tobacco bass

[tryffin]

OK, so there's been a tobacco bass at one LFS for almost a year that I've been tempted by, but a fully grown one so I was a bit worried about it chowing down on any of the smaller inhabitants of my tank. Another store just got a couple baby ones, about 1.5" long ... this is only the second time I've seen them here in the 2 years I've paid attention to the marine fish. Anyway I decided to pick one up. He's a carribean fish ... at first my anthias were scared and hid in a cave together, but once the bass was added everyone went back to their business, which is quite unusual ... my fish are always so full of drama. My brat pack (angel, 6line, and scopas) didn't even care he was in their tank. I wonder if the fact that he's carribean and my other fish are indo-pacific made a difference...

In the past I started a couple threads to ask advice on them, but nobody knew the species ... so I thought I'd post a couple pics:

tobacco bass (Serranus tabacarius)

 

[The steven liu]

boy I wonder why do they call it a tobacco bass, sounds kind of cancerous to me. make sure your other fishes aren't breathing in 2nd hand smoke!!!

 

[Cafetao]

You will need to keep an eye on smaller fish, and they love ornamental shrimp. I attempted to add a small clown to our tank to try and form a pair. I didn't even worry about the bass as he'd never shown any aggression to the other fish, the clown didn't even make it 5 seconds before he ate it, it was heartbreaking watching it struggle inside his mouth. Needless to say I am alot more careful about the fish I add to my tank.

That being said the fish have alot of personality and he has been a wonderful fish to have. I have had him for almost 3 years, and hope to keep him for a long time.

 

[tryffin]

Thanks for the input How long did it take yours to reach full-size? By ornamental shrimps do you mean the small decorative ones, or larger ones? (I have a cleaner, fire, and CBS in my tank, but all three are larger than the bass.)

I'll keep an eye on him as he grows, though ... my spouse has a tank too so we can always play musical fish ... or I can set up that FOWLR tank I've always wanted for butterflies lol.

BTW, does yours jump? My tank isn't properly covered, only about 80%