Wow, I need to get a few western banded killies, they definitely look different than the eastern variety I'm used to.

Ok, got home today from an overnight visit to a friend, and decided that they would "sink or swim" in the main tank, as the water temp was "close enough" (within 5 degrees).
Wow.
I don't know if I've ever seen a wild fish take to community tank life faster. Maybe the fact that they were starving, helped motivate them..but here is what happened, literally:
Put the two fish in a clear bag(same as in photo) and floated the bag for a moment or two. I then proceded to mix tank and bag water(bag water was bucket water, which was OLD tank water from last water change..I keep the last bucket full around between changed, just for this reason, to acclimate any new fish I may happen into).
I then unceremoniously tipped the fish into the tank, at which point both immediately dove into the plants.
I then decided to feed the rest of the fish, thinking maybe it would give the new residents a few minutes of "settle in" time before they were discovered by the flags or mud minnows, and initiated...
However..what happened was that by the time I got to the fridge to get the worm culture, got a dinners worth and made it back to the tank, the smaller one was already swiming among the shiners, and picking at the java moss..
Interesting, I thought..
So, I as usual used a turkey baster to squirt in the worms(this allows me to make sure some get to all parts of the tank, and all residents), and instantly the larger killie came out of the moss and along with the smaller one that had already ventured out, just took right off on the blackworms, and seemed to show NO fear at all. One of the flagfish did chase the larger killie, but the killie immediatly turned and chased the flag and they called a truce..and all went back to feeding.
Right now, the two killies are swimming with the school of shiners, and throughly checking out the tank.
On an even weirder note...
When I approached the front of the tank, instead of darting into the plants(which even some of the long term residents still do)..BOTH of them swam to the front of the tank, and followed my movements..
suffice to say...I think they will acclimate pretty well!
Edited to add....just on a whim, I put in some flake.
They ate it.
Suffice to say, I'll be keeping an eye on the tank for more fish. I passed on a couple on Saturday as I was not planning on heading right home...if they are still there tomorrow, I'll bring them home.

So what happened to the rock bass and yellow perch?

So what happened to the rock bass and yellow perch?

Unfortunately when I checked today, both were gone...apparently, someone saw them in there and put them back in with the bait minnows, which were also mostly gone today:( The killies also were gone. I didn't want them(bass and perch) in my tank, and I don't have any other place handy...so it was just a crap shoot anyway, if they would make it long enough for me to see if there was anyone around work who had tanks and wanted them.