Aquarium fun

[ikeslayer]

Any body else own any game fish in their home aquariums. I have a small lgmouth bass in mine and he is a blast to watch but definitely gives me the itch to catch him. Anybody ever stuck lures in there to see what they do? be cool to know how some of your fish reacted to them. ike

[Scott M]

There's been a few people that have replied to the home aquarium post. I used to have a few fish, then I moved off to school and had to empty the tanks. I had some bullheads, some bluegills and perch, and a young of the year largemouth bass. That little guy wolfed down some expensive tropicals I had and I learned my lesson.

Here's a few earlier discussions from the past year:

New Aquarium

Game Fish Aquarium

Good luck with the bass.

[Nick Kuhn]

I have a couple that hatched this spring at home. The largest will actually strike just about anything you stick in there the first time. After that it won't hit them anymore. The smaller ones are a little more careful. The tank got some small white worms all over it though so I had to move them. No idea how they got there, I use melted snow in the winter for water and in the summer I use the water from the de-humidifier.

[DTro]

Here's a video I just shot:

[wishing for walleyes]

Cool video.Now set it outside and untill it gets a couple inches of ice on top....then try out some ice fishing

[Nick Kuhn]

I just moved the fish back into the original tank. The largest seems pretty upset about the whole moving back and forth thing. It doesn't sit at the top waiting for food anymore.

[Sandmannd]

Nice video, always fun to watch em eat.

[Grant Pearson]

dtro, how big of a tank do you have? I've been thinking of getting a tank to put a few sunnies, crappies, etc. in for the little one to watch. I've been thinking of a 125 or 150 gallon tank. Big enough, or should I go bigger? any info would help.

I don't get on as much as I used to, so try e-mailing me, too. Thanks for any info.

[MidCoast]

I have been thinking about getting a 150 gallon tank... But would that be hard to clean?? What would I need to get started with a tank?

[DTro]

My tank is 72 gallons I think.

Believe it or not, it's not that hard to keep clean. I do it about once a month. I have a couple of Plecos in there to keep the algae down, and I don't feed the fish very often....maybe once a week.

[Nick Kuhn]

150 gallons is a big tank. Go for it if you have the room. You'll probably need a pair of good sized filters. Plecos will help with the algae but I find that growing some unanchored (they'll just float around the tank until they get hung up somewhere) weeds in the tank does quite a bit to keep it down as well. Plus the fish love that stuff.

Feeding, who knows. My fish aren't even a year old so I feed them daily. Every other day they get fed until they are stuffed, and the other day they get just enough to keep them happy. Currently I have one on par with the growth of southern fish. Be interesting to see if a northern strain fish can reach southern strain fish size under the right conditions.

[CrappiesNCats]

i had a perch in college. i'd go through about 1 dollars worth of goldfish every other week to feed it. i should have just bought minnows. it was awesome. but at the time i didnt know you have to have a special permit in MN to own gamefish

[ikeslayer]

just fed my 10 inch lmbass a 6inch sucker. Will that hurt him? he looks like he is about to hemerage? He is suck a glutton. it was pretty cool and i didn't know it was going to be as awesome as it was or i would have videoed it. ike

[Nick Kuhn]

Nope, won't hurt him a bit. When I first got mine he ate a lake chub about the same size as him and he survived. The tail was sticking out of his mouth for several hours before he swallowed it completely.

Did yours just inhale it whole or did it kill it first before attempting to swallow? Mine kills first (ain't big enough yet to just inhale a whole crappie minnow).

[merganser]

Dtro, what do you have for deco in your aquarium. Is that an old chunk of Coral with some driftwood? I have had a 135 gallon beast for about 15 yrs now but I have never really gotten the inside to look as "cool" as I want it to. Your set up looked pretty neat on the video. My 14 inch plecostomus always seems to be gnawing on the pieces of drift wood I put in there. I would say it is just hanging out like pleco's do if my pieces of wood weren't always disappearing. It is not a quick process, but over time the pieces keep getting smaller and smaller and I usually have to replace them. On a side note, for those of you who are looking at getting an aquarium of any size, I would definately recommend purchasing an external canister filter. They do wonders for cleaning and conditioning your water. They are a little pricey, but well worth it. Definately cut down on tank maintenance.

[DTro]

It's basically manmade driftwood. Looks like driftwood, but is really made out of plaster or ceramic or something like that. Add a little algae and presto.

[Grant Pearson]

thanks for the info. although still very young (3 months), my little one already has an intrest in aquariums/fish. Now, all I have to do is hone that into fishing.