Tips for my first Largemouth Bass?

[nickag9]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the site and this is my very first post! I found the forums today while I was doing some research for my new project, a large native freshwater fish tank. The idea came to me after a recent trip to the Bass Pro Shops here in Cincinnati. I was there on a Saturday and happened to experience a live feeding in their 23,000 gallon aquarium. I was fascinated at everything I saw! As soon as I got home I decided it was time for me to setup my own aquarium. I've never had a large aquarium before, just a small tank with a few goldfish when I was younger, but after watching the live feeding and studying the fish at Bass Pro Shops I'm ready to take the leap into the Monster Fish world!

As for a little background, I've been an avid fisherman since I was a child and I've been obsessed with Largemouth Bass ever since I caught my first one at the age of 4. I had always wondered if I could catch one and keep it in an aquarium one day but between living at home with my parents and trying to finish up school I never had the time, money or the space to pull it off. Well, now that I'm out of school, working full time and finally have my own house (with a half of a finished basement I can work with) I've decided to setup a freshwater tank and find myself a Largemouth Bass or two.

I did a lot of research before I decided to post today and I think I've got a pretty good handle on what I'm going to need to setup a healthy and safe environment for a LMB. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but the general consensus is that I’m going to need at least a 180 gallon tank, but preferably one above 200 gallons in order to accommodate a LMB for its entire life. I also read that these fish are rather “tough” and they can survive in a wide range of PH levels and water temps. Seeing as I will be keeping the tank in my basement I figured room temperature should be fine year round. Also, just so no one freaks out on me, I am already aware that it is not legal or ethical to release a fish raised in captivity into the wild, so I fully intend to keep my LMB for the long haul. Now as for where to source the fish I plan on buying a healthy LMB fingerling or two from a local (or online) fishery and I understand that they will start around 3” - 4” long and grow at a rate of roughly 1” a month for the first year or so with maximum size reaching roughly 2 feet in length. As for food, I’m ok with feeding them live minnows or goldfish when they get older (mainly for the excitement involved) but I will probably start them out on frozen blood worms or sections of live nightcrawlers at first. I’m not a fan of feeding fish pellets but I’m not opposed to it if it is necessary, anything that keeps the costs down at first would be greatly appreciated as the tank and filtration is going to cost me enough. Other than that, I mainly need advice on what kind of tank to build/buy and how to go about filtering the water. Since I’m new to the whole aquarium scene I’m unfamiliar with filtration devices, algae eating creatures and how often water needs to be changed. I’ve done some research on how to cycle your tank before introducing fish into it as well as how to adapt the fish to the new environment, but I’m still a little shaky on filtration and water changes. So anyway, if anyone has any advice for me or important info I may have overlooked, please feel free to chime in. My main goal is to create the most life like environment I can for a LMB and raise one or two healthy fish so all the help I can get will be greatly appreciated. If all goes well I want to be able to say that I raised a LMB from a fingerling to 14 pounds or more so that I can have an Ohio state record LMB in my basement!

Thanks in advance for the help and advice

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Well I would say get the biggest tank you can afford. With a 300g being the minimum. imo

As a fishermen you see how fast they move in the wild and there strength. Now think about what 1 full grown fish that size would be comfortable in. (tank wise) And for every bass you want to add past 1 add 1/3 to the tank volume.

For filtration

on a very large tank the ONLY way to go is a sump filter. (do lots of research) You can find lots of info on the net as well as the filtration section here. The pump that powers your filtration set up will need to be big enough to completly cycle the total gallonage of water thru the system a minimum of 5 times an hour. This is called turn over rate.

With 5 being a minimum, 5x turn over rate will not remove alot of debris frm the tank but (properly set-up) will remove the smaller stuff and handle the biological part of the filtration just fine. This means that when doing your weekly 50% or more water changes that you will have to manually remove the heavier debris with a gravel vacuum.

The higher maintenance needs of a slower flowing tank is why I allways set my large tanks up for a minimum of 10X turn over rates. This allows me to do bi or tri weekly bottom vacuums and have very little collected debris even at that time.

No matter what your filtering specifications are you will still need to do weekly 50% 0r more water changes. These water changes are to remove nitrates, dissolved organics, dissolved pollutants, and most importantly matabolites. Which inhabit growth and stunt a growing fish. (not stunt as in making a miniture fish, do research if needed) So with that being known make sure your plumbing set up makes this a easier task.

Feeding

I am glad to see that you will take the responsibilty to feed these predatory fish live foods. Like they would consume in nature. And not some very sad alternative like a pellet. I do the same with all my preds.

With that being said there are several responsibilties that you have to address when feeding live foods. And that is a good solid quarintine proceedure.

