minnows

[himjunkie13]

How long have you guys had minnows alive for? I've got some goin on a week and a half and am wondering if this is normal or not.

[Northlander]

I have kept Chubs for weeks. Shiners and sucker minnows only maybe a week of changing water twice daily and keeping just cold enough to put a thin layer of ice on top.

[TC123]

I was wondering the same thing. I've had some in the basement in a 5 gal. bucket for 1 month now. I've been using them when I go out and bringing them back. I've tried to change the water every week or so and give them some tropical fish flake food every now and then (not very often though - maybe once per week).

[AQUAJOE]

Minnows will last as long as you change the water often.

When changing water try to make sure that the new water is within a few degrees of the water they came out of. (decreases shock and stress)

Keeping oxygen levels high increases there chances if survival.

For longer holding you can also supplement them with regular freshwater fish food. Just a small pinch every other day.

Water temps 58 to 60 worked best in my experience.

Just my 02 cents.

[himjunkie13]

Thats the weirdest thing, i havent changed the water for almost 2 weeks now and they're still lively.

[hanson]

You've got some good minnows man!

I wish I had that kind of luck with some of my minnows.

[AQUAJOE]

Did you pee in the bucket or something??

[Captain B.R.K]

I think they are faulty minnows. Take them back to the shop and ask for your refund.

Better yet, just give them to me and I'd take care of them for ya

That's a pretty long time to be saving minnows.....maybe your username should have been minnowsaver

[flysndie]

Several years ago I contacted a bait wholesaler, as to what was the best way to keep minnows at home.They said to keep them cool and aerated. Change water 1-2 times a week. As far feeding them, They can last several weeks with out food.I personally use a fish tank pump w/weighted hose.leave it running 7/24 in the garage so I do not hear it. If you can not change water that often add snow to your bucket.Ihave also discovered that if you keep your minnows in a black bucket verses a white bucket,your minows will keep there color better. Good Luck

[maj330]

I noticed that on the one or two dead minnows that I remove from the bucket each day, they have significant gnaw marks on them. Yesterday, one dead minnow I pulled out of the bucket had about 1/2 inch of spine showing from the dorsal back to the tail. I am experimenting now with some tropical fish food to see if they will stop eating each other. Not sure why I get what seems like 5 dozen minnows when I buy a scoop.

[jiggingjoe]

I used to scoop Minny's at a local bait shop years ago ( paid in free bait), some times when the population level was high the minows would eat the dead or dying minows. We would scoop out the live minows from one tank to another and find all kinds of complete skeletons floating on the bottom of the tanks. If we spread the minows out into two or more tanks so the population levels were lower the minows wouldn't eat each other.

Joe

[metrojoe]

Two weeks with no clean water? I'm surprised you don't have fish soup.

[P.DONA]

I"m lucky enough to have a stream nearby. We have a plastic 55 gal drum with a locking cover on it. I have shiners, and chubs last from Nov till next spring... They are the liveliest bait you'll find, and acclimated to the water, too. I don't feed them anything. I would recomend putting 1/4" holes in a 5 gal bucket and dropping it in a stream, but you need to acclimate the store bought bait, first. slowly decrease the temp on them.

We also Catch our own, although We've tried about 4 times with minimal luck, so far. Pretty soon all the coves will be locked up solid..