Keeping a bass as a pet? 2024

Big_Bass_Rock reply :

I was just watching some videos on youtube of people feeding thier pet bass and I was thinking it would be pretty interesting to raise one.

How big of a tank would one need and what would be the biggest practical size of a bass to keep? I'm thinking around 12 or 14 inches.

Any thoughts?

My friend put a little 5 inch catfish he caught into his fishtank and it kept attacking his goldfish.

Maxximus Redneckus reply :

Might want to check with your local laws about having gamefish as pets not that they do home searches BUT ya never no who will tell on ya without thinking and the gov pays ppl 80 tho a yr to inforce this law LOL

johnbr19792003 reply :

I would try something small 8 inch or so. Also you should use water from the pond or lake the bass was caught . I think tap water eventually kills em.

Big_Bass_Rock reply :

Where can I find those types of regulations? I have the booklet that tells the minimum sizes and limits and all that but I didn't see anything in there about keeping game fish alive.

luckyinkentucky reply :

You'll need to contact your state wildlife resource agency. Here in Kentucky it's the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. In other words ... the same people you have your fishing & hunting license through. Just out of curiosity why would you want one? Seems to me it would be an expensive 'pet' to say the least. Eventually you'd need a 100 + gallon tank to keep it in, and that's not mentioning the food you'd have to buy to keep it alive.

You'd be doing the Bass a favor by leaving them in the River or Lake. You couldn't possibly give him all he has out in his natural habitat.

I am a Wildlife Biologist and I know what it takes to raise a wild animal or fish in captivity. You'd be better off with the channel cats or whatever they sell at Pets Mart. When you finally did release the Bass back into the wild, assuming it didn't die in captivity, it will not know how to fend for itself, and will die fairly quickly.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

It's good for you to come and ask BEFORE taking one home.

IMO-(raised lots of different fish in tanks, including bass) Not a good idea.

a bass is not a good tank fish if you want to be ethical about it. Growth rates, food requirements, disease and the fact that it is illegal to release it back to the wild after captivity are all arguments against this.

To do it right you

A. will go broke feeding it.

B. will have a very cloudy tank if you are feeding it properly

C. For a 12-15in bass, you'll need about a 1000 gallon tank. (min)

This is if you do it ethically

Sure, you can starve and stunt it but do you really want to do that?

dave reply :

Thank you LBH for saying the right thing and making people think. It would be like keeping a squirrel in a hampster cage. It can be done but, is that what is best for the animal?

MALTESE FALCON reply :

Very good post Russ.

Falcon

guest reply :

Back in the day I caught a bass just under 7 lbs.

Took it home and put it in the bathtub.

Kids loved it.

Wife had a different reaction.

Wife wins.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Another point is that folks have it in their mind that having a bass in a tank will allow them to study the bass and it's behaviors.

A bass taken from the wild and placed in an extremely limited environment will not accurately reflect the daily behaviors of one in the wild.

Think of the lion in the zoo, by watching him are you really learning about the behaviors of one in the wild? Not even close. I've never seen a National Geographic show where the lions pace back and forth in a 12 foot square out on the plains.

guest reply :

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Another point is that folks have it in their mind that having a bass in a tank will allow them to study the bass and it's behaviors.
A bass taken from the wild and placed in an extremely limited environment will not accurately reflect the daily behaviors of one in the wild.

Think of the lion in the zoo, by watching him are you really learning about the behaviors of one in the wild? Not even close. I've never seen a National Geographic show where the lions pace back and forth in a 12 foot square out on the plains.

Does the same hold true for observing the elusive UPS driver?

I haven't seen mine in weeks

luckyinkentucky reply :

To put it a little more into perspective for you .....

It would be like having a full grown Great Dane with a 4' chain around it's neck in your back yard, and you kept him there 24/7. You could feed him all he wanted to eat, and even clean up his mess, but in the end he wouldn't have the exercise and diversity he needed to stay healthy.

