what would a pet largemouth bass eat?
| 
Author:
i want to catch a baby large mouth bass and put it in my fish tank. Would it eat cichlid pellets? or would i have to feed it feeder fish all the time?
Tags: 7 Responses to “what would a pet largemouth bass eat?”
Leave a Reply
- Don Barone: A Field Of Tears
- KVD's World: Building positive attitudes
- Elites make first-ever stop at West Point Lake
- Practice and you can cast inaccuracies aside
- Brandon Palaniuk on small river fishing
- Charlie Hartley: Crawdad Eating Awards
- Elite anglers collect bonus awards
- Jones' West Point attack strategy
- Missouri floods dangerous to boaters
- Corkran returns as B.A.S.S. Federation director
more than likely not. Minnows, worms bugs are more his thing. Pellets will take some time. Crayfish are also a good treat
they can eat food pellets that you can pick up from the fishery store or from some farm stores.
mostly worms or live fish.
anything it wants
Before you worry about what to feed it, you have two other questions to answer: 1) how to legally obtain it. states vary in their laws but Largemouth Bass are likely considered game-fish in all states as far as I know. There may be rules on how you obtain the fish (net versus fishing line, etc.), how large they must be to keep (size limits either over or under a certain size) and even whether you can legally keep them alive or not so check with your local wildlife department rules. 2) where to keep it. Largemouth bass get VERY large and are VERY aggressive in comparison to most fish kept in an aquarium. I wouldn’t dream of keeping a single largemouth to adult size in less than a 300 gallon tank.
Once you answer those two questions, what to feed it will be easy. They can likely be trained to eat pellet foods although live foods would probably be needed at first. Frozen and thawed shrimp, crayfish, etc.. would be a good food to help ween them off of live foods.
They would probably need to eat feeder fish. You might want to reconsider putting a bass in your fish tank though. It has been done, but depending on your state, it may not be legal. It is definitely illegal to release the fish back into the wild after capture, so if it gets too large, you’re pretty much stuck. They can grow rapidly and eat up to 2/3 of their own weight. That’s a lot of fish food (feeder fish or whatnot), and a lot of fish poop! Think of all the clean up and water changes you’ll be doing. What size tank do you have? A pond might be more appropriate if you’re seriously considering keeping a bass. You might want to check out this forum to read up on other people’s experiences:
http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1193718864;start=all
Many states allow keeping of game fish, you may need a permit, and buy it from a licensed seller. They are hard to keep in the long run due to bacterial problems that are difficult to control, as limited fish stores are prepared with the chemicals to heal them. I have seen the entire collections (20 tanks or so) of people rot away.
In the wild, they eat largely insect larvae when they are small and they eat smaller fish (including other bass) when they get big enough to swallow them.
I imagine you could fairly easily convert one to eating fish feed, though, and the larger sizes of cichlid pellets would probably be a good diet. There is also a commercial bass chow, sold to fish hatcheries.
As I’m sure you know, a largemouth bass can get really big, so you’ll need quite a big tank. I’d say at least 75 gallons to begin with.
Also be aware that keeping gamefish in a tank requires special permission in many states, and is outright illegal in some places, so check your local laws before you catch one and bring it home. Some states also limit the minimum size of fish you can take from the water.