Went to the new store today and found the bait wells full of minnows. What I really liked was the way the the store cools the minnow's water. They have chillers that sit above the water tank and it's like a miniature air conditioning unit that sits above the water. The water was chilled to I think 55 deg F. I think I read that on the chiller as I didn't take the water's temperature or anything. But the idea of cooling the water is a good one. They had three separate tanks with dividers to hold three types of minnows. Saw some gold fish in one compartment and large bait fish in the other compartment, while the same tub held medium minnows in the third compartment. One of the tubs was empty today but they still were chilling the water. I had heard of people running water lines though an old refrigerator to cool the water. But these little chillers were pretty cool.Also they sell some Stryofoam coolers that will fit inside a 5 gallon plastic bucket. I guess I was not the only one thinking about making Styrofoam inserts for those 5 gallon plastic buckets. I picked up two of these and stuck them inside my 5 gallon buckets to hold my minnows. I buy 1/4 to 1/2 lb of minnows at one time and keep them in a room in the house. I add a 1 liter bottle of frozen water to the buckets each morning or evening and keep the water at around 50 deg F for most of the day. That way I only have to change the water in each bucket about ever two days instead of every day. The cold water slows the fish's metabolism down and make them poop less. They amount of ammonia excreted is minimized when they are in cold water. Plus Cold water holds more Dissolved Oxygen and slows down bacterial growth. It's easy to loose a few dozen minnows if you don't take proper care of them. But the up side is if you want to get up early and go fishing you already have your bait and don't have to wait for the bait shop to open. Some bait shops don't open early.
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Originally Posted by Moose1am
