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Raising/Keeping Minnows???

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BlountArrow

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Location
SouthEast Tenn
Any of you guys raise or just keep your own Minnows? I have such a difficult time finding them around my house consistently. I thought with a tank setup it might be simple to control my own supply, but maybe I'm wrong. Any of you have experience with this?

One of my goals I'm working on is to become a true year-round crappie fisherman [FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY].

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No personal experience but i too am going to become a year round crappie fisherman. There is a good thread on Crappie.com on how to keep your own minnows.
 
feathersandfur2214":2mn71z4p said:
No personal experience but i too am going to become a year round crappie fisherman. There is a good thread on Crappie.com on how to keep your own minnows.
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We're pretty close to each other, close enough, maybe we can share some tips/tricks with each other as I figure this out.

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A pond, even a small one, is leaps and bounds better than the biggest tank. We always kept minnows when I was a kid as my dad had connections with minnow farming around Cabot ar. We had a pond about 30 foot by 40 and almost 8 feet deep in the middle. It always had close to 10000 shiners in it from tiny to almost to big to use. When they got real big we used them on trotlines. There is no doubt them trucking them around and keeping them tanked up does something to them to make them sickly over time.
 
Buzzard Breath":3fozokdh said:
http://tennesseeanglers.com/forums/topic/851-strorage-bait-tank/

Good thread on a homemade tank here.
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Thanks, man. Good read indeed. Wow, looks like you can make this as complicated or simple as you want. I think I'm going to start small and figure this out as I go. I would think I can find a lot of what I need on Craigslist. People are always selling fish tanks and accessories, and you cannot get anything for them. I'm pretty sure ours always ended up in the dump. I'm not sure why something like that wouldn't work with some modifications. I see a lot of YouTube in my future.
 
I kept a tank last season for minnows so I would have them and wouldn't have to toss extras at day's end. My tank was only about 30 gallons and I used a fish tank filter and aquarium airator. It worked pretty well but some will die every day. Use decloronator and keep it in a cool place. They also make these crystals that give the water that blue hue and it helped keep them alive longer. You have to change about a third of the water every few days. Best of luck it's not easy keeping those buggers alive.
 
feathersandfur2214":2yfxi3tg said:
Yeah keep in touch with me. I'll share anything i learn with ya. What lake do you fish mainly ?
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Tellico and Loudon primarily but I don't mind to travel.

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fairchaser":2dq3dnhl said:
I kept a tank last season for minnows so I would have them and wouldn't have to toss extras at day's end. My tank was only about 30 gallons and I used a fish tank filter and aquarium airator. It worked pretty well but some will die every day. Use decloronator and keep it in a cool place. They also make these crystals that give the water that blue hue and it helped keep them alive longer. You have to change about a third of the water every few days. Best of luck it's not easy keeping those buggers alive.
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Thanks for the info. I picked up a 50 gallon tank tonight off Craigslist with some accessories for $20. [emoji12]

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We have a 225 gallon tank.My take.You will have to feed them or they will die.When you feed them you have to have a good filtration system to get the poop out.Its a Science and we have eventually moved ours to a deep hole custom box in a creek.Still feed them and gets good water flow!!!
 
Unstocked pond if you have one. I know where there is one you can chuck a minnow basket in and come back 3 hours later and you can't hardly stomp another one in. gamefish will thin them out.
 
ClubHead":1kg4ca5y said:
We have a 225 gallon tank.My take.You will have to feed them or they will die.When you feed them you have to have a good filtration system to get the poop out.Its a Science and we have eventually moved ours to a deep hole custom box in a creek.Still feed them and gets good water flow!!!
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Custom box in a creek is a definite possibility. This might be the ticket.

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I have a tank,2 shop sinks with a large pipe connecting.I don't feed,I use an aerator and good filter system and they will die daily still.Mine is for convienience and to keep from pouring minnows into the lake.Im also a ways from a bait shop.I keep a pound or so all the time in the spring when I wan t them and will keep some this summer for stripe.I can keep minnows for about a month.Some die regardless.
 

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