What do you feed minnows to keep them alive longer?

[Dubleaa]

At times it's 3 - 5 days between outings and while minnows (normally crappie minnows) aren't that terribly expensive, it's a shame to throw the remainder out after one use. I change the water periodically and have a bubbler for oxygen improvement and I still lose quite a few after about a week. The little guys gotta be hungry aren't they? Bread crumbs, tropical fish food, ??

[LightningBG]

Most people dont feed them anything. Are you keeping the water cool? Is it city water you're using? and if so, are you letting it sit out for a day before you introduce the minnows to it?

[Dubleaa]

Kept at 50 degrees in heated garage and water change is done with melted snow

[amateurfishing]

look up topic "saving minnows" that i started, is on page 6 i think, lots of great info there

[dfv87]

Bait shop cautioned me about "bubblers" as they keep the minnows too active and producing waste which fowls the water (not sure if it is a line but I don't use one)... I have found keeping cool water and using snow to be good for up to a week or 2 with minimal loss if any. After that you should be fishing anyway...

[mixxedbagg]

I feed 'em crappies...am I doing this fishing thing all backwards?

[PurpleFloyd]

If you want to keep them alive for long periods of time then you just need to treat them just like you would treat fish from the pet store.

The lower the temp, the lower their activity will be so things like feeding and changing water can be stretched out a bit longer but basically they need food, air and you need a way to either remove the excess waste they produce by changing the water fairly frequently or you need to use a mechanical filter that will break down the waste biologically and maintain the quality of the water.

I used to have a tropical fish hatchery in my basement and still have a few tanks including a 125 gallon that now have minnows and chubs in when I have them. This is kept at room temperature with a filter running and as long as the numbers are kept low enough it doesn't require too many water changes as the filter does the work. But I do feed them flake food, tropical fish pellets and also meat that gets ground up and frozen. Right now the food they get is some that came from a few pheasant breasts that were too shot up to cook. They were instead sent through the grinder with some pellet food added to it.

[bikeoutback]

I was told once throw 1 or 2 pieces of dog food in and they will eat that as it breaks down.

[Ed Carlson]

Adding food increases the risk stimulating ammonia growth if you do feed them. Ammonia eats oxygen and also produced bacteria that forms the "Ick" you see eating away your bait. Both amoia and outside bacteria are undesirable in your bait containment system.

It is best to concentrate on maintaining high water quality and good oxygen levels as well as maintaining a water temp of 48 to 55 degrees in your system.

Rotation of bait in your containment system is also key. Out with the old, in with the new stock. Keep old and new separated.

Also critical is remove any and all dead loss daily as that to produces ammonia and also eats oxygen.

[IamZombie]

Never thought about just melting snow for water.

I'll have to try that next time.

just fill up a 5gal bucket with snow and let it melt down?

[TooTallTom]

Hi Matt,

I usually just throw a few handsfull into the bucket before I leave the lake, and add one or two per day or two. In the city, it's important to try and get "clean" snow. No lemon-flavored stuff, or salty/ road-dirty stuff.

And always change the water as necessary.

[trapperdirk]

We also add a bit of softener salt to our tanks .

TD

[jackfishr]

Instead of bubble tabs, try using a couple cap fulls of Peroxide in your water. Works great. I have also done this in the summer with the live well.

[Twins Guy]

some good information here and generally good recommendations but not necessarily scientifically accurate. my credentials include 20 years of tropical fish keeping, biology background and a career in health care.

the biggest threats to bait/fish are poor water quality (specifically the accumulation of nitrogen based waste such as ammonia), and low oxygen levels. starvation is unlikely in the short term (less than a week or two).

colder water does a couple things to help with minnow survival. first-cold water actually has a greater oxygen carrying capacity. second colder water decreases metabolism which in turn decreases oxygen and food requirements.

aeration or "bubbling" helps to create circulation and in turn facilitate gas (oxygen for carbon dioxide) exchange and prevent low oxygen areas/pockets from forming. gas exchange will take place at the air/water interface regardless but aeration increases the surface area for that gas exchange. a ripple on the surface of the water does much the same so water pumps or "powerheads" which disturb the surface and circulate water are equally if not more effective.

maintaining good water quality is really pretty easy. but first understand that in your average minnow bucket your bait is more densely populated and in turn waste more concentrated than in any natural environment-which makes your job more challenging.

nitrogen-specifically ammonia (and later breakdown products nitrite and nitrate) are some of the toxic by-products of metabolism which accumulate in water leading to "poor water quality." all three are harmful to the body's organs and weaken the fish's immune system and make them more prone to parasites-specifically "ich" or the phonetic spelling "ick." this parasite is contagious and can be fatal. it often responds favorably to improved water quality and stable conditions. fish with weakened immune systems are also prone to bacterial and fungal infections.

