Ok, first off, I am only speaking from my personal experiences. I have no biological or marine studies to back up my statements, just observations and opinions of my own.

With that said it's ok to agree to disagree.

When I lived in Vt, I had an 80 gallon tank. I took home 2 6in bass from a place called Colt pond one day. I had a small Oscar in the tank for about 4 months and we moved that to a tank I had set up at my g/f's house which finally stabilized.

The first day I had these bass, they were "normal" size.

When I woke the next morning, day 2, they were emaciated looking and I felt terrible so I went to the pet store and grabbed 50 feeder fish (about 1-1.5 inch goldfish)(about $7)

I put all 50 feeders in figuring that will be good for a few days, let them gorge and be happy seeing as how I just displaced them from their home, it was the least I could do.

Of course, they fed till there were tails sticking out of their mouths and by late that evening, there wasn't a single goldfish in sight and nice size golfball bellies on my happy bass.

I was kinda surprised that they ate all 50 but not really because I did know that bass are voracious eaters and I didn't know if maybe they had been starved in that pond before or whatever. Anyway, I figured opnce I lowered the temp a bit, slowed their metabolism, they would balance out. They didn't. I gave them another 50 the next day and same thing.

oh, I forgot, morning 3,...emaciated looking again. Bellies razor thin.

I did this for like 3 weeks, $7/day and they would be all malnuorished looking again each and every day I would wake up. The problem now was that my single fluval 303 wasn't able to keep up with all the waste this was also creating and I've never had a problem with a 303 keeping an 80 gal crystal clear. The nitrogen was also through the roof.

So now I have to ask myself. I figured these would be the ultimate pets, being a bass angler myself, but only if I could give them a better life than they had. I thought I could offer them fat fat fat bellies and super clean, fresh water for the rest of their lives but this wasn't the case and I felt that I was ethically and morally doing the wrong thing by keeping them. Not to mention that their home went from 60 acres to 80 gals.

Which brings me to the point of "how can I consider ethics when I stick hooks in their face?"

Very easily. The 2 are exremely different in my book. Am I the only one who sees a difference between a pierced lip and imprisonment? Both are "forced" and that's the real issue, granted, but still, I think the degrees vary greatly.

Plants-I only keep "larger" fish. I've tried all plants and I give up,lol. I only use driftwood, rock(slate is very nice) and skulls (deer and coyote) for decoration now. Saltwater is next I think. It's time.

To clear up the confusion regarding the "Cabela's" bass

Read back and you'll notice the words "without a permit"

Many restauraunts and businesses do display gamefish but a permit is required. Very few permits are granted for residential display.

that's my .02 guys, thanks for listening.

another note--

anyone bringing fish from the wild to a tank

Be sure there are no current occupants in this tank

I made this mistake again, when I lived in vermont.

Same pond, Colt.  After the bass, I got a snakehead for the 80.  Grew like a champ but was getting expensive to feed so seeing as how I was fishing out at Colt Pond a few times a week anyway, I took my minnow trap and left it there one night.

Next time there, I emptied contents and took them home.  (minnows, chubs and crays)

Fed minnows to snakehead,....loved them

Hopped in shower and 2 minutes later I heard the cover of the tank.  sounded like someone slammed it.  I got out of shower and snakehead was on livingroom floor, stiff as a board, literally.

I asked vet and evidently, the wild fish carry parasites that the farm fish never built up immunities to.  When you go to buy shiners at the bait store, you'll notice the water in the tanks is blue.  That is some kind of anti-parasite stuff.  If you have a feeder tank they suggest you buy some of this stuff to keep your feeders clean.

My point is, look into it first if you are introducing "wild caught" specimen to "non-wild" caught specimen.

Not only did I lose a $25 fish, I felt guilty as heck that my ignorance killed a pet.

(now that we know what we do about snakeheads, I don't feel so bad but still,....you guys get the point)

well you have good reason to not like keeping wild fish captive. bad expeirance is a good way to turn you off of somthing although it defiantly seems a few of us have had great luck with keeping bass.  i believe you did the wrong thing by letting the bass gorge himself with as much as he could eat. im kinda suprised tho when i had my bass we would drop 1 or 2 minnows  in and he would eat them and be done even if there was another he wouldnt be interested in it. we just fed 1 or 2 each day and he never got skinny lookin. oh yah i asked my father last night about our basshe sais we kept it till it was about 1.5lbs. as u had the bad expeirance with wild food for them i cought mine in the creek by my house and we never had a problem i dunno i guess we didnt have a parasite problem or the bass was already immune to them or got that way from us feeding him wild food.  thinking about all this minnow catching i think i need to drop that trap in again and catch some live bait for fishing.