Crestliner2008 reply :

I agree with all of the above! Years ago, when my son was very young, he caught a 2" bluegil in a paper cup. We put in our freshwater aquarium. BIG mistake! It ate or destroyed almost all of my expensive fish!

guest reply :

I'm surprised at all the negative thoughts about keeping pet bass. I've kept both largemouth and smallmouth as pets and they are both interesting and enjoyable. I know several others who will tell you the same thing.

There is absolutely no ethical difference between keeping typical "aquarium fish" and keeping bass. Many fish (and MOST saltwater fish) sold in pet stores were taken out of the wild, and some of them get bigger than bass of any species. I know this first hand, I worked in an exotic pet store for several years and have cared for and sold many of them. Bass will eat a great variety of foods that are easy to find or catch (it doesn't have to be live) and they tolerate fluctuations in temperature better than most any tropical fish.

Fish are not animals that need excercise or a tremendous amount of room to do well. They are creatures of habit, not recreation. If a bass in the wild could meet all of his requirements as far as reproduction, food, safety from predators, and temperature in an area the size of a bath tub, he would stay there. The only reason bass ever move anywhere is for one of those reasons, not for fun or excercise.

That said, I won't condone keeping a bass as a pet if it's against the law in your state. If you do decide to keep one for a while please don't release it back into a public waterway. Let it go in a private pond or eat it.

bass109 reply :

i would never keep a bass as a pet

guest reply :

Heres mine >>>>>>>>OH OH Oppss!!!!!!! Sorry misunderstood the post fellas

bass109 reply :

why keep a wild animal as a pet?

Big_Bass_Rock reply :

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why keep a wild animal as a pet?

I don't know, but alot of the animals sold in pet stores are wild animals.

I was thinking the same thing as btlva, I don't see any difference in keeping a bass than in keeping a catfish or any of the tropical fish people keep, or even parrots for that matter.

guest reply :

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why keep a wild animal as a pet?

Because they can be so much fun

bass109 reply :

into the old gals muddy i wont tell

guest reply :

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into the old gals muddy i wont tell

What did ya expect Im 56, teenagers dont hold a candle to a beautiful woman in her 50's not even close 8-)

bass109 reply :

i'm cool with that 8-)

guest reply :

lol muddy you never run out do you? ;D I wouldn't mind keeping that one either

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

A house tank simulates a summer setting for a bass. 72 degrees, avg.

In these temps, a bass will eat 2/3rds of it's body weight per day. This makes for one messy, cloudy tank and an empty wallet.

I'm not saying it can't be done but a bass is just a bad choice of specie. If you want a big fish, try an Oscar or Pacu.

MyKeyBe reply :

I'll second the vote for an oscar. I love mine and he acts very "bassy". 30 gallon min. for a single oscar, 55 would be better though.

.dsaavedra. reply :

i share the same views as btlva on this one. i think its no more unethical to keep a bass than it is to keep an aquarium fish. but i can see how it could get pretty expensive though....

guest reply :

You know if you're good enough, you could raise it to be world record size, and secretly put it in the lake with a tracking device and then track it down again, catch it, remove the tracking device, and become famous. You can thank people like Brent for the lure you used, then he'll get even more publcity, and then he can get more molds for newer plastics. Think of it this way. It benefits all of us. Just make sure you get rid of any possible evidence that could be used against you.

guest reply :

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into the old gals muddy i wont tell

What did ya expect Im 56, teenagers dont hold a candle to a beautiful woman in her 50's not even close 8-)

Oh, I dunno Mudster.

Now that she's 21 she can hold my candle anytime.............

TheBestIKnowOf reply :

I had a largemouth for a couple of weeks in my 75 gallon tank. He was maybe 8" at most, but he ate a bunch and destroyed everything. He also would only eat live stuff like baitfish or worms. He wouldn't even think about eating the freeze dried blood worms that I tried to feed him. I let him go at the same pond that I caught him.

Bass Smacker reply :

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A house tank simulates a summer setting for a bass. 72 degrees, avg.
In these temps, a bass will eat 2/3rds of it's body weight per day. This makes for one messy, cloudy tank and an empty wallet.

I'm not saying it can't be done but a bass is just a bad choice of specie. If you want a big fish, try an Oscar or Pacu.

