Thread: That Time of the Year Again........Live Bait

Hardin's fish farm is south of Calhoun City, MS. Next time at Grenada or close I get a few pounds to use. I'm seeing a few pickle barrels on marketplace, about half of a 55 gallon barrel. They have removable lids. Should be good for a few days camp and fish trip.

Originally Posted by canebreaker

Hardin's fish farm is south of Calhoun City, MS. Next time at Grenada or close I get a few pounds to use. I'm seeing a few pickle barrels on marketplace, about half of a 55 gallon barrel. They have removable lids. Should be good for a few days camp and fish trip.

I use to use crushed oyster shells from the feed store in a container with a overflow installed as a filter medium. It worked very well. I had the smallest pond pump Lowes sold down in the bottom of my tank circulating the water up to the container with the crushed shells allowing the water to return by falling from above into the tank with some splash. The falling water allowed ammonia to evaporate into the air helping to remove it from the water. A bacteria grows on the shells that consumes the ammonia & nitrogen added to the water by the shiners. I went to the Koi Filter but my water quality really didn't improve over the oyster shell filter system.

That said you have to expect die off unless you use a ammonia treatment or partial water changes until the bacteria has time enough to grow. Usually 2-3 weeks for a good colony big enough to clean the water.

I worked at a restaurant about 1990 and got lots of oyster shells. At home we would crush and boil them before use. Hard and extra work but free.
Bacteria is in them for a saltwater tank, the bacteria and salt needs boiled out for a freshwater tank.

I noticed the water starting to get cloudy from the nitrites discharged from the minnows. I'm feeding them a palm full of floating catfish food every other day now. The partial water change was forced because I used a old open bottle of algecide in the tank. My bad. I use to be able to buy a Barley based one that stayed in the fridge but it's not available locally now. I'm going to see what Tractor Supply carries for Fish Pond care today.

If your holding tank water starts to become cloudy get right on treating it as the cloudy water has toxins to your baitfish. A 1/3 water change at a time done over several days will tune up your baitfish as you get the nitrites under control.

Regular feedings help the baitfish grow, by buying small baitfish in the spring and feeding thru summer your baitfish grow along with the natural baitfish supply in the wild.

I did another water change today and the tank is looking very good. We should be working on the video on how to tease Crappie with shiners soon.