Fed up with minnows

[kc0myy]

I have 2 questions for you guys.

1. I brought new suckers on monday I have to keep them inside because they will freeze. because I had no where eles to keep them like I mean no where I live in a trailer. so I put my minnows outside about 1 hour before I go fishing to cool the water down. well today i did that. The my minnows where belly up. I have had this happen before. I would just bring them inside and warm up. but my question is. would bring outside from room temp outside to too much of a change of temp too fast where they would die? if so what have you othere guys done to keep them cool but not freezing up? and I do have a air pump too.

[Big Buck Buster]

I put all my bait in my frig. I can keep bait all winter this way.

[kc0myy]

I have no room and my parents will not let me keeps fish in there

[croixflats]

If you want to keep them cool throw them in one of those 1 or 2 gallon drinking coolers and throw ice in with them and put lid on. Makes a great bait hauler also.

[walleyematt]

put some snow or ice in them every so often

[Tom7227]

Spend a few bucks and buy an aquarium and a bit of fish food. They'll keep forever that way

[Jethro80]

Spend a few bucks and buy an aquarium and a bit of fish food. They'll keep forever that way

What kind of fish food have you had success with?

[fishersofmen]

Thats funny same problem here. I've got one minnow bucket frozen full of minnows in the garage that I don't want to bring in the house to thaw out. So now my new one is in the entry way full of dead minnows after 2 days because it's too warm. In the end my wife isn't to happy about the rotting, smelling minnows. I'm now taking into consideration all of the info on the other thread about using plastics!!

[Walleye One]

Stick them in the coldest part of your home, buy an aerator and change the water every other day.

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

or you can buy yourself a small fridge like what they would use for beer in a garage say and put them in there.. I like the fish tank idea which i have tried before but it becomes smelly and harder to maintain than you may think. I have the advantage of a garage heated to 60 degrees so i put them in the furthest corner next to the garage door and they stay perfect temp.. put a fish tank bubbler in there and some fish food every 3 days or so and they last for months.

Ryan

[pdk511]

Stick them in the coldest part of your home, buy an aerator and change the water every other day.

Yea, this is the best way to go. I bough 5 scoops of crappie minnows and 2 dozen suckers like a month ago and none of them have died. When you change the water, use lake water if you can.

[Capt. Russ]

Buy a nice fresh scoop of minnows each time you go fishing. Your bait shop owner needs to make a living too, and I'm sure he'll thank you for your business.

[ZEEK1223]

I do the aquarium bubbler. I have an entry way that stays warmer, but will freeze on really cold nights. When they freeze I will put my minnows on a rubber mat with plenty of fresh snow and ice on them with the bubbler.

[Tom7227]

Originally Posted By: Tom7227

Spend a few bucks and buy an aquarium and a bit of fish food. They'll keep forever that way

What kind of fish food have you had success with?

Just the regular flake food they sell in the pet shop. Doesn't take much and it seems like the minnows need a couple chances at it before they eat it readily. I've had some fatheads in the aquarium since Christmas eve and they're doing fine - that is until the bass get them.

[smeese]

If you use tap water let it sit first overnight so the clorine evaporates out of it.

[redtail]

Get yourself a cooler - drill a hole in the lid the diameter of your airline, feed the airline through hole, woohoo, howdy do. You'll need at least a 1 gallon of water to keep them.

It's not the chage in temp that's killing your minnows, it the lack of oxygen available to them. A cooler keeps the temp stable, the bubbler adds oxy, and you need to change the water every few days. Feeding is optional, but remember - minnows p oop just like everything else, and p oop eats oxygen.

[vikingmeatwad]

A few replies to some others on here.

Fresh 5 gallon bucket of water every other day.

Add dechlorinator when filling bucket, Cheap at the big W store

Add fish food, Cheap at the big W store

Get one of those battery aerators, I run mine a couple times a day for a little while.

No Way I am buying bait every time I go fishing to buy fatheads/shiners/crappie minnows but do support your local bait shop as with less of them it is harder to find good bait!

[Toot]

I use an insulated minnow bucket with the areator. I killed a few scoops of minnows with the tap water so now every time I go fishing, I change the water in the bucket. Great excuse to go fishing too if needed.