shiners?

[walleyedude]

How do you guys keep you shiners alive? i spent about 12 bucks on shiners this week and i only have like 4 left alive, i dont know what to do.

[GatorBait]

If you can, put an aerator in your bucket and keep the water changed with cold water. Any water that is warmer than what they come out of will kill them instantly. I have a Soda cooler, tub type with lid on top that keeps a good amount of water in it and I can keep my air line on the bottom. They keep well as long as I change the water daily.

If you are keeping them in your minnow bucket, an aerator is the only way to keep them for an extended period. I also toss some fish food in there once in awhile if I have a bunch that I'll be keeping for a long time. Good Luck

GatorBait

[Northlander]

Keep them cool and keep pumping them air. Change water regularly. Extreme water changes kill them so add the colder/warmer water to them slowly.

[markzeke]

I bought a regular aerotor you use for your house aquarium at Wal-Mart for $7. I used goop to secure the stone to the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and I mounted the aerator on top of the lip. I drilled a small hole for the hose to run through. I have used it now for 3 years and the stone has not broken yet... When I am traveling, I got a small inverter I use to run the aerator. When I get home all I have to do is plug it in out in the garage...Like everyone else has said, keep the water clean and it should work out for you....

[tonyjor]

I keep mine in the fridge with the aerator cord out of the door. It hardly breaks the seal so the fridge doesnt leak cool air out. I had a shiner left over from my last outing last winter and I threw him in my aquarium. He's close to 7" long and 2" high now. Should catch me a decent fish on him this winter

[EJ]

I assume you are not mixing minnows. A few fatheads can kill a bucket of shiners in a couple of hours. I just keep the shiners in a large bucket of cold water and change 1/2 of the water twice a day. Throw a little snow or slush in once in a while.

EJ

[CC Rocks]

Betcha gona feel bad when you put your favorite minnow down a hole to be eaten! Can you grow me one about 6 inches, Ill pick it up in about 4 months for opener!

[tonyjor]

He's been well-fed and happy for almost a year in the tank....it's his time

[Bjjams]

One thing about changing your water is if you can help it don't use city water or soft water. In my experiences that seems to kill them faster. I always change the water in my minnows right before I leave the lake just for that reason.

[GatorBait]

I was reading some last night and found an article stating that if you fill a 5-gal bucket up with water from your sink. Your suppose to let it sit over night next to where ever your minnows are, and this supposedly releases the chloride out of the water and lets the temperature be the same as what your minnows are in.

Unfortunately, most people have to rely on city water to use as I don't have a creek or lake next to me. Every bait shop in my area uses the same water so I really don't see or have I ever had a problem with this.

[caster]

Like others have said, get yourself an aerator. You will be amazed at how long they will live if you change the water and keep it aerated. I have an aerated bait bucket for traveling/fishing and a 110v for at home.

As far as the water, I used to try and fill two buckets, one for the minnows and one for the city water to neutralize (temp & chlorine). Now I just dump the old out and fill the bucket right from the tap. I have done this with all types of minnows, even when mixed together. Shiners are a little more touchy about rapid changing water temps but I have been keeping fatheads alive for about four weeks now. I kept the bucket in the garage last week and it had a good skin of ice so the water was really cold. On Friday I filled a bucket with water out of the tap and poured the fathead into the warmer water. They were frantically racing around in the water for a few seconds and then started to roll on their sides. I had the aerator in the water and after about 15 minutes I looked in the bucket and they were all swimming around like normal.

My experience has been that it didn't matter if I when through the effort to minimize shock or not, as long as I aerated my bait and changed the water, I can keep them alive as long as I want.

Good luck.

[tipupguy]

if you got bait from the day before and your buying some fresh shiners you should dump most of the water out before walking into the bait shop that water temp. wont be the same in the tanks at the bait store