Stay away from Pacu's I have one 2" when i first got it now 12 years later (yes 12 years) 18"-20" and around 5-8 lb and growing . He was fun at first. but now its like having another kid to feed. stick with oscer there cool fish to raise one of the few fish that you can train to do tricks and are very awar of you out side of the tank...

Tucson reply :

They aren't exactly soft and cuddly are they.

F15HGuy reply :

Sounds like it would be easier to just raise up a few shiners.

Pond Hopper reply :

It is just a fish, if you can feed it enough and have enough room then go for it. The reason you are getting bad responses is you are asking on a bass board...like said before it is just another fish. Although I do agree that you should not release it later.

Big_Bass_Rock reply :

Yeah releasing it later is illegal. You're not supposed to tansfer live fish between bodies of water.

I still think it would be able to survive in the wild after being raised in a tank.

If I ever did get one and it got too big I'd just eat it.

jaystraw reply :

I have dogs as pets. Fish are for catching and releasing back into the wild IMHO.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

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Yeah releasing it later is illegal. You're not supposed to tansfer live fish between bodies of water.
I still think it would be able to survive in the wild after being raised in a tank.

It is not about whether or not it will survive, it is about parasite and disease transmission. Tanks and ponds are very different.

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The reason you are getting bad responses is you are asking on a bass board...like said before it is just another fish.

*Nope, has nothing to do with being a bass board, plain and simple, some fish are more conducive to tank life than others. Due to the FOOD REQUIREMENTS of a bass, the is not one of them. If you own a bass in a tank under 1000 gallons and it is clean,....you are not feeding it properly. Even the smallest BPS tank is almost 10k gallons and the filter systems on them can take up a small room on their own.

**Permits are also required to keep a game fish in captivity.

It's not just another fish. It is an eating machine.

Davis reply :

I agree. Just go with an oscar. Seriously they are very very lively and they actually will welcome you when you come near the tank. Mine used to jump out of the water and grab shrimp out my my fingers. He died a couple years later though when I went away. Electric went off in my house and it messed my whole system up. Got a disease and died. :'(

55 gallon minimum for one oscar though. Do not try two unless you have a 100 gallon tank. They will beat up on each other and stress will come into play.

guest reply :

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It's not just another fish. It is an eating machine.

No more so than Oscars.

Bass are easy to care for, are less messy than Oscars or Pacus, and interesting to watch. In fact due to their lethargic nature, bass are more suitable for Aquarium life than most other predator fish. They don't eat 2/3 of their body weight per day at any temperature (more like 4-5% at optimal temps), and will readily eat dead fish and freeze-dried crickets. It is a blast to hold a piece of food in your fingers and watch a bass come up and suck it down. I have even got them to eat sandwich meat with a little convincing wiggling.

I've also kept Chain Pickerel and Sunfish as pets and they were alot of fun as well, especially the Pickerel. Like LBH said before, you aren't gonna learn much about their natural behavior by keepin em in a tank. But they do make cool pets.

Jake. reply :

I have a little 4 inch young of the year bass as a pet. He eats one 3 inch minnow everyday. He gets so fat he can hardly swim. I also love putting little house flies in his tank. They buzz around on top of the water until, bam! they are gone in a swirl of water. I do have to clean his tank often, but I feel it is worth it. I plan to release him into our creek when he gets too big.

mayassa reply :

I have a 4000 gal Koi pond my wife wants to through one bass in I keep telling her it would eat my Koi, she says they are to Big to eat. I told her no way and no turtles either. I don't think having a bass in in an aquarium is good or the fish to small, that would be like keeping a person in a closet with a litter box, tossing in a sandwich once in awhile.

Tpayneful reply :

Seventeen years ago when I was on Summer break from college my neice caught an 8 inch LMB. I took it home and put it in my 30 gallon aquarium. I had to put a brick in the center to give him a cover item to relate to. He wouldn't eat fish food pellets. I dumped a half dozen large minnows in the tank and he immediately killed all of the minnows but didn't eat a one. I ultimately ended up hand feeding him a half dozen large minnows at a time 2 to 3 times a week. He would take the wiggling minnow from my fingers. The fish grew quite a bit over that summer. He would rest with his belly on the bottom of the tank. When I came home he would come out from behind the brick and swim up to the front of the tank to see me. I had to clean the tank often but he survived. At the end of the summer I put him back into the private pond that he was caught in. Transplanting game fish into private ponds is not recommended but not illegal in the state of Virginia.

