Ok, lets say someone goes to put a 1-2 lb bass in a tank in thier house. Now I know that this puts stress on fish and I'm not a fan of doing that purposely but for the sake of learning a little and just seeing a bass grow, what do you think would be the best way for someone to go about raising a bass of this size? What size tank, what to feed it, should there be other fish in with it, or anything else that might be good for this situation? I was just curious.

Thanks in advance!

you'd need a pretty huge tank - 3 to 5 hundred gallon would be my gueess and it would need a strong lid or cover of some kind

WOW, i was thinking more like 125... and only having one bass. It wont grow past its tank size right? I would probably be releasing it once it got 4-5 lbs I would assume... if it started to reach its max size for that tank. Thanks for the info though, keep it comin.

we had a tank with a pound and half bass in it, we kept it in a 55gallon tank and it was fine we would always feed it gold fish and baby crawdads, we had it in there about a year then we released it due to us moving. Anything over 55 gallons will be fine place rocks in the bottom and some kind of artificial reef.

If you really want to do it right get a very small bass 6 inches long and watch him grow I got one from a buddies stock tank.

He is now 12 inches long and this may will be a full year I have had him.

They will eat ya out of house and home tho he eats 8-10 large feeders every two days or so. at 25 cents each.

He is very cool to watch tho I have him in a 55 gallon tank and he has done very well.

I would say prob. at least a 175 or so if you're wantin' to grow one to 4-5 lbs. I'm sure if you got one young enough, you could get it to become quite tame and even take food from your fingers. I wouldn't recommend this though, as then it'll be pretty helpless when you release it. I'd make sure to vary its diet though. Give it some crawfish, various bugs, nightcrawlers, minnows, perch, etc. to eat so it doesn't get stressed from a monotonous diet. Something to consider is that the general rule is 1 gallon for every inch of fish, but I think for fish over about 5", that pretty well falls apart. I'd say go for about 4 gallons per inch at the very least. You want the fish to have plenty of room to turn around and such. A 55 gallon may seem big, but if you have a 14" bass in it, he can't really turn around too easily.

TTU- I AT ONE TIME WAS VERY BIG INTO AQUQRIUMS AND HAD 5 OF THEM. THE LARGEST BEING A 220 GALLON OCEANIC. I HAD A 10" SMALLMOUTH, ABOUT AN 8" LMB AND A COUPLE OF PERCH. IT WAS VERY FASCINATING FOR ABOUT A YEAR. FED THEM CRAWDEDS FROM THE LOCAL GOLF COUSE BACK HOME.(TEMPLE,TX.)ALONG WITH FEEDER GOLDFISH AND WHAT EVER FORAGE THEY WOULD EAT. BUT AT A CONSTANT 79 DEGREES THEY ALL GREW VERY QUICKLY. AT THE END OF A YEAR THE LMB GREW TO ABOUT 14". YES THAT WAS 6" IN ONE YEAR. METABOLISM UP AT THAT TEMP I GUESS. KINDA LIKE FLORIDA BASS GROWING. (HA HA). BUT IT WAS VERY INTERESTING AND FUN. I WOULD NOT DO IT UNLESS YOU HAD AT LEAST A 125 GALLON TANK THOUGH.

I was thinking about putting a lmb, 7"-8" or so, a mud cat, and a perch or 2 in on of those bigger yard ponds that are used for landscaping. Now I think that would be facinating!!! I think I will be doing that this early summer.

Like TexasFisher I have been into aquariums for years. Have 3 of em, we even have a pet oscar, about 12" long, that won't eat his supper till he gets his petting. I swear, he mopes on top until you give him a pat on the head.

Bass are very hardy, no reason they wouldn't grow like a weed in a good aquarium. Tough part is the maintenance of the tank, ph, water flow, filtration, etc., just ask Texasfisher, sounds like he's been there. Water ph and balance is important, but given LMB's range of environments, probably more an issue of water flow.

Thanks for posting and keep them coming if you have anything to add.
Sounds like its something I wouldn't mind putting some money into. I can always reuse the stuff in the future. Anyone know of a good place to get a relatively cheap tank? Figure I can get started for around 600$ plus food. Part of that depends on whether I build the base for the tank or buy it. Luckily there are plenty of places to get nice Florida bass for free . Let me know how any of you would go about doing this.

Thanks again!

Guys,

Be careful about how you aquire your black bass. It is not legal to use a net to catch one from public waters or posses one under the legal size limit. I used to keep an aquarium and remember something about it not being legal to even keep a black bass in an aquarium. Not sure about the last statement.

Don

say you caught one on a crappie jig at fork, of course, you may pull up the new record that way.

Not sure about keeping bass in an aquarium (although I have seen it in numerous marinas/tackle stores, undersized ones at that). To get around the minimum size rule though, he could get 'em from Alan Henry as long as they are largemouths since you're allowed 2 under 18" with no minimum there.

ALTHOUGH I HAVE HEARD OF IT BEING ILLEGAL TO HAVE ANY GAME FISH CAPTIVE IN AN AQUQRIUM.I DID IT ANYWAY BACK WHEN. I DO SEE A LOT OF TACKLE SHOPS WITH 6" LMB IN THERE AQUQRIUMS. IT'S EXPENSIVE TO BUY NEW BUT I DO SEE AQUQRIUMS IN THE PAPER ON A WEEKLY BASIS. I'M JUST PARTIAL TO OCEANIC AQUARIUMS. I'D SAY THAT THEY ARE THE BEST ONES MADE. NEVER EVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS.

In order to have one in a tank you would have to purchase one or get it from a private lake/pond. It isn't worth the ticket if a warden catches you trying to take a six inch lmb out of the lake.