I use a 55 gallon blue plastic barrel, cut the top out of it and installed a ball valve drain in the bottom for water changing. I have a dual outlet aerator I bought from Walmart that runs on 110 volt. I bought two weighted air stones from Academy Sports, the weight keeps them on the bottom. I also run a 75 gallon external 3 stage bio canister filter as well. I got the barrel for free and with the other accessorizes this setup ran me roughly $80.00, the canister filter was $48 free shipping, no tax. As far as minnows I started off using it to store leftover minnows I didn't use up in a single trip. I ordered 4 pounds from Anderson Minnow Farm in Lonoke and had them shipped overnight about 6 weeks ago, bout time to make another order. I would call Andersons and see what there minimum is, if they have one. It looks like your less then an hour from them. You can send them a message to here is the link to their site Anderson Minnows If your only going to keep 2 or 3 pounds the filter probably isn't necessary, you could do a 50% water change every 3 days. I keep up to 5 pounds with my setup and changed the water about every 7 - 10 days.