I was just curious if anyone uses products like sure life better bait to help keep their minnows alive longer. If so do they work? I have a fair amount of success keeping minnows alive by using an aerator and changing water out every few days but longer is always better
Our family cabin is on a island and for the last ten years i have been trying to find the best way to preserve bait. Last year I bought an Engel cooler with aerator. It is hands down the best. Add a few ice cubes every day and good to go. I have tried the chemicals that are supposed to hold more air or put more air in the water. They didnt compare to the eagle cooler system.
If your using city tap water you must use products like this to remove the harsh chemicals that would kill the bait, even worms die in tap water. I use chemicals like this in my bait tanks. I buy pond products designed for people with koi ponds and such, better price and does the same thing
Got an engel and the 3″ round stone that suctions to the bottom…works great. I fill with my clean well water before i leave the house and after a 3-4 days they are still doing good. If i use the water from the bait shop it gets nasty in 1-2 days.
I have tried the blue powder with no luck. I find that keeping the minnow bucket on the unfinished basement floor with an aerator on & changing out the water every 2-3 days helps. I have well water.
For long term you need to filter the water.
I use town water in a 10 gallon aquarium with a filter and a bubbler. I don’t add any chemicals. It’s setup in a 50 degree garage.
I lose very few minnows, 95% of the ones that die are “used minnows” with a hook injury.
It’s so much easier than changing water every few days.
I should have done this years ago. It’s about a $30 investment and has already paid for itself this year!
Not to mention a huge time/labor/water saver.
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You can find setups all over CL for super cheap like bmans. Did it myself couple years ago. Bonus is kids love it.
Thanks all. I like that set up bman. I keep minnows in a cooler in the garage with a bubbler and they stay alive for weeks so I have a decent system down now I was just curious if using products like better bait actually work.
Adding a non iodized salt like Kosher salt will help keep fish longer too. About 5 grams per liter of water should be fine.
Bman, I assume you still have to change the water every so often, even with a filter? How frequently? I have an Engel but it’s still necessary to change the water every 5 days or so. I’d love to not do that.
Here is a good explanation of water for bait
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Bman, I assume you still have to change the water every so often, even with a filter? How frequently? I have an Engel but it’s still necessary to change the water every 5 days or so. I’d love to not do that.
It been running for a solid month now.
When I go fishing I take about half the tank with me (so not to shock the minnows). If it’s just a day trip I dump them and the water I took with right back in.
If I’m going on a mutli-day trip I top off the aquarium out of the city tap before I leave. Replacing the water I took for the minnow bucket (I run the water until it gets cold-cold, from the ground)
The water I take with me gets pretty funky in the shack after 4 days with just an aerator. When the minnows come home I dump my 5 gallon Gatorade bucket into a colander (noodle strainer) to catch the minnows and dump them into the aquarium (which is full and clean from when I left)
It’s an awesome method that I just kind of winged, and it’s been working great!
Like I said, it’s easily already paid for itself.
One of these filters would work great with your Engel. You’d want to change your water when you get home if you’re going on a multi-day trip and not filtering.
Thanks all. I like that set up bman. I keep minnows in a cooler in the garage with a bubbler and they stay alive for weeks so I have a decent system down now I was just curious if using products like better bait actually work.
Crappie if I were you I’d go to Walmart and pick up one of those filters. It would be simple to rig up in a cooler. It might even hang over the side just like an aquarium if the wall isn’t crazy thick.
I have this $12 one that works for 5-15 gallons.
I bought the tank new for $14 from Walmart too.
$7 worth of replacement filters will last the winter and probably more for me since I swap half of the water periodically on longer trips.
The minnows in the tank cost more than the three combined!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Aqua-Culture-10-Gallon-Glass-Aquarium/144433503
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>john23 wrote:</div>
Bman, I assume you still have to change the water every so often, even with a filter? How frequently? I have an Engel but it’s still necessary to change the water every 5 days or so. I’d love to not do that.It been running for a solid month now.
When I go fishing I take about half the tank with me (so not to shock the minnows). If it’s just a day trip I dump them and the water I took with right back in.
If I’m going on a mutli-day trip I top off the aquarium out of the city tap before I leave. Replacing the water I took for the minnow bucket (I run the water until it gets cold-cold, from the ground)
The water I take with me gets pretty funky in the shack after 4 days with just an aerator. When the minnows come home I dump my 5 gallon Gatorade bucket into a colander (noodle strainer) to catch the minnows and dump them into the aquarium (which is full and clean from when I left)
It’s an awesome method that I just kind of winged, and it’s been working great!