I just wanted to publish my experience but I don't plan on doing it again.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

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It's not just another fish. It is an eating machine.

No more so than Oscars.

Bass are easy to care for, are less messy than Oscars or Pacus, and interesting to watch. In fact due to their lethargic nature, bass are more suitable for Aquarium life than most other predator fish. They don't eat 2/3 of their body weight per day at any temperature (more like 4-5% at optimal temps), and will readily eat dead fish and freeze-dried crickets. It is a blast to hold a piece of food in your fingers and watch a bass come up and suck it down. I have even got them to eat sandwich meat with a little convincing wiggling.

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I have a little 4 inch young of the year bass as a pet. He eats one 3 inch minnow everyday. He gets so fat he can hardly swim. I also love putting little house flies in his tank. They buzz around on top of the water until, bam! they are gone in a swirl of water. I do have to clean his tank often, but I feel it is worth it. I plan to release him into our creek when he gets too big.

I'm going to back out of this one as it will surely get ugly. All I ask is if you are even considering keeping a bass in a tank,please do your research first. This includes your local laws regarding the keeping and releasing of game fish. I'm out.

armesjr reply :

I know a kid that has a bass in a huge fish tank. It is pretty fun to watch him eat. You drop a goldfish in there, and it literally lasts less than a second. As soon as it hits the water it is gone.

guest reply :

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All I ask is if you are even considering keeping a bass in a tank,please do your research first. This includes your local laws regarding the keeping and releasing of game fish. I'm out.

That I definitely agree with!

mayassa reply :

I don't think it should get ugly I just wouldn't do it myself unless I didn't have Koi in my pond.

Jimzee reply :

WOW!!! I was actually thinking of getting a large tank and catching a small bass and a few bluegills and keeping them over the winter. I have learned a few things I didn't know from some of the responses on this thread. I was a biology major in college and we kept one in a 55 gal. aquarium in the biology lab and fed it twice a day, The tank did get real dirty and had to be cleaned once a week. I think I have changed my mind on keeping a bass in captivity now. Thanks!!!

slomoe reply :

bass=nasty tank.

eat, poop, eat, poop, eat, poop, eat, poop, eat, poop.

If you have the money for a big tank, high end filter, and enough time to clean your setup, then go for it. Otherwise i'd leave um for catchin.

Fish Chris reply :

I've kept just about every freshwater North American sportfish (including Spotted Gar, Chain Pickeral, and yes Bass), along with all kinds of tropical freshwater, and saltwater fish.... even an Octopus, a Stingray, Mudskippers, you name it ! If I haven't kept them at my own house, I've kept them in one of the tropical fish stores, or the fish farm that I worked at.

Bass make as good a pet, as any Oscar, Pacu, Koi, whatever. As far as fish go, Bass have tons of personality. They can be trained to eat just about anything. Mine ate strips of 98% fat free ham..... which was easy to aquire, and to store, but it was fun to feed him feeder goldfish, crawdads, worms, etc as well.

With proper tank cleaning techniques, the right equipment, and a tank which is properly balanced, keeping a bass should be fun, easy, and educational. The biggest problem I saw, over and over, when working in fish stores, was with people who didn't undersatand how 'cycling' a tank worked, and who therefore tried to just keep cleaning and cleaning to "force the water to be clear" causing themselves nothing but problems until they finally gave up.

This is true for any fish, but even more so with large fish, that eat a lot, and put off a lot of waste.

As for the legalities, let me put it this way, of course I can't recommend that you go transport a live gamefish to your house, and keep it as a pet...... However, I would bet that 95% of the F&G Biologists, and whole bunch of the other F&G workers, including Wardens, {and basically just about anyone else who has been into fish as much as I have, for their entire lives} have kept a bass or Bluegill as a pet themselves, at some point when growing up.

