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I Hate dumping those expensive minnows on shore only to buy more the following weekend. I usally try to give my leftovers to a fellow angler
With the ice starting to thicken up around here im hoping to get away more often. Id like to try keeping my minnows alive at home. Does any one do this? What tips can you give?
I have a insulated style bait bucket with a battery powered airater. Im going to use a small air pump and stone at home in place of the battery.
All I have ever done is kept the water cold and as fresh as possible. If you get your water from a well, you can just change the water every few days and you are good to go. If you are on city water, I would recommend bringing home a jug of water from where you were fishing and use that to refresh the minnow water.
I store my minnows in a Coleman insulated cooler jug instead of a bait bucket. I put the jug in the garage when I leave for work and put the jug back in the basement when I get home. It's a system than has worked very well for me.
I would never use treated water from the city. I have a marine fish aquarium and use RO filtered water to replace the evaporated water. I will also use this water to replace the water in the minnow pail.
Once or twice every two days. Watch out you don't shock and kill them though, seen that happen a few times I keep my pain in the garage and on really cold night keep the aerorater running to prevent it all from freezing up.
I have 3 dozen minnows in my beer fridge that have been there since Dec. 27th with no aerator, but I do find that it's important to keep them in a large container...mine is a 5galllon pail..they seen to like the water temp of the fridge...I use plain well water and I only clean the water every 5 days...make sure you scoop the dead ones out..
You can use tap water just condition it b4. You can buy the chemicals at any pet store.
I use a big plastic container probably around 10 gallons, with a ac air pump during the week and I leave it in the basement. the night b4 going fishing I put them in a 5 gallon pail outside so they can get used to the cold slowly. The morning before leaving I just put some of the cold water into my cooler that I use as minnow pail. then transfer the minnows. I have been doing that for 2 Winters now and I haven't lost too many minnows. I change the water every second day.
Scoop the dead ones is probably the most important thing to do.
Thanks guys. Last night I placed the bait bucket beside the front door where its a little drafty The air pump is still running on 2 D copper top batterys 18 hrs going still. Im heading the pet store today to purchase a small air pump and stone. Then these little guys will go into the garage. On real cold nights I may bring em back inside?
I've done exactly the same as Wallyboss. Treated my water with pet store chemical treat, and dumped the little fellas in a 10 gallon aquarium and left them in my family room. My wife was a little pee pee at first but hey ... after a while she got used to looking at them.
I used a fairly good filtration system, left over from one of my kids "Guppy experiments" and off it goes.
Minnows love fish food. They dislike any movement in the room .. and are very aware .. so to prevent any mishaps throw a cover over the tank when you are using the room. They also try to escape, so ensure the tank is covered to prevent "jumpage".
No need to climatize them in the garage ... these dudes are happy just to be alive. I saved a bundle on minnows last yr. just by doing this.
They lasted so long that some were dumped in my "pond" at the front of the house in the summer.
I keep mine in one of those plastic ice cream containers. I have two lids, one with holes which I use while its in the fridge (had a mishap with the woman finding dead minnows that had escaped - oops, I was caught).
They keep for weeks in my vegetable tray in the fridge (I also have worms in there from June which are still alive, big fat and juicy too!), I change the water twice a week with normal tap water (I have conditioner for my regular fish aquarium, but don't bother with it). I check daily and remove the odd dead one.
When I leave the house with them, I put the lid with no holes in it on the container, that way it don't splash anywhere. I also keep it in a small cooler, fits perfect, and they don't freeze. I tried the foam minnnow buckets, I was carrying it last year when the bottom gave out. Needless to say, dead minnows were on the menu that day.
I keep my pain in the garage and on really cold night keep the aerorater running to prevent it all from freezing up.
The air pump is still running on 2 D copper top batterys 