Like I said, it’s easily already paid for itself.
One of these filters would work great with your Engel. You’d want to change your water when you get home if you’re going on a multi-day trip.
Thanks for the advice. I just ordered a $7 filter on Amazon to try on the Engel. We’ll see!
Yeah buddy 
Report back with your results 
3 gallon bucket and a fridge. Weekly water changes with cold, dechlorinated, tap water. The longest I’ve kept them like that was 3 and a half months before I used them all up. The only thing special I do is dechlorinate. I use Seachem Prime. No aeration. No food. No filter.
The real key is keeping the water as cold as possible without freezing including during water changes. Temperature shock will kill them before anything else.
The absolute best minnow tanks are continuously fed fresh cold water with excess water overflowing down a drain. No food. No filter.
3 gallon bucket and a fridge. Weekly water changes with cold, dechlorinated, tap water. The longest I’ve kept them like that was 3 and a half months before I used them all up. The only thing special I do is dechlorinate. I use Seachem Prime. No aeration. No food. No filter.
The real key is keeping the water as cold as possible without freezing including during water changes. Temperature shock will kill them before anything else.
The absolute best minnow tanks are continuously fed fresh cold water with excess water overflowing down a drain. No food. No filter.
I’ve always done something similar (minus the treatment), but with a one gallon container and less minnows than I have now. It definitely buys some time.
It helps by slowing their metabolism down, but as you said you still have to change the water on a regular basis, but not quite as often. Even cold minnows takes the poops 
(and consume O2)
Now if a guy had room for an aquarium…IN a fridge + a filter = absolute minimal maintenance and they’d live longer than a cat 
Just throw a filter and aerator in the crisper drawer, B-man 
Just throw a filter and aerator in the crisper drawer, B-man
I actually tried using the crisper drawer for a worm bed one year. Filled it with newspaper, dirt, leaves, and 6 dozen crawlers.
It worked but the tolerances were too loose and some would crawl out. This was obviously in “my” fridge in the garage, not Momma’s in the house lol
Fish keeping is not cryptic nor does it require a fishery biologist college degree to be successful even in the heat of summer. Keeping fish alive and healthy at home is actually very simple. Just don’t suffocate, insure safe oxygenation for all the fish and change the livewell water occasionally to control metabolic waste.
The availability of dissolved oxygen (DO) is usually the first factor that limits stocking density (lbs. of bait per 1 gal livewell water) ESPECIALLY EVERY SUMMER. Safe continuous oxygenation (not to be confused with aeration primarily used to off-gas dissolved CO2 and ammonia gas) is the most vital water quality parameter when keeping and transporting live bait fish or any other kind of fish.
1. You must insure optimal continuous safe oxygenation, the most important water quality parameter – *maintain 100% DO Saturation or greater continuously 24/7 regardless of the stocking density: 1.0 – 3.0 lbs. of live bait fish per gallon of livewell water.
2. You must change your livewell water every 1-2 days to control metabolic waste depending on stocking density to control dissolved CO2, acid water pH, ammonia, nitrites and most of the big chunks of feces, scales and urine.
3. Take the dead and dying bait out of the livewell 3-4 times daily.
4. Feed fish vey sparingly for extended captivity
5. Use non-iodized granulated salt to aid fish’s osmoregulation for freshwater species.
The fall, winter and spring months, while the livewell water is cool/cold, keeping/transporting live bait fish, keeping it alive and healthy is simple and easy. Mechanical aeration and essential electrolytes (non-iodized granulated salt) and a little Amquel to buffer ammonia will keep your water quality in excellent condition during these seasons.
In the summer months when the water is warm/hot, extra effort must be considered to insure minimal safe oxygenation because ambient air only contains 21% oxygen. The greatest water quality problems keeping and transporting live bait fish are predictable every summer… oxygen deprivation, suffocation and higher bait mortality while in captivity. For years this was a serious problem for some fishermen.
Regarding live bait keeping, aeration, oxygenation and water quality supplements, these 2 sites may interest you.
The use of feed and water additives for live fish transport https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/raq.12239
GUIDE TO FISHING AERATION AND OXYGEN SYSTEMS http://OXYEDGE-CHUM.COM/UNDERSTANDING-THE-CONCEPT-BETWEEN-LIVEWELL-AERATION-AND-LIVEWELL-OXYGENATION/
Nothing to it…
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