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Year round bait tank?
Does anyone have a year round bait tank at home? Since remembering about the mosquito fish I've been planning to set up a cattle water trough on the north side of my shop at home and give them a try. I would need to set up a filtration system similar to an ornamental pond, I guess...
I would need to set up a breeding tank as well, I guess....
I would need some chemicals to treat the water, then some food for them.
I guess this is gonna be a mess..... LOL BUT, I have to drive out of the way to get GOOD minnows. I can buy them on the way to my normal fishing spots but they are not well cared for and half die before I can use them. The gas station I buy my boat gas from is not a bait shop, but they only sell 100% gas, so that's the only place I fill up.
If not for the hassle of having to stop and get minnows I would probably fish with them more often.
So, back to my project, does anyone have any tips for setting something like this up? If not, I'm not opposed to winging it. LOL
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Get set up correctly or don't do it at all. Its a lot of work plus daily tending to or they'll die. Get plenty of Better Bait & fish food. I use the aquarium method of filters, extra sump tank with charcoal filters, takes about 2 weeks for water to get "balanced", I.e., alkalinity, ammonia. Get some algae eaters from Wally or Petco, $7 each! Insulate tank, get heaters & coolers, fountiain pumps, air pumps, etc on Amazon. You'll spent a couple of hundred dollars..
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That will buy a lot of bait!!
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I've already got most of the hardware. The tank, filtration system, air pump, etc... My mother has a large ornamental pond and has used several different filtration systems. I'll get one that she doesn't use any longer. I've got a roll of left over "double bubble" insulation from an addition at our business. I'll wrap my tank in several layers of that for insulation. I've got a large old aquarium that I'm going to set up inside my shop to use for a breeding tank.
All I'm really going to have to purchase is chemicals and fish food. And a heater for winter.
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There is a thread over on the live bait side called bait keeping 101 everything you need to know is in there! May have to go back a couple pages to find it though
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Thanks, I'll see if I can find it.
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And if you live in Texas you can almost forget about it. We did everything mentioned above but cannot keep the water cool enough to keep the minnow alive.
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You can google it and build a cooling system with a mini-fridge. I don't know if it will handle a tank that size though.
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Makes sure you have no corners (i.e. rounded edges). I would think you would want an aquarium chiller (or modify a glycol chiller (beer) or window AC unit into a chiller).
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I use a 75 gal watering trough by Rubbermaid. Bucket filter like your going to use. Main thing is keeping water changed in a timely manner and don’t change it all at one time. Send Rees Guide a pm. He did have the better bait chemical at a really good price.
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