My quarintine proceedure is
I purchase new batches of fat head minnows every 2 weeks. My batch is 1 pound of fat head minnows 2-3" and that equals around 360-400 minnows. After bringing them home I acclimate them to my 1st holding tank of 75 gallons and treat them for parasites and fungus for 3-5 days or longer depending on how they look. This requires medicines purchased and and daily 90% water changes to remomve any parasites that may have been there and died.

After this they are moved to the 2nd stage which is the feeding tank. And i feed them a flake food that is very rich in nutrition. Because that nutrition is then passed on to my main fish.

So as you can see feeding live foods comes with alot of work. So preperation is everything. If you feeder system is poorly set up or half assed then you will soon hate feeders. And switch to a pellet like most fish keepers. I myself refuse to feed a predator a pellet so i do this gladly.


What to expect

The bass that i have kept in the past had a growth rate from 2" to 10-11" in 6-7 months. Which is very quickly. So be ready as the food size needs switch quickly. At 2" they will need smaller foods such as feeder guppies or platy's. And 1 bass at 2" can eat 100 feeder guppies in less than a week. So you may have to make repeated trips to get these. Also 100 feeder guppies in my area cost 12 bucks. So think about cost. Then once the fish grows to say 4-5 inches or earlier you can switch to fat head minnows or common name rosey reds.

A 10" bass can consume 10 3" minnows in a day with no problems. And most opf the time more. So if you are ABLE to take care and get a pound of minnows then those will disappear quickly.

I can type all day about the things that you will run into on this venture you are getting into. But just make sure you are truely devoted to keeping such a large predator for a few decades. Because buying yourself a new 5k four wheeler or dirt bike and going out and having fun for a few years will be alot less work and alot less money. Seriously long term cost is the most forgotten thing new fish keepers think about.

Good luck and i hope I helped

 

[nickag9]

Thank you very much for the advice and the input, hybridtheoryd16! I've found that real world experience is always the best way to learn and since I have none, your experience with predatory fish will help me immensely. I truly appreciate the information.

And I definitely understand the commitment, dedication and cost involved with keeping game fish as pets. I am fully prepared for the upfront expenses of my tank and filtration system, as well as the ongoing cost of food, chemicals and maintenance needed to keep my setup clean and safe. My fiancée and I have been talking about adding another pet to our household (we currently have a 2 year old pure bred, female Shih Tzu named Bella) and rather than buying another dog I convinced her that it would cost roughly the same (and be more meaningful to me), if I could setup an aquarium with some native freshwater fish. And I don’t know if you’ve ever owned a dog but I can’t believe what pure bred puppies sell for these days. Add in the cost of repeated visits to the vet for shots, the cost of flea and heartworm medicine and all of the food and boy will that pet bill add up. Either way she finally gave up on the idea of a second dog (after I explained to her that at least fish don’t need to be potty trained) and I was thrilled when she gave me the green light to do this!

Anyway, as for what size tank I’m going to use for my project, I am seriously considering building one myself. I think that in the end I’d like to have more than one fish in my tank (I’ll probably stick to one LMB at first, but eventually I’d like to add some crappie or perch down the road and maybe a channel catfish, who knows) so building a 300+ gallon tank makes the most sense. And since I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a large glass tank or a custom aquarium/stand combo my best bet might be to put my woodworking skills to the test and build one myself. That would allow me to build it to suit my basement and I can make it as big as I want to. It’s either that or I’ll have to continue to shop craigslist for a decent sized used setup. Either way, the more money I can save on the tank, the more I can spend on filtration, plumbing and upkeep!

For filtration I will do exactly what you suggested and research the hell out of sump filters. It sounds like I need to decide on tank size and finalize the location of the setup before I can start putting together my filter and plumbing. As for weekly water changes, I was thinking about installing water drain and fill valves since I will have both a cold water line and a drain within reach of the tank. Since I’m new to the large aquarium world I have no idea if that is common practice or if I’m crazy for even suggesting it. It just makes sense to me to have a drain line and a fill line built into the tank to help speed up the water change process. Any input on this would be extremely helpful as I have no idea if the tap water in my area would even be suitable for water changes…

As for feeding the LMB I like the idea of having a separate feeder minnow setup. I don’t know if I’m going to have room in the basement or the budget for multiple feeder tanks, but I will research this as well. While I was at Bass Pro Shops I talked to them about the live baitfish they feed their fish and I learned a lot about some of the semi-local fisheries that have certified disease free baitfish. I don’t know what those fish would cost but like I said, I have lots of research left to do. The same goes for how often to feed. According to the guys at Bass Pro, feeding LMB a dozen or so minnows three times a week is plenty. Either way I’ll continue to research.

