How to keep minnow alive till weekend

I went fishing this weekend and bought forty eight medium size minnows. It was very windy and breezy and forced to left. I brought the minnows home, on the way I bought a electric aquarium air pump and hooked it up with minnow bucket after I got home. I left the minnow bucket inside home rather than garage because temperature going to hit 80 degree from today. I am planning to go back coming weekend and use the minnows.

Is there anything else I have to do to keep the minnow alive till next weekend?


Thanks.

Change out about half the water in a couple of days, and if possible, put them in a small cooler or somthing a littler bigger than a minnow bucket .

Do I need to feed the minnows?

Thanks.

No, do not feed them. Get you a bucket and fill with water and let it sit overnight for chlorine to dissipate and use it for your water change.

Put a frozen water bottle in there to help cool the water temp.

I keep my minnows in the fridge between trips. I haven't tried keeping them past 10 days, but they might last even longer. I don't change the water while they're in the fridge. I just dip my buckets in the lake before leaving to give them some fresh water. I would guess that I lose 1-2 minnows per dozen in a 7-10 day period in the fridge.

My minnow bucket is one of those coolers you fill with ice water and push the little plunger at the bottom of the cooler to get your drink. I converted it by putting a aerator and a hose to keep the water oxygenated for the minnows. When I need to keep them alive until the following weekend, I draw off 2/3 of the water from the bottom of the water column by pressing the plunger, then adding rain water (we've been getting a lot of it here lately) back into the cooler. I loose a minnow or 2 out of 4 dozen a day.

I have a small five gallon aquarium where I keep minnows. Then just add chlorine drops into a bucket fill it up with water at the same temperature. It is a lot of work.

whynot feed theminnows?iv got a 100 trying to keep,didnt know what to feed them.

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Originally Posted by bkgooch

whynot feed theminnows?iv got a 100 trying to keep,didnt know what to feed them.

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They really don't need feed but a tiny bit every couple of weeks. You start feeding and they start dying.

I keep 4 or 5 lbs of minnows in a 275 gallon tote in my basement. I usually feed them, but very small amount only once or twice a week. As soon as you start feeding them much, they begin to make waste which makes nitrates, nitrites, and ammonium and they will begin to die without water changes. In an aquarium you have a biological filter that helps remove these. It takes 3 or 4 months to build up enough bacteria in the filter to do any good, so we depend on water changes to remove these. I have gone for three weeks or more without feeding. The cooler you keep them and less you feed them, the better success you will have especially over a weeks time.

We have kept alot of minnows like that. We use a smaller cooler or med. size cooler. Fill 3/4 of way with water and put a capful of the liquid they use in aqariums to get colorine out (really cheap) and keep the minnows in that with the air pump on. Works great. I even feed them a little fish food like you use in aquarium (really cheap) and last a long long time. Good luck. We have kept minnows up to 2 or 3 weeks

really good info.

if you setup a fresh water fish tank just like you would for pet fish your minnows can be kept for a very long time with minimal losses. I kept mine for several months, however, I also monitored the water chemistry, temp, and kept it filtered regularly.

I recently purchased the portable pump that runs on 2 AA batteries. So far , I'm pleased , I keep the minnows in one of the yellow trolling buckets , and have had the same minnows since October 4th. So far , the pump appears to be capable of sustaining a dozen medium 2 inch minnows along with a dozen 1 inch. As far as time , IDK yet. I ha a few die when I let the batteries die by accident at work. I need to get rechargeable batteries for the long run , I take a lot of spur of the moment trips , and sometimes keep them in the car for brief outings before work.

I have struggled keeping minnows for any amount of time but I think I have finely found a way that works for me. I have been keeping them in my refrigerator. I keep a bucket of clean and treated water in there and change the water once a week. I have lost two minnows this week. Seems to work for me real well.
Refrigerator works for me...

you can use aquarium pump at home it will keep dozens of minnows for weeks .you can buy a 12 volt pump to use on boat battery works great.

I use the engel cooler with aerator, keep minnows plugged in tye truck all weekend and use 12v in the boat. Never a dead minnow.

I put mine in the garage fridge . Works great . I have had them last up to 3 weeks . Learned this from an Ole timer over on Lake Istapoka .

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Originally Posted by laddybug3

I have a small five gallon aquarium where I keep minnows. Then just add chlorine drops into a bucket fill it up with water at the same temperature. It is a lot of work.

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You add chlorine TO the water? Most additives or water treatments are made to take the chlorine OUT of the water...

Dechlorinator

Most water treatment plants are using chloramine now.
If you use plain dechlorinator ( sodium thiosulfate) the chlorine is eleminted but ammonia is released
Unless your absolutely certain chlorine is the only chem used by your water company use a chloramine neutralizer

Short Styrofoam bucket with cool water, they'll last a week

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Originally Posted by jnebgud

Short Styrofoam bucket with cool water, they'll last a week

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Put just a few too many baits or heavy tournament catch in your livewell (overstock your livewell/bait tank) and everything suffocates every summer. The say hot summer water is the cause of the kill. Never overstock your tank and nothing suffocates… just don't suffocate your bait and tournament fish in the summer and that really is as simple as it gets in the summer.
Salt and expensive bait saver chemicals always fail when live baits and tournament fish are being suffocating the summer bait tanks and livewells... ask Steve Coleman and Ronnie Capps, they have years of experience and know all about this.

For every 10 degree drop in water temp oxygen content doubles

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Originally Posted by GA ANGLER

I went fishing this weekend and bought forty eight medium size minnows. It was very windy and breezy and forced to left. I brought the minnows home, on the way I bought a electric aquarium air pump and hooked it up with minnow bucket after I got home. I left the minnow bucket inside home rather than garage because temperature going to hit 80 degree from today. I am planning to go back coming weekend and use the minnows.

Is there anything else I have to do to keep the minnow alive till next weekend?



Thanks.

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In you opinion, what do you think you did that "killed your minnows" or do you have any clue?

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Originally Posted by algenco

For every 10 degree drop in water temp oxygen content doubles

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Decimal place typo?

Doubling the concentration (amount) of DO for every 10F drop in water temperature is a stretch. You probably meant only a 10% increase, not 100% increase in DO concentration for every 10F water temperature drop.

DO Chart predictions for aerated freshwater @ sea level, -0- salinity

80F fresh water saturates @ 8.1 PPM DO

70F fresh water saturates @ 9.0 PPM DO

60F fresh water saturates @ 9.9 PPM DO

Everybody gets in a hurry sometimes and makes typos. No harm no foul.

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