a milk jug for years /yawn

My girl wants better and  deserves it, somthing that swims and eats not a goldfish / beta

[.dsaavedra.]

Come on... beta?

sorry this is for my lil girl turning 2 not the iditot kid down the street!

i got a beta as a kid sat in the kitchen in a milk jug for years /yawn

My girl wants better and deserves it, somthing that swims and eats not a goldfish / beta

a pair of bluegills in a 55 gallon tank with proper filtration. get em when they're small, like 2". at this age they can easily accustom to tank life and are easy to train to eat prepared food. and then you can have fun watching them grow over the years. mine has grown over an inch long in a few months.

if you guys have a stream nearby, you two can spend some quality time going down there and scooping up leaves and substrate and picking through it for macroinvertebrates to feed to your fish as a snack. once the bluegills get a little bigger (3" or so) you can feed them little minnows. bluegills are eating machines. after a nice rain, go outside and collect worms off your driveway or lawn, go to petco and go to the refrigerator and pick up a can of live mealworms for a couple bucks.

[Btech]

Thanks. Thats more like it!

What is the life span? i want somthing she can keep a while and lern responcibility within time, yet somthing i can study life cycles..

bluegill i assume last 4+ years = perfect fish

[.dsaavedra.]

Thanks. Thats more like it!

What is the life span? i want somthing she can keep a while and lern responcibility within time, yet somthing i can study life cycles..

bluegill i assume last 4+ years = perfect fish

yeah they last for over 4 years if you take care of em right. you can pm me with any bluegill questions if you like. also, check out the forums at www.nanfa.org <--- good stuff right there

[jamarkwe]

Come on... beta?

sorry this is for my lil girl turning 2 not the iditot kid down the street!

i got a beta as a kid sat in the kitchen in a milk jug for years /yawn

My girl wants better and deserves it, somthing that swims and eats not a goldfish / beta

but Betts swim and eat... Although not very far or very much

Like I said before get a trio of African cichlids and put them in a 29g or 55g .. Very beautiful fish...

Or you could get a single or breeding pair of Jack Dempsey in a 55g...

Or look into Green sunfish if you want to go native.

[Btech]

Im an american = I buy American made (born) lol

yes Domestic only please.

checking that site above. Thanks

[.dsaavedra.]

Im an american = I buy American made (born) lol

yes Domestic only please.

checking that site above. Thanks

i agree, tropical fish are WAYYY over-rated heck, i don't even buy native fish, i catch them myself.

[southernyankee]

I am able to keep cold water fish because I have a cooling unit on the tank. I also set the whole thing up for way under a thousand.

And if you buy a fish from a hatchery you do not normally have to worry about state laws.

[little_stephen]

While Ive never kept any non-tropicals. ive got alot of expierence with tropicals..... ANY fish can get huge & ANY fish can get costly to feed given proper tank size & abundance of food.

I do know a few people who have successfully kept bass in small tanks. they all said it wasnt very exciting because when u limit a fish like that to a small space ur limiting the predatory nature of the fish......   but none the less. I cant say from first hand expierence.

i have seen a ton of people keeping bluegill, shinners(mostly for bait reasons), bream & perch.     theyre cool. easy to maintain, and fun to watch bc of how social of a fish they tend to be.      what i will sya is this. dont cheap out. if you arent investing in at least medium quality fish tank supplies. ur asking for more trouble than its worth.

on a side note. look into tropicals. theres TONS of cool looking freshwater tropical fish that are really easy to keep and take care of. And they look cool! most of them can be purchased at a local pet or aquarium store!

[jamarkwe]

ANY fish can get huge & ANY fish can get costly to feed given proper tank size & abundance of food.

Any fish... are you sure about that ???

So if I put a bluegill in a 1,000 acre lake with 1 million minnows all to itself , it will grow ten feet long!!!!

If I put a guppy in a 500g tank and feed it a half can of flakes daily it will get 30" and weigh 10lbs...

[little_stephen]

well if u dont act like a jerk......     have a look at the recent articles in bassmaster about gizard shad getting to monster size...........then yes..... ud realize that given the right conditions..... just about any fish can get to a huge size compared to its average under a balanced ecosystem.......    I had a dalmation molly in my tank at home that got twice as big as any of its friends at the pet store..........

as a bass fisherman. you should stop shooting off smart comments and think....... given the right temps, propper growing season length...... plenty of prey to eat, and a few other things...... a california bass can get four times as big as one of the bass here in ohio............

when you have a tank thats temp controlled and you keep feeding the fish in subject, it will get big....... often times ALOT bigger than what you'll see in the wild because nothings trying to eat it!

so ha!

