Large Mouth Bass

[Liz05]

We caught a large mouth bass in a creek around here, and he's just a baby- around 1.5 inches. He won't eat ANYthing besides other fish. I'd like to be able to keep other fish with him, so I've been trying to get him to eat something besides his tankmates. I've tried flakes, freeze dried shrimp, freeze dried bloodworms, that gel waterfleas stuff, small cichlid food, tubifex worms, goldfish pellets, whole mealworms, chopped up mealworms, earthworms, pillbugs, EVERYthing. Does anyone else have any good ideas on anything I could try? He's got a pretty big mouth, so it doesnt necessarily have to be something small. I need something that floats, and preferably moves... because it seems that if it doesn't move, he's not interested. And once it sinks, well, you might as well forget it.

 

[cometcattle]

Bass eat fish. You should release him back where you caught him.

I believe Large Mouth bass require 500 g each. Keeping him in a small tank will stunt his growth.

 

[balloon molly]

have you tried something like frozen feeders or something like that it ias a lil pole with a frozen whatumightcallit on the end.it is like fishing in your ouw tank.try that

 

[Liz05]

I don't intend to keep him forever, he is just a really neat fish. Anyway for now, he seems to be growing JUST fine, and rather quickly.

 

[cometcattle]

Was he in the tank in your sig? If so, he'll love the guppys.

 

[Liz05]

No all I have in his tank is stuff I caught with him. Baby crayfish, minnows and bottom feeders of some sort; I had some tadpoles but they grew into frogs and I put them back where I found them. It's an interesting tank.

 

[cometcattle]

You could try very small leeches. ALL game fish eat small leeches.

That's my secret weapon for jumbo black crappie.

 

[Liz05]

Where can I get those?

 

[cometcattle]

Your best bet would be a bait shop.

LOL, I've seen them in live-bait vending machines also, but bait shop is your best bet.

 

[nmarc3627]

the bass will never do good in a tank, all it is is animal cruelty

 

[Liz05]

As I said nmarc, I'm not keeping him in there forever.

 

[The-Wolf]

the bass will never do good in a tank, all it is is animal cruelty

aggreed

 

[balloon molly]

try earth worms.i think the leeches will attack the bass.ive caught bluegill and bass with little leeches on them.very hard to take off.minnows will do for now.do you have a pic of him.how big tank do you have him in???
earth worms and minnows are your best bet until he gets biggerthen you could go with night crawlers and small i mean really small bluegills.good luck with your bass.they are hard fighters on the line.

the bass will never do good in a tank, all it is is animal cruelty

not really.if you have enough space for him.actually he might lead a better lifeliving in a aquarium for a while.no predators, no fishing pressure,lots of food.what size do you plan on releasing him.ive kept bass and channel catfish before.i used to have them in my outdoor pond.the biggest i would have to say the oldest fish was about 19 pounds .i raised them from 2 inches to 29 inches need less to say they are in a breeding program now .i still miss them ah well now it is raising mollies now

 

[Liz05]

I tried one earth worm, but he didn't seem too interested. One of the minnows ended up eating it. I don't have a pic of him, unfortunately, no digital camera. He's just in a ten gallon right now, but if I keep him that long, I'm gonna put him in my 30 gallon. Or do you think he'd get along with small cichlids? Because thats what my next tank is going to be.

 

[balloon molly]

it would have to be bigger that fire mouths or bigger than his mouth.then as long as he isnt picked on he will be fine unless there is a feeding problem with him and the cichlids