I agree with any of you who said, "A bass is just a fish" ......albeit, a very cool fish, which makes a great sport for one guy, a great dinner for the next, and a great pet for yet another :-)

Just my .09 cents,

Fish

PS, I wouldn't release a "sick fish" back into a lake..... But then I almost never had sick fish.

Big_Bass_Rock reply :

Thanks for sharing your experience Fish Chris.

Also a side note about transporting game fish: I looked over the regulations again and it appears to be illegal to transport ANY live fish from the water of capture. I was unaware of this, and have broken this many times. I myself, everyone I fish with and most people I've seen on the water fishing that keep some fish to eat don't kill the fish before leaving. If its in a bucket or on a stringer and its usually still alive thats how we take it home.

I really don't know anything about cleaning an aquarium as I've never had one so if I ever did get a bass in a tank I'd have to find out about that, but I was just curious for now.

Davis reply :

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I really don't know anything about cleaning an aquarium as I've never had one so if I ever did get a bass in a tank I'd have to find out about that, but I was just curious for now.

Than I wouldn't even think about keeping a bass until you have kept smaller fish like guppies or tetras.

There is a TON of work involved to get the community up and running. Just like FishChris said. The tank needs to be cycled. Tank needs to be vacuumed once a week with about a 1/3 of the water emptied out. Fish need to be monitored for diseases.....filters need to be replaced and cleaned....temps need to be fairly stable.....water movement needs to be there for some species. It's not like putting a gold fish in a bowl and thats that. Fish tanks are a TON of work with just small tropical species. Even just keeping my Oscar in the 55 gallon was a big chore with keeping the water clean and fresh for him. I had a couple big filters going just for him. Do your research on fish keeping community forums. There great for learning. Than make your decision.

The cost alone for a starting up a tank for a fish the size of a bass is going to be over a thousand dollars easily. Tank size....filter systems....filters......gravel......wood......plants.....water stabilizers.....pumps....food....etc.

I mean just BUYING THE EMPTY TANK will run you close to a grand.

bpm2000 reply :

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With proper tank cleaning techniques, the right equipment, and a tank which is properly balanced, keeping a bass should be fun, easy, and educational. The biggest problem I saw, over and over, when working in fish stores, was with people who didn't undersatand how 'cycling' a tank worked, and who therefore tried to just keep cleaning and cleaning to "force the water to be clear" causing themselves nothing but problems until they finally gave up.

This is true for any fish, but even more so with large fish, that eat a lot, and put off a lot of waste.

Add over-stocking/undersizing to that list and you have 99% of the people who walk into a LFS.

Del from philly reply :

interesting topic

Bassnajr reply :

Hi,

Buy a gerbil, (try to get a grey/ brown/white color combo). Next get a fish tank ad paint the back blue like, um, water color. Cut out some paper or cardboard fins and gills and tape or velcro them on the gerbil. (It will look lke a small bass and be cheaper to feed and take care of lhough the mouth will look more like a smallmouth!!) Then, um,........ aw.... forget it! Just get a gold fish. No one would believe it was a fish any way!!!!! (LOL) Just teasing dude!!! Catch them bass, take a picture, and throw em back!!!!

bassinajr

Tin reply :

Its one of those things you will regret, trust me! My step dad had a big koi poind made in our front yard about 5 years ago and started with a few koi. I started putting tons of shiners in and before you knew it if I had to guess there was about hundred or so shiners in there. So I ended up putting two small 10 inch bass in there and a few small 5 inch brook trout. In less than a month and a half there were no shiners left. Two days later the trout were gone, then the bass died. It is just crazy how they can eat. You will go broke, the tank will be absolutley nasty, and its just a bad idea.

Fish Chris reply :

when I worked in the tropical fish stores, we had SOOOO many people who had exactly the same kind of totally negative experiences you mentioned, with any, and every type of fish they tried to keep. They put in WAY more time and effort than they really had to, and still had nothing but problems, and it was ALL because they had no clue what they were doing, and / or they didn't wan't to spend the money needed for proper equipment, and / or they didn't know how to follow instructions.