Well,no, the bass you had was wild and so was the food so no issue there. I'm talking about feeding wild food to a "store" bought fish.

I can't imagine a bass stopping at 2 minnows. Crazy. And when I say skinny,....I can't stress it enough,...I mean skinny! Paper belly.

I have an Oscar in a 55 at my house right now. Been in this tank 9 yrs. He stopped growing at 3/4 pound and about 12 inches. Tank is 13 inches deep

His name is Dumpster,...say "Hi"

Bass aren't considered endangered or exotics and native to my state, so what Federal law prohibits me from keeping one, since I am unaware of a state law? I can introduce them into private water and harvest how and all I like. True I need to buy a licence for some animals species here like deer, lions and aligators but a permit is easily obtained. I can see where I would need one for a snakehead, since they are not native and present a problem to the local fisheries.   Just curious.

Don't know about fedearal requirements,I only know in Riverside, there is a chinese restauraunt with a 500 gallon custom tank. They have Perch and Largemouth in the tank and on the wall next to it is a permit from the Dept. of Environmental Managment of Rhode Island.

I always assumed the BPS would obtain one of these same permits.

My friend has a 250L gallon tank and was going to do all bass so I told him to call D.E.M. about a permit and he was told that they were not granting residential permits for gamefish at this time.

I assumed it was this way across the board.

Ouchitafisher should know--JIM???

I know I probably would need a permit for zooalogical exibitions also scientific research, medical purposes and breeding to sell, ect. I just am presently unaware of a regulation regaurding keeping one in a tank for private purposses here in this state. There maybe one.   :-/

Hey Russ can that Oscar eat that crawfish?

check out my crappies... they eat minnows and are a lot of fun to watch attack their prey.  They have plenty of room to swim.

close up...

very nice set up Brad

Muddy- what crayfish? lol   They don't last very long unless they find a hiding spot.  Then they can last yrs ,...literally.  Found one under a rock once when cleaning the tank, hadn't bought any in over a yr or so.

check out my crappies... they eat minnows and are a lot of fun to watch attack their prey.  They have plenty of room to swim.

oh my! I have a love for crappie  :-* used to have a 6 acre pond with an island near the house I grew up in....we used to catch up to 2 1/2 lb crappie in there.....imo they are one of the hardest fighting fish pound for pound whew

if the bass don't work out I think I just may do crappie since they have such a nice look and can be released locally if they get too big

also have my eyes set on a 125 gallon tank instead.....seems that it would be a bit cruel to have such limited structure and no friends....can't wait!  

Mine is 125 gallons and I have two 1/2 lb bass and two 1/4 lb green sunfish in it and as long as you have enough cover for all the fish they should be fine. If you dont have enough cover then the dominant one will constantly chase the smaller one around and nip at it. also you dont have to feed them minnows all the time I give mine hot dogs or balogna for a snack sometimes

Best 300 bucks that I have ever spent

PM me if you have any questions

say hi to dumpster for me lol (y did you call him dumpster)

Because he will recycle anything you put in there!  Very fitting name for an Oscar.

Russ,I saw snakehead mentioned in one of your posts.You're not responsible for turning any of those nuisances loose in public waters are you? :-? They are becoming a problem here in Va.......anyone here that catches one is asked to keep it and immediately contact the Game Dept.

Back to the topic......a friend had a 70+ gallon set-up and had one smallmouth in it along with some wood and rocks,nice filter system,the whole nine.He fed it feeders daily along with craws from the local creek.The bass was approximately 5" when he first got it and when he released it,it was 17" and swelled up like a tick.I was surprised that it lived that long and grew that much but it did.

FBL- Read back, you'll see that my snakehead ended up deader than sadams sons.

He was actually store bought in the early 90's. This was before we knew what we know now and they were still sold legally. But,no,..I've never released a store bought fish into a natural fishery.

FBL- Read back, you'll see that my snakehead ended up deader than sadams sons.

He was actually store bought in the early 90's. This was before we knew what we know now and they were still sold legally. But,no,..I've never released a store bought fish into a natural fishery.

Yeah,I saw that he died,I didnt know if that was the only one you ever owned or not.I didnt figure you released any,just messin' with you man.