need a little help finding.

[bigmatt1992]

me and my dad are looking to start up a freshwater tank agin. only problem is we are looking for bass and sun fish to watch grow in the tank were going for a pittsburgh river theme with this tank. does anyone know were there is a hatchery or some place that would maybe sell bass or sunfish. only need probly 2 bass till they get to big we will release them then. and probly 3 sunfish. any help would be nice thanks guys.

 

[Steven Pro]

Just get yourself a fishing license and go catch your own.

 

[hybridazn]

Just get yourself a fishing license and go catch your own.

cant really do that legally. bass have to be at least 10" to keep. anything less and you can get cited.

 

[Mitsuko]

Technically you won't be keeping it since you intend to release it later.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Even a 6" river bass would need a pretty sizeable tank to keep in captivity. I'm getting the impression he wants to raise them from like 1-2" size to 6-8" size.

 

[SirusX1721]

Bass minimum is 15" some are 18" depending on where you go. That's to keep legally anyways. Technically it's illegal to keep any game fish or animal as a pet, but a lot of people do create what is called "native" tanks. Bass will require a bigger tank compared to what you can buy in a pet store. If you truly want to keep it legal then just buyyourself a Peacock Bass. South American though. A nice red tail cat would go nicely with it. If you wish to keep it within your Pittsburgh River theme then your best best is early spring...inthe shallows...with a minnow shine (sheen, SP). I know when I was younger doing this at Acme damn I'd catch a lot of baby bass in the 1-3" range. Twin Lakes is good for that too.

Also, if you plan on raising these fish in the home aquarium...keep them in the home aquarium. Don't release it into the wild. It will only led to the death of the fish. It will not be able to adapt itself fast enough to survive. Also never release any fish you bought in a petstore loose!

These wild caught fish will be more aggressive than anything you can buy in the pet store as well. I.E. a 2" pumpkinseed killed a 4" red belly piranaha I had before.

 

[SirusX1721]

Just remembered...

If you say it's for scientific/educational purposes you can get away with it. That's how people are able to buy turtles and such under the law allowing 4". A while back I was going to do this with trout fry, and was told as long as it was for educational purposes they would sell them to me (from a hatchery). I didn't want to buy a chiller though, cold water fish. I hope this helps. If I find or think of anything else I'll let you know. I'll keep an eye out for local hatcheries as well. I only know of a torut hatchery at the moment.

 

[SirusX1721]

http://www.buybass.com/price_list.html

 

[bigmatt1992]

jon ur gonna make my mom kill me lol im talkin her into going up and geting me 1 tiny bass and 3 tiny sun fish to start with.

 

[SirusX1721]

Lol. Make sure you have plenty of driftwood/plant cover for them. Bass esp. love the cover. Anacharis is a simple plant to start with. can plant it or free float it for covering.

 

[cloakerpoked]

If you don't have the tank to keep an animal through maturity, and don't have a plan to do so, it seems awfully irresponsible to keep one. If I told you that I wanted a St. Bernard puppy because he was cute/cool/etc., but lived in a studio apartment with no yard, then even though he'd be totally happy until he was full grown, without a plan to deal with him then, it would be irresponsible of me to get him. Seems like that's exactly where you're going with this bass thing, unless you have access to a 400 gallon aquarium, you simply don't have the environment to responsibly provide him what he needs, releasing isn't an option, and eating isn't either. If there was some legitimate research (and defining "legitimate" is tough) being conducted on the animal, I could understand it, but keeping it for your own amusement until it becomes inconvenient, or dies due to malnutrition, poor substitute for a natural environment, not enough space, etc is wrong.

 

[bigmatt1992]

the reason i am looking to keep bass and sunfish is becouse im a advit fisherman and hunter and ive allways been intreaged by bass life cycle and would like to learn more first hand. and for the start of the tank were looking into a 125 then maybe in a year upgrading to around 400. 1 bass and maybe 3 sunfish a 400 is plenty big. i didnt go out and get the fish yet becouse the idea isnt set in stone yet.

 

[jamesd74]

matt where are you going to put a 400 gal tank? even a 125 i have been to your house there is no room. plus the weight of a 125 plus all the rock and gravel you will need you will have to support your floor... not to mention the weight of a 400 gal tank.

 

[SirusX1721]

Technically no fish that we keep should be kept in our tanks. From and ocean to a small enclosed area...eh. Peacock bass get a lot larger than our native LM n SM bass, yet people keep them in 125s with no problems. Full grown, I wouldn't recommend it. Seeing how the fish you are going for are smaller you can get away with a 125. However; one thing I do see that WILL happen is...your sunfish will = food for the bass. Maybe try a smaller native catfish like a Bull/Brown and perch?

 

[cloakerpoked]

Or.........you could just stick with a smaller tank and wait until you can take care of these fish responsibly and just enjoy the fish going down to the river and enjoying fishing. I don't want to come across as mean, but you just really need to make up your mind with what you want to do and stick with that until you get a little more older and settled.

 

[bigmatt1992]

there is room in my basement that is a game room for a 400 gal freshwater tank and the tank isnt just for me its for my dad to and hes been doing freshwater since the hobby first became populer back when he was a kid.