[.dsaavedra.]

well if u dont act like a jerk...... have a look at the recent articles in bassmaster about gizard shad getting to monster size...........then yes..... ud realize that given the right conditions..... just about any fish can get to a huge size compared to its average under a balanced ecosystem....... I had a dalmation molly in my tank at home that got twice as big as any of its friends at the pet store..........

as a bass fisherman. you should stop shooting off smart comments and think....... given the right temps, propper growing season length...... plenty of prey to eat, and a few other things...... a california bass can get four times as big as one of the bass here in ohio............

when you have a tank thats temp controlled and you keep feeding the fish in subject, it will get big....... often times ALOT bigger than what you'll see in the wild because nothings trying to eat it!

so ha!

nice retort  8-)

[little_stephen]

sorry for getting a little jumpy....      i just dont think its ok to jump down peoples throat about things they post......  this is a cool group of people, and i dont like that someone decided to poke fun at me while i was trying to give constructive help and advice to someone.....

all is forgiven. but still..... go do your homework. u supported my point earlier in the thread, then u poked fun at urself by making fun of my post!  

lol..... anyhow. just stick to tropicals to start with! its safer and a slightly less devistating learning curve for new aquarium owners....

[jamarkwe]

There is a lot of bad and uneducated information flying around in this thread...It was a decent mature debate going on here with good info from all points of view, but now this is just silly.

I'm done with this..... 8-)

Low_budget_hooker... I see why you hate these topics now

[Btech]

Lets get back to the main point of this than.

Tank for my little girl.

Fish that are DOMESTIC (Not Bass now).

what tips do you have for me other than heads turning in tank and being overgrown.

Still trying to pick out fish...  pix of the ones you recomend would be nice.

What should I expect to spend? 500 was my "Estimated" budget. You know how that goes.

*sorry for any offense here - wasnt ment that way if it came from me *

[JuniorFisherJJ08]

It is possible.. But.. You would have to keep it clean as the bass smell pretty bad otherwise. ALSO the food situation is rough. I believe if i can remember right a LMB needs its body weight in food a day to survive. So a 1lb bass would need 1lb of food a day. If you want it to grow it needs almost triple its body weight a day so a 1lb bass would have to have at least 3lbs of food per day.

I cant quite remember but im sure if you do a lil reading on the internet you will find the exact amounts of food.

JJ ;D

[DawsonH]

Do you plan to make your own stand or buy one? You can save a large some of money by making your own. Understand that your tank is going to weight in the neighborhood of 10#'s to the gallon when full and decorated.

[Btech]

Co worker has a wood shop in his basment hopin i can conn him into building one.

[DawsonH]

Well reason I asked is I was trying to figure out what you would be looking at for a price on it. If you can get it done for just the cost of materials then thats good. Go to walmart or a pet store and measure some fish tanks that would fall within about 250-300 range. Im figuring the other 200-250 for the rest of the stuff you will need to put in it. Also, not at walmart but at a pet store it may be possible to find a stand,tank,hood,light,filter,heater combo that fits your budget and would save you enough money on the cost of those items by themself to make it worthwhile for you to go ahead and buy the stand. Do a little shopping around when you get a chance and let us know what you come up with.

[SnowBass23]

Just a side note; for the parts that you order for the aquarium, although it is fun buying in the store (and that is probably what you want for your little girl so she can experience setting it all up) you can get great deals online.  I buy the majority of my aquarium stuff (lights, heaters, filters, fake plants, etc) through Big Al's Aquarium online store.  You can do a search for it and find their site.  They have some phenomenal prices on different things.

[.dsaavedra.]

Lets get back to the main point of this than.

Tank for my little girl.

Fish that are DOMESTIC (Not Bass now).

what tips do you have for me other than heads turning in tank and being overgrown.

Still trying to pick out fish... pix of the ones you recomend would be nice.

What should I expect to spend? 500 was my "Estimated" budget. You know how that goes.

*sorry for any offense here - wasnt ment that way if it came from me *

bluegills!   ;D