Keeping Minnows Alive

With the cost of live bait on the rise, I have been keeping extra minnows for future trips. My current sent up is a cooler I rigged up with an aerator. Just the little cheap Frabill ones. For those of you who keep their own minnows for the season, what kind of set up do you run? How long can I expect out of minnows? How often should they be fed? Do you even need to feed them? If so, what do you feed them? Thanks

I keep mine in an old refrigerator in the basement…..I don’t feed them. I change the water about every three to four days an pull out any dead ones. Last two to three weeks only loose a few here and there. I do not use an aerator

Whatsa

I have an aerated cooler as well. I have shiners in there that are almost a month old. Keep your cooler in a cold place and they will last a good long time. I’ve saved a lot of money this year on bait just taking what I need to the ice.

I have an electric aerator that I use while they are at home. Saves big on batteries. Depends what kind of minnows you have for and the amount of water they are in for how often you should change it. The more minnows and the larger they are the more often I tend to change the water.

I keep mine in a black tote box (keeps them from getting all bleached out looking)with an Oxygenator and a small waterfall style fish tank filter to agitate the water, I also use U2 Pro Formula with every water change, I feed them fish food then change 1/2 the water the next day, and do that every 4-6 days, and I am still on the first 1/2 gallon of fatheads this year

what kind of fish food do you use? like the fish food for pet goldfish and whatnot?

any cheap fish food will work just change the water the next day or it gets skunky, I only feed the min amount to keep them alive,

Good tip on the dark tote, I guess I never knew that is why they get bleached out.

I keep mine in a hundred gallon aquarium. They are quite entertaining to watch. I feed them ground up Cichlid pellets.
I get alot of crap from the other half, she would much rather have pretty tropical fish in the tank. Imagine that!
I tell her you cant train an angle fish to be a walleye martyr. Then I get the what ever phrase.

I fish for crappie with medium minnows. Sometimes, the crappie bite isn’t so hot, so I end up having 2-3 dozen leftover. In the beginning, I left them in the minnow bucket with the aerator running, but it burns a lot of batteries, and plenty of fish still die. I don’t have space in my fridge. I ended up finding my old 20 gallon tank, installing the small water filter that I already have, and leaving it in my bathroom counter. I have an aerator for the tank, but I only run it when I’m taking a dump or shower. Initially, a few died, probably to the shock in water quality and temperature. Of course, I treat the water with pH down, AccuClear, and tap water treatment chemical. I also add chemicals that help regulate ammonia levels. Fish seem real happy. I feed them goldfish food, but I grab a good size pinch and crush it a bit, since the minnows are so small. I also feed them frozen blood worms that you can buy at Petco, but only every few weeks. I have a few dozen in the tank, and they seem happy. Might add a couple more dozen and see if they will breed to produce more minnows. Will take years, but fishing only runs a couple seasons for me.

Crop000pbee wrote:

I fish for crappie with medium minnows. Sometimes, the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappie bite isn’t so hot, so I end up having 2-3 dozen leftover. In the beginning, I left them in the minnow bucket with the aerator running, but it burns a lot of batteries, and plenty of fish still die. I don’t have space in my fridge. I ended up finding my old 20 gallon tank, installing the small water filter that I already have, and leaving it in my bathroom counter. I have an aerator for the tank, but I only run it when I’m taking a dump or shower. Initially, a few died, probably to the shock in water quality and temperature. Of course, I treat the water with pH down, AccuClear, and tap water treatment chemical. I also add chemicals that help regulate ammonia levels. Fish seem real happy. I feed them goldfish food, but I grab a good size pinch and crush it a bit, since the minnows are so small. I also feed them frozen blood worms that you can buy at Petco, but only every few weeks. I have a few dozen in the tank, and they seem happy. Might add a couple more dozen and see if they will breed to produce more minnows. Will take years, but fishing only runs a couple seasons for me.

Well first off, welcome to “The IDO”…

And thanks for rebooting this thread from 8 years ago as it revealed perhaps some members who have long since fallen off.
Really enjoy your post here…this part makes me think if you live alone though.
“I don’t have space in my fridge. I ended up finding my old 20 gallon tank, installing the small water filter that I already have, and leaving it in my bathroom counter. I have an aerator for the tank, but I only run it when I’m taking a dump or shower.”

-BlackTote- I guess this kinda makes sense- though doesn’t the dark box, without light still end up causing pale looking bait? Better said- so just the dark tank color reduces pale minnows, without providing light?

I just buy more than i need on my first fall trip and start keeping left overs in a 5 gallon bucket with a plug in fish tank aerator. i scoop out a scoop of water and replace it every day and they last a good month

Well water over city water.