Aquariums are like trigonometry..... They are easy, if you know how. They are next to impossible if you don't. A successful aquarium doesn't happen by accident, and rarely by luck of the draw.

Again, bass are no different (well, in some cases, easier) than other large aquarium fish.

Peace,

Fish

RoLo reply :

With the exception of a large, professionally maintained aquarium (i.e. Bass Pro Shops), placing wild fish in a small home fish-tank

is essentially self-serving. It places a hardship on both the caregiver as well as the captive who is living in an unnatural situation.

There is a halfway house however, that I believe is a more acceptable way to keep "pet bass" (in fact, I plead guilty).

In 1992 I had a home built on a 10-acre wooded tract in Rico, Georgia (greenbelt of Fulton Co.). For a small fee,

the bulldozer operator dug-out a tiny landlocked pond measuring about 40-ft long by 20-ft wide with a maximum depth of 3 ft.

The pond iced-up every winter, but amazingly a mere 35" of water was enough to sustain the bass through the winter months.

We stocked our tiny pond with bass that my wife & I had caught at local farm ponds (six in all).

They lived in our pond for several years and were a pure joy, and they fascinated everyone who came to our house.

On the downside, the bass lost their fear of man, and would follow anyone who walked around the perimeter of the pond.

I can honestly say that I learned a lot from those bass, for example their love for frogs, but they're disdain for toads and snakes,

which they invariably whacked but later ejected. Most amazing to me was their remarkable adaptability and aggression.

Let Me Bore You With A Little Story

For the most part, the pond sustained all the bass without our intervention, It was 50% cloaked with duckweed on top with

pickerelweed and water lilies along the shoreline. The pond was lousy with food year-round, cycling between minnows,

tadpoles, dragonflies, frogs, newts, etc. Strictly for our own enjoyment, I would occasionally feed the bass store-bought minnows.

The Fairburn sport shop would place them in a clear plastic-bag filled with oxygen. One-by-one, I would flip a minnow to the bass

and watch the action. I rested the clear plastic bag in about 6" of water and steadied it with my one hand, when "suddenly"

I was startled by a LOUD splash. Our largest pet bass "Walloped" my hand and the plastic bag, which busted the bag

and freed about two dozen minnows, and this triggered a feeding frenzy that was over in less than a minute.

The little rascal actually drew blood from my hand, so I suppose that was my most intimate moment with a largemouth bass

Roger

Fish Chris reply :

You said > It places a hardship on both the caregiver as well as the captive who is living in an unnatural situation <

Hmmmm. I guess the same could be said for just about any aquarium fish, as nearly all of them were born in tropical fish farm ponds, then sold to pet stores, to eventually end up in an aquarium. But personally speaking, I wouldn't say that aquariums are such an entirely bad thing. They can be very educational, and fun. I do believe however, that whatever pets a person keeps, they should always be given the best care the keeper can provide. If you wanted to call that care "a hardship" for the keeper, so be it. It would then be up to the keeper to decide if the benefits outweighed the hardships.

Loved your story by the way :-) My bass nipped me several times while hand feeding him. He just never could get the "EASY" command :-) Don't remember if it drew any blood though.

Peace,

Fish

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

FC- Your opinion is highly respected here, especially by me. With that said, I see the main difference between fish from a pet sstore (like my Oscar) versus a bass harvested from local water is that with the Oscar, the damage is already done. The fish was harvested from some S. American river (Assuming it wasn't a farm fish) and sent to a pet store.

My "adoption" of this fish, although I am supporting the harvesters with my $$, is my way of making sure that at least 1 of the "already harvested" fish has as decent of a life as he can now that the damage is done.

My point is that there are plenty of fish that have already been harvested (or raised if a farm fish) to fill our tanks. Taking ANOTHER fish out of the wild just doubles the damage and is not necessary.

Cool, no doubt, but an Oscar is just as cool without adding to the fish harvesting that has already been done.

ps- How'd you do yesterday,...? Been monitoring the "outings" section in anticipation

Nevermind, found it,lol

bpm2000 reply :

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My "adoption" of this fish, although I am supporting the harvesters with my $$, is my way of making sure that at least 1 of the "already harvested" fish has as decent of a life as he can now that the damage is done.

