Keeping Minnows at Home

[ricky]

Just add a pinch of salt to the water,I know this sounds crazy but it works for me. Older man told me about the little trick.Before I leave the lake I fill my minnow bucket with lake water then when I get home I just add just a little
pinch of salt, have keep them up to 5 days without having to do anything else to them.I'm sure if I changed the water I could get them to live longer than 5 days. Just try it and see if it helps good luck guys .

Someone that sells bait told me to use uniodized salt only.

[rango]

i have a storage tank made from a 55 gal. plastic drum. its filtered and aerated with a yard pond pump that runs off ac. ive been using it for a year and half now. if i keep the filter clean, the water stays clear and the minnows alive. ive been keeping minnows with no problem.. i never feed em. they feed on the dead ones that sink to the bottom. the ones that die and float i scoop out occasionally. i usually have a few die after i come back from a trip. i figger its minnows that was stressed out cause of being toted around in minnow buckets. if u do a lot of crappie fishing, id reccomend you fix you up a storage tank. it will pay off with minnows saved and reused.

[pescatore]

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[Moose1am]

Glad I could help you. I had some previous experience in raising fish in aquariums.

I just finished cleaning my aquariums filter intake screen. I feed my crappie baloney and some bits get caught in the screen and clog it up. It's a nasty job cleaning that old baloney out of the screen but someone has to do it.

Glad you got things straighten out.

Thanks Moose. We can buy them by the pound and 1/2 pound here and save quite a bit on minnow costs. On a good day we will fish up around 1/2 a pound.

[slabbandit]

We keep 'em in a 250 gallon insulated milk tank and they keep fine. Usually 6 lbs or more at a time is how many we will keep. They still need daily care like at least a 25% water change to lower the ammonia levels. A good balance of non-iodized cattle feed salt to restore their electrolytes and some Better Bait to remove any chlorine or other contaiminates from the water.

Don't feed unless they start looking thin. This only increases their waste production thus contaminating the water quicker.

If they are swimming back and forth in a school down from the surface then you are doing everything right.

[Uncle Bob]

I just came into a free 10 gal. fish tank with all the bells and whistles . I am going to try using it for my minners. It should keep them alive for as long as nessesary , I will experiment with fish foods and see which one they like and post the results. Other than that I keep them in my bucket , changing the water a couple times a day.

[crappiequeennc]

We keep them in a minnow bucket that has small holes in the top of it....And put them in the goldfish pond.We put a rock in the bottom of the bucket to hold it down.They are always alive the next time we use them....We also feed them the goldfish food.

[hogpaw]

I sure appreciate all the help. This has given me some good ideas.