Pet minnows

Tired of going to baitshops whenever I need a scoop, and lots of used aquariums online. Seeing if your typical fathead/sucker/ etc would survive in an aquarium setup. Filter, bubbler, etc.

Are they more dirty than your typical aquarium fish species? Had regular fish before, goldfish, tetras, etc. before and no big deal cleaning those things once in a while, plus the kids would enjoy checking them out in the house. Be nice to have 4-5 scoops laying around when I need them.

Not concerned with costs, factor in the gas to go get bait, which isn’t close to me at all, it might pay off in couple years, but again it’s more for convenience than cost savings. My bubbler i got for the 5 gallon bucket and the constant water changes can’t seem to keep anything alive to well.

Thoughts?

The only trouble I’ve had holding suckers (never held any fathead) is the chlorine from the city water. I haven’t had consistent luck with the “treatments” but filling 5 gallon buckets and leaving them sit for a day or so worked well.

I did that with the old house and agree its the way to go. Now I take the dehumidifier water and dump that in, which worked well until this time of year when that gets turned off.

Just seems I need to dump out half the water and refill every couple days to keep them well. Which is a PIA. Want simplicity, I’m lazy man.

I used to have two northerns in an aquarium. In a separate aquarium I kept fatheads for food. They survived just fine but were super dirty to keep.
DT

I have thought about doing this also but I have heard that they are dirty and become a pain. Still think I should set something up so I’m not throwing away minnows at the end of the day.

I have kept lots of minnows over the years. Suckers, fatheads, rainbows(gotta keep rainbows covered or they will ALL jump out).

55 gallon Rubbermaid tote in the garage with a good aquarium pump and bubbler stone is all you need. Change the water every few days when it gets cloudy. A little “better bait minnow holding formula” added to city water handles the chlorine. It is what the commercial guys use – and way cheaper than aquarium tablets.

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Timmy wrote:

Change the water every few days when it gets cloudy

This is exactly what I’m trying to stay away from. That’s too much maintenance for bait IMO.

Those who have had aquariums, what kind of cleanings are we talking here, 1x a month?, 2x a month, weekly?

If they are baitshop minnows – and your only holding several dozen, you can probably get a week out of them per water change. Fresh trapped minnows soil the water very rapidly because their bellies are usually full. A 55 gallon container really helps with the dilution ratio……

Timmy’s idea is about the best you can do. There is alot of waist from minnows, that’s why bait shops always have a continuous flow of water.

A normal aquarium should have water changes done at least every other week. It all depends on what type of fish you have and how much you feed them. Most people way over feed their fish.

I have breed and raised several types of fish, Angel, Discus, tetras, and water changes are done weekly with water that has set for the week to leech out the chlorine and come to the same temp as the water in the tank. Change about 50% of the water.

Water temp is very key with minnows, keep them as cool as possible and make sure the fresh water that you add is very close to the same temp or you will shock them.

Going to pickup smaller tank couple days, but it has a filtration system for double its size. Should be interesting how it works, Ill keep it in unfinished room downstairs where it will stay nice and cool year round. Probably start small with 3-4scoops of fatheads and go from there.

Will report back with results. Now i need to convince one of the kids its a legitimate chore to clean the bait tank.

I’ve raised large mouth, blue gill and catfish in my little backyard pond with a good pond filter and a small water fall. With minnows sounding like they are pretty dirty, the water to minnow ratio is probably a big deal.

Do you have enough room for 2 tanks? 1 tank to hold the minnows another tank to hold filtration medium. Filtration medium pea rock sand. Old pictures from a 3 tank system just down size for your needs. We kept shiners in one tank fat heads in another and leeches in the other. We kept bull heads with the fat heads ounce but the fat heads disappeared.

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