You already prefaced the point with the fact that you are supporting this "harvesting" via your $$'s. I understand your intent in saying you are providing the fish with a life, but that one fish that doesn't get bought at the store is one less reason for them to harvest them wild in the first place.

Like when I used to keep reef tanks, I made sure to only buy propagated corals, and not wild harvested. The same can be applied to tropicals - buy fish bred in captivity. Not only are you circumventing the harvest process, but the captive-bred fish are more suited towards aquarium life as the generations go. I understand there are some fish that can't be bred in captivity, but thats another can'o.

All IMHO of course.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Good point and point taken.

I wasn't aware that you can separate (once in the store) which fish are farm raised and which aren't. Is there a way other than hoping the salesman is educated and has the integrity to not just tell you what you want to hear?

SPEEDBEAD. reply :

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I'm going to back out of this one as it will surely get ugly. All I ask is if you are even considering keeping a bass in a tank,please do your research first. This includes your local laws regarding the keeping and releasing of game fish. I'm out.

Just can't resist, can ya? LOL

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

;D ;D ;D

Glenn? That you?

bpm2000 reply :

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Good point and point taken.
I wasn't aware that you can separate (once in the store) which fish are farm raised and which aren't. Is there a way other than hoping the salesman is educated and has the integrity to not just tell you what you want to hear?

There are some marine associations (like AMDA) that have wholesaler lists and whatnot that do captive-bred stock - you could find out where your local store gets their animals... I am not really sure on the freshwater side - but in that case I usually dealt with hobbiest rather than stores so I don't know too much there.

Sorry if my last post came across like a jab - that wasn't my intent.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Not at all,...like I said, you have a good point

MyKeyBe reply :

Something else to think about...

Tank to fish ratio.

An oscar is a freshwater tropical fish and a bass is a freshwater coldwater fish. :

A tropical fish requires less than half the water per inch of fish than a coldwater fish.

Here is a general rule of thumb example.

A tank of 24 x 12 x 15 ins. equals 18 gallons. This tank will hold 24 ins. of tropical fish and 10 ins. of coldwater fish.

That is out of the book "You and your aquarium" by Dick Mills. The numbers actually seem high to me. I would never keep a single oscar that may get 8-12 ins. in anything less than a 30 gallon and would prefer a 55 gallon.

hollandbass reply :

What a great thread! 8-) Love reading Fish Chris's posts. But lets get real people, we stick bass with hooks, muscle them out of the water, lip em, etc... i dont think the bass cares one way or another where he is at as long as he has food and some cover. So get a small bass, do your research and if he dies or well. Some people on here make it look like your taking a child from the mother or something, bass are fish they even eat each other, remember?

personally i want a huge mama, like a doubledigit bass in a huge tank ;D

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

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i dont think the bass cares one way or another where he is at as long as he has food and some cover.

ok, go make some room in your closet, hop in, we'll bring you food and water.

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So get a small bass, do your research and if he dies or well.

If you do your research, chances are you won't be keeping a bass as a pet. As for your "Oh well" attitude regarding if it dies or not,....you're not gonna make many friends here with comments like that one.

hollandbass reply :

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i dont think the bass cares one way or another where he is at as long as he has food and some cover.

ok, go make some room in your closet, hop in, we'll bring you food and water.

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So get a small bass, do your research and if he dies or well.

If you do your research, chances are you won't be keeping a bass as a pet. As for your "Oh well" attitude regarding if it dies or not,....you're not gonna make many friends here with comments like that one.

You're kidding right? Tell me honestly you have never eaten a fish in your life? How about killing one? Ever gut hook one? Several people have come in here with actual experience that have kept Bass as pets and have said that they are not much different from other pet fish. All I see so far is people who haven't done it telling the OP not to do it because they "think" it might not be a good idea. How the heck is someone who hasn't done it for himself is going to teach someone who has?

