My moms boyfriend wants to make his bait fish live longer?

[Jesselav1233]

Hey so I'm visiting my family in vt right now and my moms boyfriend was telling me that he can never get his smelt to live longer then a week or two. So my first thought is the tanks he keeps them in are un cycled so prob ammonia levels killing them so I explained how to cycle a tank and said he should get a HOB filter. What else should he do to properly care for the fish while he keeps them?

 

[Mrc8858]

If its temporary holding then just make sure you have a good source of BB (the HOB) and I would add some pvc pipe cuttings to help keep down a lil stress since they are probably being treated like bait fish so handling isn't the best around

 

[Mrc8858]

Also a small heater to keep a consistent temperature would do a lot for them over a day/night fluctuation it would see

 

[hpiguy]

I don't think you'd want to heat a smelt tank. You'd want to keep it cool.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

+1 keep them cool. I'm an avid fisherman and when i keep baitfish they are in an overstocked, crowded and cramped area where the only real means of keeping them alive longterm is to do massive water changes and agitate the surface for max gas exchange.
Hope this helps.

 

[Jesselav1233]

Thanks guys I'm going to try and get him set up to adequately take care of these guys while he holds them he does use them for bait but at least they'll be happy till then. Maybe it'll save him some money or keep the bait more lively so he'll catch a big one thanks again.

 

[bettaowner]

Smelt are north American minnows right? If that's the case the yeah an unheated tank would be a good idea.

 

[Mrc8858]

Smelt are north American minnows right? If that's the case the yeah an unheated tank would be a good idea.

Ya that one completely went over my head forgot they are in like 40 degree waters haha