New Bass/Lake fish tank (noobie!!!)

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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xbassdj05

Feeder Fish
Sep 17, 2006
1
0
0
Oxford, MA
I am new to monster fish keepers but not to keeping fish.. i have had quite a few tanks with tons of different fish ranging from oscars, pacus, stingrays, lungfish, wolfish ... you get the picture. I am capable of keeping a tank running well and absolutely Love the hobby/lifestyle. I want to set up a genuine Lake tank ... starting in a 55 or 75 gal. I want to keep great looking sunfish, LMB, SMB maybe even a trout ;) ... basically what i am asking for is advice on how to set this kind of tank up, what kind of water to use, how to get my water to the right kind of levels (if i need any kind of special chemicals) what plants and foods to even use on these guys. I dont want to jump into this unprepared and harm any good fish so any kind of help/advice would be amazing

Thanks in advance
 
Buy a huge tank. Right now you probably think that a 55 or 75 is big. It's not. Bass can get over 2 feet long in the wild, that's over half the length of a 55 gallon already.
 
Yup, bass will get BIG. If you can, try to get one of the smaller species - Suwanee, spotted, sunshine, etc. Look like largemouths, but don't get quite as big...
 
For the tank you want you need at least a 180 gallon, you will need to upgrade later also when the bass gets about 18" long.
 
If you just get a 75gallon you cant do any of the black bass species. The Coosa River Bass or Suwannee bass (if you could find them) MAY work for awhile.

I think a better choice would be a "stream" bio-tope. A coulple long-ear sunfish for you big fish, some top-minnows, various madtom species, and various minnows along with a cray-fish or two would be nice.
 
get a massive 600 gallon tank chuck a couple of coolers on. inject o2 in the tabk with a co2 ladder. lots of plants wood tannin coloured water. not bright lights.
 
amehel0 is mostly right... of course my local bass are in crystal clear springs...

If you are serious, head over to the DIY section and read up on a plywood tank... think full sheets of plywood for bottom and long sides, half sheets for the ends. Also, head down to the NA Natives forum...
 
As everyone said, 55-75g isn't big enough to keep either of the bass species that you are interested in long term. Even with enough filtration to keep water quality high (say a large sump or something) both a smallmouth or largemouth will far outgrow such a small tank. 2-3 feet.

You could keep one or more rock bass or shadow bass in a 75g.
You have several choices of sunfish that will work in either a 55g or 75g. Green sunfish, longear sunfish, pumpkin seeds, just to name a few of the larger species. Smaller species would be banded sunfish, black banded sunfish, and dollar sunfish. Probably a few others that I'm not remembering.
Bluegill are an option but can potentially get over a foot long and take over the tank, so you're choice, but I wouldn't personally suggest them. However if you're looking for something large and aggressive akin to a LM or SM bass, that would be a good choice. A smaller and slightly more peaceful choice with a large appetite and big mouth, very basslike would be the green sunfish.

What kind of water to use? Same as any other fish, dechlorinate it and put it in.
Chemicals to change water? Not suggested at all. How does your water come out of the tap? Native fish are extremely hardy and will adjust to just about any water. If the water needs buffering there are natural alternatives, don't use any chemicals.
What plants and food? Sunfish (this includes bass species) will eat all types of meaty foods. I feed mine carnivore pellets, supersoft pellets, worms, krill, live fish, live crawfish, live ghost shrimp, etc. Just try to vary their diet, but they'll accept all kinds of foods normally.

Sunfish species aren't sensitive or complicated at all, they're some of the hardiest and easiest to keep fish you can have.
 
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