I C+R all my bass, yet I enjoy tangling with steelhead and salmon, and OHHH they taste so good! If bass tasted as good you better believe I would only release the big ones, the rest would be eaten. Or is that too cruel also? How about millions of naturally dying salmon, should we save those too? Is bass easing other bass cruel as well? Someone call PETA! Bass are NOT people, they are cold blooded fish your analogy with the closet is highly flawed. I won't loose any sleep over one dead bass fingerling, knowing that there are millions of them out there dying by nature's hand every day.

bocabasser reply :

lighten up francis (holland bass)! i believe he is just telling you that on this forum BASSRESOURCE you are not going to get that much positive feedback with your remark of "if it dies, oh well". here in america bass fisherman take bass very seriously and protect them like they are human.

hollandbass reply :

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lighten up francis (holland bass)! i believe he is just telling you that on this forum BASSRESOURCE you are not going to get that much positive feedback with your remark of "if it dies, oh well". here in america bass fisherman take bass very seriously and protect them like they are human.

So now we are comparing bass with humans? :-X I think i am done with this.

Tokyo Tony reply :

I agree with Holland to a certain degree, though I wouldn't put it so abrasively.

Bass are not people, they're not smart, they are not rational, so they don't deserve anywhere near the same respect that people do (bass aren't even capable of knowing that they're being deprived of a natural life). That being said, there's still really no reason to torture a bass or take it from the wild if you're not gonna really try to care for it. But if you want to take one, put him in a tank and have fun with him for a while, go for it. Just don't do it with a trophy bass that's gonna die, because then you WOULD be doing something wrong by possibly depriving another human of the pleasure of catching (and releasing) the trophy in the future.

I think we need to take the middle ground here, somewhere between a tree-hugging PETA environmental wacko and the ignorant bully who is gonna torture a bass for the heck of it.

Think about the whole concept of catch-and-release. Whatever you may want to believe, the reason for the policy is not for the protection of the bass species - it's for the benefit of humans so we can continue to enjoy good bass fishing in the future.

I admit that I have what may be considered an irrational love and respect for bass, but at the end of the day, they're really just little slimy creatures trying to survive, and they don't even know it.

bpm2000 reply :

There is a huge difference between harvesting a fish and sticking it in a tiny tank and forcing it to swim around in its own filth just for your viewing pleasure. The fact that bass are NOT people is reason enough to discourage this practice, since we have REASONING powers that a bass does not possess.

Just because something doesn't have the same mental capacity as a human doesn't mean they don't deserve to be treated with respect. This is coming from someone who couldn't spare two s**ts for PETA.

Tokyo Tony reply :

Well there's no reason to mistreat a bass by keeping a bass "in its own filth", but you have to realize that the fish wouldn't be sitting there, miserable, thinking "Boy, this really sucks". It might not feel comfortable, whatever that even means for a bass, but it's certainly not the same as keeping a person locked up in a little space (like in these f'd up news articles I keep reading).

Either way, a bass doesn't "deserve" anything. We owe it to each other to keep the bass fishing good, and there's no reason to mistreat a bass, but it really doesn't deserve anything.

This is coming from a guy who absolutely loves and respects bass, feels terrible after gut-hooking them, and also who couldn't spare even a single turd for PETA.

hollandbass reply :

I don't think anyone was advocating torturing any fish or sticking him in a tiny tank, buts its funny how some people will only accept a live sized pond in your living room to make the bass "happy". I think i will go and get some smoked salmon from the fridge now, I am sure it died a horrible death and i think i even saw a single tear fall down as it was being hooked. :'(

Davis reply :

I'm not a PETA lover either.

But I do have some serious love for the Bass. Everytime I see someone taking one home it does kind of pee me off for some reason. I love catching them and releasing them. Just a healthy respect I guess.

I won't look down on people that do take bass home or what not.......BUT it does bother me a bit.

Trout is a different story all together. Don't ask me why. Yes I am weird. ;D

roadwarrior reply :

** MODERATOR NOTE **

Man, after awhile even the "fun posts" get dragged down and an argument ensues. This thread has had a good run, but it's time to move on...

Closed.

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