My warmouth, shadow bass, and soon to be snail bullhead tank

My tank finished its fish less cycle this weekend and some members of the forum were kind enough to donate 2 specific fish. a very small Warmouth, and a very small Shadow Bass. I have someone on the lookout for a snail bullhead of appropriate size.

tank specifications:

75 gal
Eheim 2080 pro II
air stone (old but large)
ph - 6.8

here are some picts of the tank, i thought it would be interesting to post a pict of both fish once a month or so.

below is the Shadow Bass, approx 1.25" long at this time



below is the Warmouth, approx 1" long, bad pict i will get a better one soon



last but not least both together


I will try and document things, and post a pict each month or so,

Nice setup, you will love that shadow bass.

Nice tank and fish.

Plenty of room for them to grow out.

both fish have been eating well, (frozen blood worms) both fish very aggressive, they will rush half way across the tank for a sinking worm.

shadow bass really change colors, I will be looking at the warmouth (who never stops moving) and then the shadow bass will just kinda appear, it had been sitting there blended into the background the whole time. when it hangs out mid tank it almost loses all color, and its pattern comes back when it moves back to the drift wood.

I will be putting a group of least killie fish in the 75 gal, their fry will be food as they will eventually be.

I am also going to try set up a culture of Daphnia in a few 5 gal buckets.

I am also going to try some ground up soft pellets.

the Warmouth and shadow bass both ate some crushed up Tetra Food sticks, they both ate off the top of the water and as it sank.

the Warmouth and shadow bass both ate some crushed up Tetra Food sticks, they both ate off the top of the water and as it sank.

This is good to know. As you know I have a Shadow Bass just around an inch longer than yours. 2 3/4 inches to be exact. A pain to catch stuff all the time. I must try this prepared food stuff while there is still time. And I must say that shadow bass looks like one I used to have Even when larger the Shadow Bass looks more like a leaf fish. The shape of the fins and positioning thereof are much different than a rock bass. Good to see he is in good hands.

the shadow bass will nail blood worms, and small feeders,

I put a bunch of gambusia some small killies in the tank wed, the shadow bass will wait until one swims by its hiding hole in the drift wood then grab it.

the warmouth is much more direct, it will just chase a fish down.

I'm just wondering where you live and if that shadowbass is native to northern states like Wisonsin. I've never heard of nor seen one before. It looks like an exciting fish.

I'm just wondering where you live and if that shadowbass is native to northern states like Wisonsin. I've never heard of nor seen one before. It looks like an exciting fish.

It is similar to rock bass, grows a little smaller, and exists only in a small portion of the South. Look it up here to see a range map:
http://www.natureser...let/NatureServe

You can look up most of your range questions there, actually.

I live in the great state of Alabama,

I have collected shadow bass in the Escawtaba River (South Mississippi)

The one in the tank actually came from Georgia though

just an update

the Warmouth and Shadow bass are doing well

both have doubled there weight and length, the warmouth is slightly over 2" and the shadow bass just under 3"

Warmouth, color is washed out (sorry), my photo skills are defiantly lacking



several of the shadow bass







last but not least (in weight anyway) my red spot sunnie housed in my planted (algae factory) 40 gal breeder



one point of curiosity,

the shadow bass is missing a pelvic fin.

I like to think that I am a fairly observant person, but i did not notice until about a month ago.

I also added a bunch of killies, gambusia, and striped top minnows.

Last Saturday the warmouth decided to eat one of my killies, it swam around with 1/4 of the fish out of its mouth for the better part of a day.

the assorted killes are to become food later.

the shadow bass and warmouth, love FD shrimp, and worms

the warmouth will eat pretty much anything i put in the tank, the shadow bass is somewhat more picky.

more to come

thought this was kind of funny

the warmouth has been Mr Personality as of late

here are 2 very bad picts of him attacking the gravel wash tube







picts are pretty bad but you can tell what he is doing

I will be getting a spotted bullhead (with luck tommarow ) and that will top off the permanent members of the 75 gal.

the warmouth reminds me of an oscar that i had several years ago, I have to feed him sinking pellets 1st before i feed the shadowbass it's FD shrimp and worms. The shadow bass has pretty much stopped eating sinking pellets, its still eats frozen blood worms (shocker)

both fish are growing rapidly, i had approximately 25 or so assorted top minnows, killie fish, and gambusia that i threw in the tank after a collecting trip. only about 8 are left and they are all large with the exception of one gambusia. i think that next time i go away for the weekend it will be lunch.

the warmouth has caught up in size with the shadowbass. it eats more

a pict of each

I have obtained a Bullhead, not a Snail as i had planed but a Spotted Bullhead.

Spotted was my #1 pick but I did not have a source for them, a very nice you lady from Pensacola found one for me at a LFS in a FW shrimp shipment.

The spotted is a little on the small side, and the warmouth is VERY interested in it right now but I think it is just checking it out. when i drop a pellet or worm in the tank the warmouth hits it like a ton of bricks, never slows down, it acts different with the spotted, the warmouth will swim very close to it and just kind of follow it around but stays about 2" away from it. makes me nervous though, dont want it to become lunch. I put 4 - 4" pieces of 1/2" pvc pipe in the tank for hiding places (the warmouth can't get in there)

There is still that gambusia in the tank, its smaller than the bullhead right now and the warmouth and shadowbass leave it alone, so hopefully the bullhead will not become lunch.

I am going out of town this weekend I will post some picts when i get back.

Love the warmouth and shadow bass Those are two awesome fish. I've got a 2" warmouth I bought from BZ(smbass). I got him last Wednesday, and he already knows where his food comes from. I think he's pretty smart for a fish. I also have 6 adults(5 males, 1 female, because the males were the only ones biting the bait) that I am planning to breed. The males are beautiful. I'd like to see a pic of your spotted bullhead if you have one.

here are some picts of my spotted bullhead





observation: mystery snails were everywhere in the 75 gal tank and now all the small ones seem to have vanished (its a good thing), i suspect the spotted bullhead. I have seen it eat HBH super soft pellets, as well as some soft pellets i had left over, and frozen blood worms. I would not think that this small cat fish could make a dent in the amount of snails that were in the tank, but there are no more small snails to be seen on the glass at all. (3 weeks ago there were 10-20 at all times) I have also seen it eat snail egg clusters.

I have seen the shadowbass eat snails one time, when they were mating (i guess thats what they were doing) 2 snails were on the drift wood almost the whole way out of their shells, they were wrapped around each other. the shadow bass ran up and bit one of the snails off at the shell. other than that i have not seen any of my fish eat a snail. I have seen the bullhead vigorously searching the tank bottom when the lights go out. so i suspect him of hunting the smaller snails down.

the warmouth is growing exponentially, it has surpassed the shadowbass, and weighs twice as much, not quite 2x's as long yet though. the warmouth exploits a variety of food sources where the shadow bass, is much more cautious, and selective about what it eats.

I have a 200 gal rubber made horse trough to set up as a gambusia breeder behind the garage, by mid summer it will be up and running, so hopefully i can be adding feeder gambusia to the tank 2 times a week or so.

Wow. That's a beautiful fish. I wish I could keep spotteds. They're protected here in GA. Where did you get the shadow bass? I've thought about setting up a shadow bass tank. Do you have any recent pics of them? Sorry to bother you about pics, especially since you just posted a pic of your bullhead.