Now to recap my objective and make this easier for anyone else who would like to read and add input, here is a rough outline of my plan:

Large Native Freshwater Aquarium

Fish: 1 Largemouth Bass, 2-3 Crappie (or Perch) and possibly a Channel Catfish

Tank: 300+ gallon custom built tank (unless I find a good deal on a used one)

Environment: natural medium gravel rock bottom, driftwood, fake plants and rocks

Filtration: Sump Filter with 10x per hour capacity (still need to decide on tank size and do extensive research for this)

Water Changes: 50% weekly (still need to look into plumbing and water supply for this)

Food: Live Minnows and goldfish for the LMB, smaller minnows for the Crappie and prepared food for the Channel Catfish (I will look into a separate tank for my feeder minnows, but again, lots of research will be done before I make any decisions)

Other than that, is there anything else I need to prepare for or that I may have overlooked? All help, advice and experience is welcome and appreciated. Thanks again!

 

[Destroyer551]

Seems like you got everything planned out well!
May I suggest building a 100 gallon pond for keeping the fathead minnows in? It's much more economical to quarintine and breed them in an outdoor pond, trust me, it's easy to! All you need is about 100$ worth of a QUALITY pond liner, some muscles for digging a 3 foot hole.

Some bog plants, and fish pellets and your good to go! I currently have this system for my 9 inched lmb. Works quite well. No filter needed either, just some good bog plants such as cattail, lillies, anacharis, and hornwort for filtration.

The minnows do the rest of the work, as long as you have many small crevices and caves, the minnows will breed very easily. Not to mention it's fun to watch! Just make sure you get HEALTHY minnows.

 

[nickag9]

Hmmm... I never thought of a small outdoor pond for breeding and raising feeder minnows. I have a perfect location in my backyard that I could use and it sounds like it could be very economical and much easier than setting up a second or third tank. However, my only concern would be the winter. I see that you are in Florida and while an outdoor pond may work for you year round, I feel up here in Ohio it would end up frozen for at least 1/4 of the year...

I appreciate the suggestion and will definitely keep that in mind when it comes time for me to make the food decisions. For now I'm trying to decide on tank size and where to put it in my basement!

 

[Gator]

Looks good but LMB and Perch aren't going to mix well, the LMB will eventually eat the perch and the crappie unless the LMB is well fed and the crappie are big enough so the LMB has no desire what so ever to even try to see if they will fit in its mouth (See pic below). Tank mates for predatory fish can be tricky.


Feeding:
Stay away from goldfish they are disease-ridden junk feeders with little nutritional value as 90% will tell you here. If you use live feeders you need to quarantine them period. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding them prepared foods like Market shrimp, freeze dried krill and yes even pellets. You can have a much healthier fish by feeding prepared food over live. If anything you can supplement you LMB's diet with live food once you get him switched to prepared foods and not make live his main diet, you'll save lots of money and headache in the long run.


Filtration:
Obviously the most important part of any aquarium but available bio media surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize is the key in filtration, you can have all the turnover you want but if you have to little bio media it doesn't do anything for you and there is no such thing as to much bio media. Turn over rate to a degree is important especially when it comes to keeping particulates suspended in the water long enough to get carried away and filtered out by your mechanical media but in a 300 gallon tank 10x turnover is going to turn your tank into a whirlpool for a fish like a LMB. I had a 3500 gph pump on my 600G and my fish were getting blown all over the place. 3-5 is more than adequate in a tank for a LMB especially when you plan on doing weekly 50% PWC. Just start off you PWC by cleaning your substrate first then drain off whatever remains to get a 50% water change.

Hope this helps out a little more, the most important thing as it seems you are already doing is research and asking questions before you dive in. Good luck and keep us posted and ask as many questions as needed.

 

[pbass lover]

Just wanted to throw in that if you can't find a hatchery source for bass and have to catch one, do not use bait that you may feed to the fish later on in it's aquarium life as mine will not accept worms and is actually scared of them now but other than that good luck, they're great fish.

 

[cichlid fiend]

Great idea and dam Im love with the LMB also!!!

