Rosy Red Minnows

[wigglewart]

Ayone have any experience raising reds for bait? It's my understanding the males protect the eggs til they hatch then leaves the fry on their own. Was told the adults won't eat the fry but if they get hungry anything is possible. Any insight would be great, was thinking about setting up a tank this winter.

[canoe]

How big is you tank. Minnow farms grow em in very large lakes.

[wigglewart]

Tank will be 75 gal. Was thinking about starting with 100 or so minnows to monitor success, then move larger fry to a half acre pond to mature.

[cricket george]

Wigglewart - Let me save you from failure. Forget the 75 gallon tank. Do you own the 1/2 acre pond? If so, then get ahold of 3 wooden shipping pallets, add 4 small pieces of 2 x 4's ( 3.5" x 3.5")on each corner of each pallet and nail. Now nail all 3 pallets together so they are stacked one on top of the other. Next, strap a 55 gallon barrel to the top pallet so everything floats. In the Spring when the water warms to around 60 degs, then float the pallets over several feet of water and anchor to the shore with a couple ropes stretched around a couple T posts. This spawning structure will be above the level of any crawfish from accessing the rosie's eggs and cannibalizing all the eggs. The rosies will spawn at least 5 times during the warm season. I would start with a minimum of 500 adult rosies. I anticipate that your first year you should produce around 60,000 rosies and that is probably conservative. If you start with less than 500 adults then it will take longer to see good results. I stocked aprox 1,800 in a 1/4 acre pond this fall for the Spring explosion. You will not be able to successfully provide sufficient food and room for your 100 minnows to survive and breed in a 75 gallon tank.
The rosies spawn upside down on the wood so provide the maximum amount of surface area you can with the pallets. Rosies are real easy to trap with cattle cubes or other bait.

I have done this before and the nice thing is that once you get a good supply in your pond, EVERYBODY wants your minnows. Been there, done that. If you are going to do it then do it ONE time and do it right.

[cricket george]

Ahhhhhh, make 2 pallet spawning structures for your 1/2 acre lake. I have 2 structures going in my 1/4 or 1/3 acre pond. I wasted 2 years because I did not know the crawdads were in my pond until this fall. In 3 days I trapped 15+ dozen 2.5" to 3" crawdads just perfect for fishing for Spotted bass etc. Now I have the best of both worlds.

[NIMROD]

Make sure pond is fish free before trying to raise Rosey Reds Minnows or they may be ate up .

[canoe]

Wigglewart - Let me save you from failure. Forget the 75 gallon tank. Do you own the 1/2 acre pond? If so, then get ahold of 3 wooden shipping pallets, add 4 small pieces of 2 x 4's ( 3.5" x 3.5")on each corner of each pallet and nail. Now nail all 3 pallets together so they are stacked one on top of the other. Next, strap a 55 gallon barrel to the top pallet so everything floats. In the Spring when the water warms to around 60 degs, then float the pallets over several feet of water and anchor to the shore with a couple ropes stretched around a couple T posts. This spawning structure will be above the level of any crawfish from accessing the rosie's eggs and cannibalizing all the eggs. The rosies will spawn at least 5 times during the warm season. I would start with a minimum of 500 adult rosies. I anticipate that your first year you should produce around 60,000 rosies and that is probably conservative. If you start with less than 500 adults then it will take longer to see good results. I stocked aprox 1,800 in a 1/4 acre pond this fall for the Spring explosion. You will not be able to successfully provide sufficient food and room for your 100 minnows to survive and breed in a 75 gallon tank.
The rosies spawn upside down on the wood so provide the maximum amount of surface area you can with the pallets. Rosies are real easy to trap with cattle cubes or other bait.

I have done this before and the nice thing is that once you get a good supply in your pond, EVERYBODY wants your minnows. Been there, done that. If you are going to do it then do it ONE time and do it right.

Very nice article cricket. I knew that 75 gal was not enough but I didnt know about the pallet part.

[bfish]

Rosy Reds are just fathead minnows (Pimephales promlas) that have less pigment (like albino), care for them should be similar, as long as precautions are taken due to the missing pigmentation.

[ShilohRed]

Thanks for the tip, I have one old stock pond that is 1/2 acre then one that is 1.7 acre's. Plan on stocking one with Reds and one for Big Striper minnows. I also have one other but its down by the river. It has minnows in it, but has grown up and hard to get any out of it. Last time I was throwing the cast net to get some of the big ones for Striper fishing. I was getting 10 to 12" minnows and even a 10 lb largemouth.
Used to be a 5 acre lake near me, the man put in 50 lbs of minnows. Let them grown for 1 year then stocked it with bass and bream. You could take a wire minnow dipnet and fill a 5 gallon bucket in 2 dips. Last I heard he poisoned the lake, as the bait fish had taken it over.
Pete

[Brush Buster]

Wigglewart - Let me save you from failure. Forget the 75 gallon tank. Do you own the 1/2 acre pond? If so, then get ahold of 3 wooden shipping pallets, add 4 small pieces of 2 x 4's ( 3.5" x 3.5")on each corner of each pallet and nail. Now nail all 3 pallets together so they are stacked one on top of the other. Next, strap a 55 gallon barrel to the top pallet so everything floats. In the Spring when the water warms to around 60 degs, then float the pallets over several feet of water and anchor to the shore with a couple ropes stretched around a couple T posts. This spawning structure will be above the level of any crawfish from accessing the rosie's eggs and cannibalizing all the eggs. The rosies will spawn at least 5 times during the warm season. I would start with a minimum of 500 adult rosies. I anticipate that your first year you should produce around 60,000 rosies and that is probably conservative. If you start with less than 500 adults then it will take longer to see good results. I stocked aprox 1,800 in a 1/4 acre pond this fall for the Spring explosion. You will not be able to successfully provide sufficient food and room for your 100 minnows to survive and breed in a 75 gallon tank.
The rosies spawn upside down on the wood so provide the maximum amount of surface area you can with the pallets. Rosies are real easy to trap with cattle cubes or other bait.

I have done this before and the nice thing is that once you get a good supply in your pond, EVERYBODY wants your minnows. Been there, done that. If you are going to do it then do it ONE time and do it right.

Very impressive to say the least. Thanks for sharing.