How are rock bass as pets?

Answer 1

I went fishing with my husband about a year ago. I was soooo bored because I wasnt catching anything. However, my husband was slaying the catfish that day. I looked down and saw these teeny-tiny rock bass (1/2 inch at most) swimming at the shoreline. So I changed hooks and made a peanut butter & bread ball and dipped it in. Before I knew it I had 20 in my bucket. My husband thought that I was crazy because I told him that I was going home and put them in my tank with my tropical fish (2 of them- 1 very aggressive red blood parrot cichlid & a 12 inch long placostamouse (sucker-fish). I dropped them in and watched. Yeah, more than a few died. So I have 5 of them left. Maybe it was my rude introduction into a tropical environment versus a pay-lake in the middle of nowhere. But I still have 5 a year later after the fishing trip. They have grown from 1/2 inch to about 5 inches. I feed them cichlid pellets, pond koi fish food, the occassional frozen bloodworm, and they have really impressed me. The are like Oscars in behavior. They school beautifully throughout my 55 gallon tank. They come to the top of the tank when they hear the lid open and patiently wait. They are hand fed at this point. Becareful, some of the few that died could have been prevented by me. Make sure that you have a lid with NO openings. I thought that they could not fit through a heater hole, I was wrong. Found a few below my stand all dried up and pitiful. Be careful of the temp of water that your tank is. It must be similar to where you get them originally.