not really AGGRSSIVE fish... but...

i have two rock bass in a 55 and they seem to be doing terrific! they have been in there about a year. one is about 6 inches and the other is about 3 inches. they eat great off of the feeders worms and such that i put in there but have not had much luck getting them to take pellets.... any suggestions? also, is this tank going to be ok for the rest of their lives? and can i add anything else to the tank to liven it up a bit?

Hello and Welcome! I'm not sure what are rock bass. I'm going to look them up. yea , sometimes it's hard to get fish to change diets.

I know for my rainbows I had to start out with something they wanted to eat (bloodworms) then slowly get them to eat flake food. I would feed the two at the same time and they would eat some of the flake food in their hurry each time. It took a few weeks but they finally will go after (in the same hurry) crushed flake food. Not sue what you have tired yet but might try getting their attention with the food they really like and sprinkle in some flakes see if they give it a little try.

I have Rock Bass and Sm. Mouth Bass in a tank . I have had them for about a year now , since they were wee little ones . I keep various oddball cichlids in with them that are of a size they can't eat. They get excited when I put flake or pellet food in for the other fish , BUT , they have never eaten any. I might go 2-3 days with out feeding them any feeders , worms , or crays , but they still won't eat any of the daily "processed " foods. But when I put live food in the tank ,, Stand back !! They will catch and stuff their mouths full.
Ray

Sounds like they were wild-caught. I've got a bunch of 'Panfish' and some minnows in a 55G. A mix of wild-caught and farm-raised. The farm-raised ones taught the others to eat flakes and catfish pellets. Of the wild-caught ones, the Sunfish were the easiest to convert over.

You could add a few more to the tank. Talk to a local Farmer's Co-op and they will be able to tell you when the 'pond stocking' truck is scheduled to come by. If you buy a few farm-raised bass/sunfish - they will teach yours that pellets are yummy.

As for my 55G - I'm actually going to remove quite a few of my smaller/weaker panfish from it this spring and leave just the five biggest in there along with the crayfish and two plecos my students gave me. They should be fine for another school year like that. Then I'll move them to a 75G for their permanent home. (next 20 years)

yall have been really helpfull, and im definatly going to try your suggestions. thank you so much