ammonia and waste products can be removed from your minnow bucket in one of two ways. for most the simplest method is water changes-the more frequent the better. the colder you keep the water the less frequent they will be needed. stored in my unheated garage i can go ~4 days between water changes. kept in my basement at ~60 degrees i generally need to exchange water every couple days. municipal water supplies will be treated with chlorine and or chloramine (a chlorine and ammonia compound) which burn a fish's gills the same way breathing in chlorine gas and or ammonia vapors can be harmful or even lethal). water will degas if allowed to rest for 24-48 hours. you can also use aquarium dechlorinating drops which are cheap and act instantly so you can use tap water for your water changes. try to keep water temp consistent-think running from the sauna and doing a polar plunge-shockingly cold! in a fish which is WAY smaller than a human a change in environmental temperature can cause hypothermia or hyperthermia which can lead to proteins, enzymes and ultimately organs failing to function properly.

in aquariums nitrogen waste processing is often accomplished by "good" bacteria. you can set up a filter to culture this good bacteria which will help to keep nitrogenous wastes in check. water changes are still a part of regular aquarium maintenance though to remove other toxic accumulates.

my recommendations for keeping minnows/baitfish healthy:

1. keep em cool

2. keep them in the largest container you can accomodate-more water = diluted waste products and concentration is everything

3. don't worry about feeding them unless they start to look skinny (just introduces more waste)

4. use a bubbler/airpump/airstone or powerhead to create water circulation and improve gas exchange.

hope this helps!

tg

[Ed Carlson]

Never thought about just melting snow for water.

I'll have to try that next time.

just fill up a 5gal bucket with snow and let it melt down?

Just avoid any snow with Road Salts, it will kill them off.

Salt is good to a point. Be sure to use pure non chemically treated Solar Salt at a rate of 1/4 cub per 30 gallons will extend there life. I use it in my commercial bait tanks and it enhances the protective slime on the bait and thy are heather for it.

[BLACKJACK]

I just change the water regularly and keep the m cool. I have a good bait bucket where I can just latch the lid and pour all the water out, a couple of rinses and you're good to go. You can actually see the little black 'waste' pellets in the snow. With a water change every 3-4 days I can keep them alive for weeks. Its also important to not have too many minnows in the ucket.

One thing that I have noticed is that the minnows tend to get 'lighter' in color, I think its from the white foam inside the bucket, they're trying to blend in to their environment.

One question for you aqua experts. I have an aquarium with a couple of crappies and bullheads in it, periodically I dump in 10-20 minnows, but they don't seem to live long, if they're not eaten, they die and get sucked up against the intakes of the filters and pretty soon I have big gobs of fuzz growing. With the filters and aeration I would thing that they'd survive quite awhile but they don't.

[fishin4fun85]

wow...thanks for all the good info TwinsGuy!! makes me want to buy a large aquarium and save a few bones on buying bait everytime I go out

[stealth3350]

i personally use ------ red hot sauce put that ---- on everything!!! lol

[Twins Guy]

blackjack-i am guessing your aquarium temp is room temperature of the home right? how about the temp of the water your minnows are kept in-is it much colder? if so you might try acclimating them to the warmer temp before introducing them and putting them into shock (again think polar plunge). you can put them in a sealed plastic bag and float them in the aquarium for 30 minutes to help the temp equilibrate slowly.

do you do water changes on the aquarium? ever test your water quality? a lot of pet stores and tropical fish places will run some basic water tests for free (especially if you look like you are going to buy something;) could be that your aquarium water quality could use some improvement.

hth!

Rich

[Acemac]

minnows dont need to eat they are your prisoners untill they earn thier freedom... or get eaten

[mainbutter]

I've used extra minnows as feeders for various aquarium fish. Sometimes they didn't get eaten for a few days and stayed alive just fine. There was probably a little algae or pellets/flakes they might chew on as well, but I don't think you'd need to feed them for as little as 3-5 days.

Keeping minnows alive long term would necessitate feeding, pellets or flake food might work well but I'm not sure.

[Desperado]

To keep them alive, no need to feed them anything

To keep them longer, feed them Viagra

[jsnides]

buy a portable aerator for your ice fishing bucket i picked one up for $10 the other winter. works great to keep minnows active and alive a lot longer.

[jaymevb]

mine stay alive for months at a time without food. The trick is to keep them cold as possible without freezing. I keep a bubbler going and slowly increase the salt concentration with noniodinized salt and leave them in a non heated garage. between the salt and the bubbler i only need to add new warm water about once a week at most but i usually have to chip a hole to get any out. I figure the salt also makes them taste better i have tried to keep them alive in the summer and it's VERY hard unless you can keep them COLD.