Bass/Perch tank? How big?

[DrNic]

My brother is an avid fisherman in our area and often fishes with his boss. Well the two of them got the idea in their head that they should install an aquarium in their lobby with a pond theme stocked with 1-2 bass, a few yellow perch, and some sunfish. It all seems kind of crazy for me but they asked me fore my advice getting things together.

How much space would these fish need? They will all be local caught juveniles. I was thinking a least a 75G if not something bigger. The next question is what to feed these guys? belly loaded feeder fish?

Any help, or pics that could point me in the right direction would be great as my experience is with tropical fish, not lake fish.

[Algenco]

I would say a 125-150, bass get large.
Tell them to check with Fish and Game, they will need a permit to keep native species

[OscarFan]

I would say nothing less then a 200 and they may take large cichlid pellets.

[Crispy]

it is usually illegal to keep native fish.. but if you do, at least a 6 foot tank. I have seen some sunfish at my LFS from time to time and in countless people's ponds. I don't think it's a priority for fish and wildlife to come after you anyway. Keep the tank stocked with minnows or small baitfish. Perch and bass won't eat pellets. Crayfish look good and make a good food source for bass and perch also. Earthworms are always accepted by these fish but can get messy.

[goleafs]

You could do perch in a 75 gallon but I'd recommend a 180 gallon minimum for bass. And I'm sure if you get them as juvenilles they will eat pretty much everything.

[Sasquatch]

From my point of view, don't even consider anything under 250 gallons.

With perch and sunfish, you've got two fundamental problems.
1. They're gregarious, so like to be in groups ... remember how everyone tells people to get 6-10 tetras minimum ....

2. They get big. Perch get up to 12" and larger, that's a lot of fish. For the sunfish, depends on species, but most of what you'll find in the states gets to similar sizes (weight wise) as perch.

I've actually been considering a tank like this and I'm planning on a 500g (ish) setup. 6'x3'x3' is what I'm planing, that's about two tonnes of water, but it's big enough to house a small group of these fish (I'm planning on pumpkinseed sunfish).

For bass ... nothing less that a multi hundred gallon pond will do for an adult.

On the up side ... they're coldwater fish, so the heating bill should be reasonable.

[Northernguy]

Bass need a very large tank!Minimum 200gallons each.They are a fast moving jumping fish that get large.I have talked to our local Game Warden and the way he sees it ,is its part of your limit if they are a local species.
My brother had a muskie and I had a couple of large mouth bass.We both had kiddie pools with vynil inserts and metal sides 6' in diamter 24"deep.I don't know how many gallons that is but it didn't seem to be enough!They all died from jumping out of the tanks!

[pes142]

If i had to guess, i would say that you should take a trip over to the guys at NANFA.org and ask their opinion. These guys all keep native fish, and they helped me set up my native tank, they should know what he needs. By the way, NANFA is North American Native Fishkeepers Association.

[Red]

nothing less then 250..

[DrNic]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will pass it along!