Bass have minimal requirements for care in an aquarium. The biggest mistake people make is feeding them live gold fish, though it is fun to watch rosy reds, minnows and goldfish harbor parasites that are and can be lethal to your fish. They also cause a a type of poisoning to any animal that feeds on them from the amount of "Thiaminase" in their bodys. They need no heater unless it gets really cold where you are keeping them, but they it is better to keep them at temps below 80 degrees. I keep mine at room temp which is between 68 and 72 in summer and 76 is the highest in winter. The water should be of neutral ph, but they can survive in acidic waters, higher ph than neutral is not recomended. Always dechlorinate your tap water the slightest trace of chlorine will kill them. Feeding their voracious appetite is the fun and expensive part and can be tricky depending on the climate where you live. If they are caught at an early age they will readily accept pellets and stick food, they can eat any kind of tropical or goldfish pellets or sticks supplemented with other stufff for a healthy varied diet, I have always fed mine, cichlid sticks, crickets live or canned from the pet store not the bait shop, earth worms from the back yard in summer or from the bait shop, even walmart carrys worms in winter they make up a huge part of their diet, frozen feeder fish are better than live as the freezing kills any parasites, and as they get bigger thay will take almost any moving prey, from small frogs (not recomended) to cray fish shrimp & mice live or dead, the latter should not be fed often as they will tax the digetsive properties and may damage the liver if fed in large amounts and maker the water dirty fast. Filtration and airation are very important, you don not want to take a bass home and put it in a tank smaller than 30 gallons and even this is not recomended they can triple their growth in less than a year. The smallest tank I recomend is a 55 gallon and that is for 1 fish 2 will be pushing it but can be done. Always factor into consideration the output of your fish the nore you feed them the dirtier the water so adequate filtration is a must a 55 gallon should have filtration for a 100 gallon tank, you can achieve this with a really good eheim or fluval filter or with a few of the smaller hang on the back filters. ( i have one tank( 55gal) with 4 small filters on the back and 2 air stones and the water is always clean. any way good luck if you have any questions feel free.
In a normal set up with tank decor and plants, along with adequate hiding spots "cover" they will not eat a pleco, algae eaters are small silvery(silver is not a good color for tank mates) elongated fish that stays at about 2-3 inches, making them easy prey for a hungry bass. Pleco's on the other hand get pretty big, unless the bass is starved it shouldnt bother the pleco's. I would start with 2 fish of the same size or a pleco thats bigger than the bass.
I need to know everything sabout keeping a largemouth bass at home.
Like what water to use, what to feed it, how often, ect.
-any info you can add will help
-thank you
hey when starting with a bass aquaireum you want to start off with a small bass or if you use big bass it wont have much room to swim in but it all depends on the size of the tank for the water you could just take water from a lake or stream and for the feeding use live shiners these help them grow and they love them so much
mkwj32493- It's been 11 months; how did your project turn out???
I think a healthy water chemistry should be most important. Let your tank progress through the Nitrogen Cycle, but try to keep the nitrates below 40 ppm. Keep your phosphates under 10 ppm (don't overfeed). pH between 6.8 and 7.4.
Keep you temp above 62F. You bass will be pretty boring below 62. It's immune system will get lazy too.
A varied diet is healthy too. Here is a list of stuff I've seen the Largemouth eat at Cabela's:
Golden shiners, nightcrawlers, mealworms, bullfrogs, crayfish, a green crab, sandworms, a mouse, flies, bullheads, sunfish, crappie, perch, trout, other bass, frozen mullet, and a mudpuppy salamander.
The only thing they've refused, so far, is pellet food. However, I believe almost any fish will make the transition to pellets once it figures out that it is actually food. Usually that light bulb goes on in their head when they are looking at starvation. High-quality food makes the choice easier. I also think younger fish make the choice faster than adults.
I think a healthy water chemistry should be most important. Let your tank progress through the Nitrogen Cycle, but try to keep the nitrates below 40 ppm. Keep your phosphates under 10 ppm (don't overfeed). pH between 6.8 and 7.4.
Keep you temp above 62F. You bass will be pretty boring below 62. It's immune system will get lazy too.
A varied diet is healthy too. Here is a list of stuff I've seen the Largemouth eat at Cabela's:
Golden shiners, nightcrawlers, mealworms, bullfrogs, crayfish, a green crab, sandworms, a mouse, flies, bullheads, sunfish, crappie, perch, trout, other bass, frozen mullet, and a mudpuppy salamander.
The only thing they've refused, so far, is pellet food. However, I believe almost any fish will make the transition to pellets once it figures out that it is actually food. Usually that light bulb goes on in their head when they are looking at starvation. High-quality food makes the choice easier. I also think younger fish make the choice faster than adults.
