minnow question

I have a question for those who keep tanks to store minnows. or more generally...what kind water do you use to keep them in.?? I mean..if I bought some at a bait place ,.and transferred them to a larger container with aeration..would I just use tap water?. Does it shock them to put them in river/lake water right straight from the bait place then into a live well? Just wondering how to keep them alive longer. The bait place here is closed on Mondays and that is my best available day to fish. Would they stay alive till Monday if you bought them Saturday and kept them in the live well on a boat?

Cool water and areation will keep them alive. If you use tap water you have to treat it like you do for aquariums. They have some stuff at Wally world that takes out the chlorine and makes it safe for minnows.

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Originally Posted by fastfish

I have a question for those who keep tanks to store minnows. or more generally...what kind water do you use to keep them in.?? I mean..if I bought some at a bait place ,.and transferred them to a larger container with aeration..would I just use tap water?. Does it shock them to put them in river/lake water right straight from the bait place then into a live well? Just wondering how to keep them alive longer. The bait place here is closed on Mondays and that is my best available day to fish. Would they stay alive till Monday if you bought them Saturday and kept them in the live well on a boat?

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Water temp shock occurs when putting a minnow into warm water, straight out of a container of cold water. You should always temper the cold transport water with the warmer lake water, slowly over a period of 5mins or so, before putting a minnow bucket over the side of the boat (or into a baitwell).

Storage would work the same way. And no, tap water will kill them pretty quick, unless it's been treated with chlorine removal chemicals or allowed to sit in an open container for 24hrs. They "might" stay alive in a boat's livewell/baitwell, if the water could be maintained at a cool temp & some aeration were available.

I've stored minnows in a oxygen pumped bag, in my refrigerator, for a couple of days. And I've transported several pounds of minnows in a number of those bags, in a cooler in a vehicle ... for a 4hr road trip. I've also transported a bag of several hundred minnows in my boat's livewell, for a 2hr road trip. Once at my destination, I poured the minnows & water from the bag into my floating minnow bucket, then added the warmer lake water a little at a time over several minutes before putting the bucket into the lake water. The warmer lake water has plenty of oxygen, so you just have to take precautions to not "shock" the minnows by transferring them from ice cold water to the warm lake water all at once.

Even if you have baitwells ... you should still temper the water before putting the minnows into it. I've had minnows die almost immediately upon being put on a hook & dropped into the lake, when they were taken directly from the colder transport water. And they'll die almost as fast if you drop them below the thermocline depth level of your lake (IF a thermocline is present).

... cp :kewl

If you plan on doing this very often, go to Walmart and get you a RV water filter, hook it to your hose and fill through it. Also will not hurt to put a couple of drops of the chlorine treatment in there also. As CP said you need to let them adjust to the water temp. I usually get mine in a bag. I will just sit the bag in my tank for a couple of hours and let temp adjust real slow before dumping in tank.

Sitting water in a container for 24 hours wont actually help anymore. That will break down chlorine but not chloimines ( another chemical most municipalities use to treat water), thats what the chemical water treatment does. Go to a pet store, you can get a pretty big bottle for $10 or $15.

Thanks for the answers!! If I had a cooler on the boat with water already treated and some ice in it to cool it could I pour them directly into that then do the tempering ? and how much cold can minnows take? reason I ask is that those buckets that go over the side are awfully small it seems for three or four dozen minnows to survive very long. Of course I'd put an aereator on the cooler too.

Doing that would kill everyone quick. They can not take the rapid temp change. Here is how I do mine. I fill buckets with water from tank then add a small juice bottle that I freeze. Frozen water bottles work good because they cool the water slowly and let's them acclimate to it slowly. I carry a few of them in a cooler and replace a few times during the day. As hot as the water is right now you do not want them to cool because it will kill them as soon as you put them in the lake.

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Originally Posted by fastfish

Thanks for the answers!! If I had a cooler on the boat with water already treated and some ice in it to cool it could I pour them directly into that then do the tempering ? and how much cold can minnows take? reason I ask is that those buckets that go over the side are awfully small it seems for three or four dozen minnows to survive very long. Of course I'd put an aereator on the cooler too.

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My floating minnow bucket has been used for around 100 minnows. No problems as long as the tempering was done before putting them in the lake. Though, I will admit that I don't use minnows that often (anymore) and rarely used them in water temps over 80deg (surface temp).

Bare ice is not a good idea for minnows ... plus, most ice was created from tap water. That's why most use frozen bottles of water.

Minnows can tolerate temps in the high 30's .... not sure about Shiners or Shad minnows, though, as I prefer using Fathead minnows (if/when I even use minnows, which I seldom do).

... cp :kewl