Is it possible to acclimate a freshwater striped bass to saltwater in captivity?

[kev]

I noticed that these fish can supposedly live in fresh or saltwater. I was wondering would it would be possible to go out and catch one from a local lake, and slowly acclimate it to saltwater in a tank? Now I know these fish get too large for most aquariums, and it wouldnt be a good idea, but I was just curious about this subject.

 

[nacl-h2o]

Striper can live in either. They live and can be caught in either. You could acclimate them over. I live at the coast and around here they spend most of there time in salt or brackish water and go up rivers for spawning. And your right, they can get massive, the record is 55lbs if I'm not mistaken.

 

[grouperhead]

Larger than 55. I think the IGFA recognizes a fish of around 70 pounds, possibly larger taken from the surf in Atlantic City, NJ. Bo

 

[kev]

Cool thanks for the replys, I have one more question. If I wanted to acclimate a TINY striper to SW, what would the smallest tank size you guys would say to keep a 2incher? Also, after acclimating SW would it be reasonable to acclimate them back to FW and let it go where I got it the next season?? And, hah, are they reef safe?

 

[mikegronholz]

If you introduce it as 2 inches, within 2 years you'd need about a 300+g tank. Striped are some of the fastest growing fish out there !!! A 20# striper is only about 5yo and swim faster than any tang out there. You WILL need some room. But if you killed it , at least dinner would be a frying pan away !!!
If you don't have a deep enough tank, it WILL jump as well and it could move a solid wood canopy with no problem. They are strong little sob's !!!
Here's your world record...
Master Surfcaster, Al McReynolds
and his World Record Striped Bass caught on the
Vermont Ave Jetty, Atlantic City, New Jersey
September 21, 1982

[hr]
Official IGFA All Tackle Record: 78-pound 8-ounces
Length 53 inches, Girth 34 1/2 inches
Female; Year of "birth" determined by biologists as 1946!

[hr]
Line: 20 lb Ande Pink
Lure: Rebel 5-½" Black-back Silver Minnow
Time Required to Land Fish: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
http://www.stripersurf.com/wrecord.html

 

[kev]

So just curious, how big of a tank would a 2incher need for 6 months or so?

 

[mikegronholz]

< 100g would be okay for 6 mo. Just beware, it will eat ANYTHING it can get in its mouth. We used to fish Texoma with apple cores.

 

[surfnturf]

One other thing to consider is that most of the fish in saltwater aquariums are from tropical areas, you could introduce a disease that the striper is immune to that could wipe out the other fish, just a thought.

 

[kev]

I may be wrong but, if i acclimated it from FW to SW, wouldnt that kill off all of the diseases?

 

[surfnturf]

It would kill off anything external, probably, but it wouldn't do anything to organisms or bacteria, viruses the fish has internally.

 

[kdfrosty]

We have a lake here (23 miles x .5 miles), and the state has stocked striper for many years. The biggest I have caught is 31 pounds, 40". I couldn't even imagine keeping one of these in an aquarium.

 

[fishieness]

wait wait wait... you guys are talking about stripers in a lake? Are you sure your not talking about hybrids? They wont grow as fast or quickly as normal stripers over where i live. But not only would it be illegal probably to do (although i must admit, if i had a tank big enough id have one) but how the hell are you going to catch one tahts only 2 inches?! I havent caught many largemouth or smallmouth that were 2 inches, never mind a stripper! But your lake must be different than mine

 

[loopy]

you can catch them in minnow traps. My daughter has several. And yes, they grow very fast and eat like pigs....and eat smaller fish. Not illegal here.....but one that she has needs to hit the lake this summer, it's getting to big for the tank, and YES, given the chance to jump out........they most certainly will!

 

[bigdogzack]

Loopy...not a good idea to return and or introduce any "life" back into a habitat (even if they originally came from it)...just to many risks of introducing something into the habitat that it picked up while in captivity...

 

[loopy]

oh, bdz, didn't know that, didn't think about it. Well, the new house had a big fishless pond, maybe we'll put him in there....I dunno, her grampa started this tank with her.....the ugly things....hell to clean the tank, fish jumping all over trying to get out and they bite.........I hate it.....made her put it in her room so I didn't have to look at it. Geez, what to do, feed it to gramps maybe??? lol!!! (Actually, around here, there are like, geez, I dunno, way over 100 lakes...I'm sure we can find one no one fishes on and put him there.......I dunno.) Gramps is a former DNR agent, think he woulda known better ha???

 

[unleashed]

you might want to check with your local DNR on your areas laws if this is a game fish it might be illegal to have one in your home aquarium to begin with.being caught with protected or regulated species can result in large fines and or jail time.returning stock to open waters can also be contituted as a criminal act in some states.for example i live in michigan I regularly fish on the great lakes gobies are caught in abundance here but are not native to our waters they are concidered a nuicance and if captured returning this fish to our lakes is concidered unlawfull and we can be fined for this action even though we caught it in that area they must be destroyed upon capture.do some research hun

 

[ophiura]

If you do this, you have an obligation to kill the fish rather than ever returning it to the wild. A fish kept in captivity with other fish or livestock, especially those from different parts of the world, should never be returned to the wild, IMO. There is a risk of introduction of pathogens to a new area.

 

[salt phish]

to aclimate the fish back into a reservoir just poor some used motor oil and some garden fertilizer in his qt tank to get him ready for mothernature...............just my opinion

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by salt phish
to aclimate the fish back into a reservoir just poor some used motor oil and some garden fertilizer in his qt tank to get him ready for mothernature...............just my opinion

Thanks for that. That's pretty darn funny! Well, you know what I mean.