Good luck!!!

~~~~~Fish more~~~~~~~~~~~~~stress less~~~~~

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

you could keep way more then 1 lmb in a 300 gal aquaruim for life. I would say the chance for them to get over 10 pounds is slim unless your get you bass form a good genetic stock. Other then that you looking closer to 7 or 8 pounds max size. With males max size around 5 or 6 pounds. You can keep many different fish with bass. The best choice which you already know is channel catfish. But jumbo bluegills and redears would make fine tank mates, Crappie as well, crappie are a very tall fish so a 12 incher would be fine, but a 16 even better. As long as there plenty of plants or hiding spots there shouldnt be much aggression.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Thank you very much for the advice and the input, hybridtheoryd16! I've found that real world experience is always the best way to learn and since I have none, your experience with predatory fish will help me immensely. I truly appreciate the information.

And I definitely understand the commitment, dedication and cost involved with keeping game fish as pets. I am fully prepared for the upfront expenses of my tank and filtration system, as well as the ongoing cost of food, chemicals and maintenance needed to keep my setup clean and safe. My fiancée and I have been talking about adding another pet to our household (we currently have a 2 year old pure bred, female Shih Tzu named Bella) and rather than buying another dog I convinced her that it would cost roughly the same (and be more meaningful to me), if I could setup an aquarium with some native freshwater fish. And I don’t know if you’ve ever owned a dog but I can’t believe what pure bred puppies sell for these days. Add in the cost of repeated visits to the vet for shots, the cost of flea and heartworm medicine and all of the food and boy will that pet bill add up. Either way she finally gave up on the idea of a second dog (after I explained to her that at least fish don’t need to be potty trained) and I was thrilled when she gave me the green light to do this!

Anyway, as for what size tank I’m going to use for my project, I am seriously considering building one myself. I think that in the end I’d like to have more than one fish in my tank (I’ll probably stick to one LMB at first, but eventually I’d like to add some crappie or perch down the road and maybe a channel catfish, who knows) so building a 300+ gallon tank makes the most sense. And since I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a large glass tank or a custom aquarium/stand combo my best bet might be to put my woodworking skills to the test and build one myself. That would allow me to build it to suit my basement and I can make it as big as I want to. It’s either that or I’ll have to continue to shop craigslist for a decent sized used setup. Either way, the more money I can save on the tank, the more I can spend on filtration, plumbing and upkeep!

For filtration I will do exactly what you suggested and research the hell out of sump filters. It sounds like I need to decide on tank size and finalize the location of the setup before I can start putting together my filter and plumbing. As for weekly water changes, I was thinking about installing water drain and fill valves since I will have both a cold water line and a drain within reach of the tank. Since I’m new to the large aquarium world I have no idea if that is common practice or if I’m crazy for even suggesting it. It just makes sense to me to have a drain line and a fill line built into the tank to help speed up the water change process. Any input on this would be extremely helpful as I have no idea if the tap water in my area would even be suitable for water changes…

As for feeding the LMB I like the idea of having a separate feeder minnow setup. I don’t know if I’m going to have room in the basement or the budget for multiple feeder tanks, but I will research this as well. While I was at Bass Pro Shops I talked to them about the live baitfish they feed their fish and I learned a lot about some of the semi-local fisheries that have certified disease free baitfish. I don’t know what those fish would cost but like I said, I have lots of research left to do. The same goes for how often to feed. According to the guys at Bass Pro, feeding LMB a dozen or so minnows three times a week is plenty. Either way I’ll continue to research.

Now to recap my objective and make this easier for anyone else who would like to read and add input, here is a rough outline of my plan:

Large Native Freshwater Aquarium

Fish: 1 Largemouth Bass, 2-3 Crappie (or Perch) and possibly a Channel Catfish

Tank: 300+ gallon custom built tank (unless I find a good deal on a used one)

Environment: natural medium gravel rock bottom, driftwood, fake plants and rocks

Filtration: Sump Filter with 10x per hour capacity (still need to decide on tank size and do extensive research for this)

Water Changes: 50% weekly (still need to look into plumbing and water supply for this)

Food: Live Minnows and goldfish for the LMB, smaller minnows for the Crappie and prepared food for the Channel Catfish (I will look into a separate tank for my feeder minnows, but again, lots of research will be done before I make any decisions)

Other than that, is there anything else I need to prepare for or that I may have overlooked? All help, advice and experience is welcome and appreciated. Thanks again!

Sounds like a plan.

I was going to add a example about dogs as well, but wasn't sure you were a dog person or not.

I have over $2500 in initial cost for my 2 doberman pinchers. After getting there ears and tails done and beginner training. And I myself could not build/set up a complete 300+ gallon tank for that price. I am thinking off the top of my head that my tanks cost me alot more than what my dogs cost me. The dogs get food and yearly vet visits and bathing materials. My tanks get many differnet foods, water conditioners, medicines, lots of tap water, and they consume alot of power as well. And I own smaller tanks (2x 125g,2x 75g,1x 30g, 1x 20g, 1x 10g, 1x 46g). But since you will not have to heat the bass tank this will make a huge difference in cost yearly.