Anyone keep a bass as a pet in a home aquarium?

[Champ2005]

My youngest loves bass fishing, well fishing in general, and wants to keep a largemouth as a pet. I've read a bit about it, but have no experience with keeping any fish as a pet. Anyone?

[JerryT]

We have had large mouth and small mouth ... they both eat like horses and killed anything else that was in the tank .. the smallies at times would just go wild and start slamming the glass so I let them go around 1.5 pounds because I figured they break the tank .. they crap a lot too !

Yellow perch were much easier to keep and cooler looking in the water when they fin up

[jbassman87]

I put one in a tank once. Fed it guppies until it was too big. Let it go in the pond I caught him in. If he already has fish in the tank DON'T DO IT. The bass will eat everything in sight.

[huskyjerk]

You are going to need a very large aquarium to keep an adult bass comfortably. You're typical 55 gallon aquarium in not going to cut it. Think 100 gallons. Plus you will need a powerful filter. I don't think keeping a bass with no fish-keeping experience is a great idea...

[Marinadan]

It is illegal in Indiana to keep game fish in a home aquarium. You can kill and
eat them but not have them as pets.

[Champ2005]

He only has frog tanks now...fire bellied toads and Australian tree frogs, but now he wants a bass..lol. I told him I didn't think it was even legal, but he asked me to check with the experts on BBC... He's only 9, so it's OK for him to think you guys know what you're talking about. Would a 200 gallon be big enough for a couple bass?

[Tidewater Bass]

Kept some small 3-4 inch sunfish in a 30 gallon tank for a while. Ended up letting them go a few months later when the kids lost interest in them. The fish didn't seem to mind being in the tank at all. Haven't tried any bass but see no reason you couldn't keep some small ones for a while. It would be cool watching them ambush crayfish and minnows.

[pa.X19]

All I know is make sure its a legal size.
A long time ago me and my friend were shore fishing a local river for smallmouth and he was keeping small ones in a bucket for his aquarium I told him not to but he didn't listen. Sure enough a game warden came rustling through the woods and fined him for 3 illegal fish.

[Champ2005]

OK, well that shoots that idea out of the water (pun intended).

It is illegal in Indiana to keep game fish in a home aquarium. You can kill and
eat them but not have them as pets.

[pa.X19]

Get him an Oscar there pretty cool fish and actually have a bit of a personality.

[Rider99XX]

Get him an Oscar there pretty cool fish and actually have a bit of a personality.

+1

[Champ2005]

Maybe I'll show him an Oscar and see what he says. He was kind of set on catching his next pet...

[Rider99XX]

I did have 11 baby painted turtles in a 20 gal. aquarium and that was very entertaining. Kept them for about 6 months then released them. Low maintenance and they love to eat earth worms.

[railey]

I had a bass and a bream in a tank for years. Used to feed them minnows so you need a good filter to keep the water somewhat clear.

[jb1970]

BamaBass on YouTube does videos every week on his 2 bass and 1 bluegill he has in his 300 gallon aquarium...

[dstep0]

I've had a few largemouth, smallmouth, bluegill and even a rainbow trout at one time or another (all separate times and were caught and immediately taken home.) The key is get the fish small and have a powerful filter. The smallest tank I have used was a 30gal long for a 5 inch bass. It was adequate but preferred them in the 55 gal. You can have fun with it and get some natural logs, rocks, gravel from the fish's natural environment so they feel at home. Your son will have a lot of fun "building" the tank's environment. I have fed them everything from minnows to crawdads. I will say that the biggest no-no I found was digging up worms from the yard to feed them. Worked fine for a while but eventually brought in a disease carrying worm and it spread to the fish and made him extremely sick, I had to put him out of his misery.
Feeding them live food from the bait shops is a lot of fun as you get to watch them chase minnows and craws but can be expensive so as soon as I get them, I begin trying to get them to eat freeze dried jumbo krill. At first they won't want it but when they get hungry enough they will try it and actually grow to really like it!
Bass are a lot of fun to have in a tank. You and your son can really learn a lot from watching how they use the cover in the tank and ambush prey.
We even would catch really big crawdads and put them in the tank as long as they were big enough the fish in there couldn't eat them. It was really fun to watch them interact. You can also watch them catch minnows in their pinchers. As a bonus the crawdads will eat a lot of the fish's poop and any dead food that the bass doesn't want. They just generally keep the tank cleaner.

Key points:
-55 gal tank at minimum
-Extra filtration (double recommended for tank size) this also provides some "current"
-Get an aeration stone
-Natural cover from the environment they came from
-Dark natural background on back tank glass for the fish's comfort since they feel hidden in the dark (those poster type you tape to the back)
-Do not use the tank light. It's too bright for them. Keep the light off and they will stay more comfortable and relaxed. Turning the light on puts them in a panic.
-Get them started on freeze dried krill early to save a lot of money

[dstep0]

If you have any questions along the way, feel free to PM me.

[Champ2005]

@dstep0: That is great information. @jb1970 thanks for the bamabass referral, I'm addicted already!

[Black Haze]

I know one thing, dont put a bluegill in with other aquatic fish....that thing ate around $100 in a 24hr period

[Ryan]

I had a biology teacher in high school who had a game fish tank and he had to get a permit from the state. With out it, it would have been illegal.