Taking care of baby bass?

Baby bass? Like little baby fish? From a pond or lake? Take them back to the lake. That’s how to take care of them. You can’t raise them in your bathtub or anything like that. They’re bass, for god’s sake. He shouldn’t have taken them. It’s probably illegal to take undersized bass in your state anyway.

I agree with @lillycoyote tell him to take the bass back from wherever he got it from. If this is a bass from a lake, first off you will need at least a 200 gallon aquarium for this type of fish (in the end even that will be too small for it) because they are swimmers and grow very large real fast. They are also voracious eaters and a variety of live food (minnows, crickets, earthworms, brine shrimp) is best for it. Also when you have fish like this they produce a large bio load in the tank and so therefore the husbandry of the tank needs to be tops as well as one big heavy duty filtration system, and with fish like these a protein skimmer would come in handy although not necessarily needed for freshwater. Also be wary of putting live plants in the tank with these fish as you will be constantly aquascaping due to them uprooting them all the time. Invest in alot of rocks as fish tend to feel more secure when there are hiding place, caves and crevices that they can swim to if they feel threatened or scared or simply just want to sleep. Lastly don’t expect to put anything else in the tank that you don’t want to become dinner., this will inevitably become a species only tank. I have saltwater tanks now but I did start with freshwater years ago. I’ve seen people keep large mouth bass in an aquarium, but they are a commitment and not some “cool” fish to have just to have. They aren’t goldfish. So if you don’t have the tank size or are willing to invest in one I’d take it back, besides there are much better looking freshwater aquarium fish, maybe some African Cichlids they are colorful and quite the entertaining fish (pretty aggressive if that’s what he likes)

If he really is going to attempt to keep this fish and is serious about it as far as tank requirements and filtration go, join a feshwater aquarium forum there may be sections there with other people that have kept or are keeping american game fish that could lead him in the proper direction.

@earthduzt certainly knows more about house fish and domesticating bass than I do, but I still say your boyfriend shouldn’t have taken them in the first place and as @earthduzt said, they’re not goldfish. Your boyfriend should take them back to the lake before the two of you kill them.

I mean take a look at this tank, waaaay to small for bass and you see how these eat and how active they are? Here and thats a 300 gallon tank!

Now this tank is perfect to keep a bass in but costs thousands of dollars here

@earthduzt I guess it’s just that I had no idea at all that there was some kind of bass husbandry history. I’m no expert, but I have done a lot of bass fishing with my dad and it was a shock to me not only that someone would bring baby bass home hoping to raise them but that there has been some study of how to raise bass at home. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, I guess. There’s a reason that you can find catfish, and trout, and salmon and all sorts of fish for sale at the market but not bass. That’s kind of what makes me feel that they should most certainly take the bass back to the lake.

@lillycoyote I agree, they should take the bass back, most pet shops or at least any that I have come across and I’ve been to many fish only shops, they do not sell bass. Most of the people that have these game fish catch them and bring them home thinking they can stick in in a 10 gallon tank and that’s it, forgetting that these type of fish grow very large. Sometimes there is just no convincing people it’s a bad idea to have said animal so I just try and inform them on what they would need if they really wanted to attempt to give this animal as best a life in captivity as possible. There’s just some fish that should not go into an aquarium unless it is some city aquarium or state funded aquarium for people to view (even some of those I don’t like i.e. dolphins held in captivity, but that’s a whole other topic)
I’ve been in some shops that sell nautiluses and people buy them thinking they are “cool” but they have 100% mortality rate in an aquarium but as long as people buy them pet shops will sell them.

Bass are game fish – predators. They need a lot of space, eat insects, mosquitoes, flies, smaller fish, some algae. They need well oxygenated, flowing water – not chlorinated.
Let them go or they will be dead in a day or two.
Sorry. Make sure to tell you boyfriend so he does not make the same mistake again.