Rosie minnows vs fathead minnows

In the winter months I usually tip my jigs with a minnow it seems to really help with lethargic cold water fish. I’ve haven’t been able to find any bait shops around that are still stocking fat head minnows if they do they only get the bare minimum a couple times a month in the winter. But a lot of places even pet stores have plenty of Rosie minnows. I know Rosie minnows are just a different colored genetic mutation off a fathead minnow so I got 10 Rosies a while back mixed in with 40 fat head minnows and the fathead minnows seemed hardier than the Rosies they lived a lot longer in a bubble bucket. It could just be me but I thought the fatheads caught more fish too. What’s everyone else’s take on Rosie minnow vs. Fathead minnow?


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A rosie is a color variant of a fathead minnow as you know. I prefer rosie reds because they stand out in clear water and are visible to the fish in stained water too. I have raised rosies successfully in a pond. That is how much I trust them. If you bought the subject minnows at a bait shop they, typically, are mishandled multiple times by the distributor, wholesaler and breeder. This puts the fish under stress and they are overcrowded in the transport tanks and can become bruised and shed scales. This allows the minnows to have bacterial issues. If I hold a quart or half a gallon (300-600 minnows) in my 300 gallon tank then I add 4 ounces of rock salt to promote slime development and 2 tablespoons of oxytetracycline which is available through your veterinarian. This kills the bacteria on the minnows and in your tank and the salt promotes slime production. These treated minnows will live a lot time in my holding tank and readily eat goldfish flake food. I have kept them for months with little issues. This sounds like alot of trouble but good healthy bait equates to more fish. The few bait shops that I have told to treat their minnows with these products have seen the bait loss drop to almost zero in 4-5 days or less depending on how bad of condition the minnows are in.. The shops hope is they can get rid of the minnows before the die off starts. This my $.02 on having and maintains lively minnows

i have 3 rosie reds in my softshell turtle's aquarium , i know they bolt if that turtle gets near them .:Rofl
they grew larger and fatter and seem quite happy and healthy after about a month in there .
they were part of a water quality experiment we did as a science project and survived the variables on the water .
i do know they are pretty popular in some parts of east texas as bait
mine were feeder fish from the petsmart .
and darn cheap here at the pet shop . 16 cents each i think ?
thats a ton cheaper than baitshop golden shiner minnows in these parts .
beyond that i have not a clue about them as a bait item