Tanks - Chubs Fallfish etc

[ratherbe]

My buddy across the street has a few large holding tanks in his barn. We were talking the other night about converting them to tanks for Chubs fallfish or other hard to source bait. Anyone know if frye can be purchased anywhere? Anyone else raising these things in at home tanks?

I checked out the lists at a couple private hatcheries w/o luck so far anyway. Thanks

[FASTEDDIE29]

Catch em yourself, keep em alive and put them in the tank! Trout streams and certain big rivers are loaded with those baitfish!

[henro]

Are they hardy enough to survive in a tank? What do you use them for? Musky?

[Jigman13]

Fall fish are tough to keep. Chubs will last if the water is clean. How big are the tanks?

[Delawareriver]

Never had any luck with fall fish (half die before I can get them home and the other half die within a few days) but have kept chubs, sunfish, suckers, perch, crappies, trout, bass, bullheads, rock bass and im I'm forgetting a few all alive in a 110 gal feed troughs. Biggest thing is having a good aerator and a good source of water, if you keep a lot of bait in stock or don't want to change the water very often then a filter is also needed.

[ratherbe]

Have several 500 gal and 250 gal tanks, and access to bigger w plenty of space to work with. Ideally it would be creek chubs. Looking for a place to source some frye. We live off the SBR so can go catch em but these huge tanks are just sitting there empty..

Thought I would tap the NJF knowledge pool as i started in on the HW.

[Chrisper4694]

I got a 15 gal rubber made tub, aquarium bubbler and filter. $40 bucks total. Kept 20-25 chubs suckers trout perch shiners alive for months. Rinse the filter every few days and scoop a bucket of water out and replace with a fresh bucket every few days. It's be n 3-4 months. No problems. Except that I only use them for ice fishing and now I have to figure out what to do with them. Put my lures away I guess:(

[briansnat]

Have several 500 gal and 250 gal tanks, and access to bigger w plenty of space to work with. Ideally it would be creek chubs. Looking for a place to source some frye. We live off the SBR so can go catch em but these huge tanks are just sitting there empty..

Thought I would tap the NJF knowledge pool as i started in on the HW.

With all of those tanks it certainly sounds like you can start a baitfish hatchery. I know nothing about it, but I'm sure a Google search can set you on the right track.

[Delawareriver]

Have several 500 gal and 250 gal tanks, and access to bigger w plenty of space to work with. Ideally it would be creek chubs. Looking for a place to source some frye. We live off the SBR so can go catch em but these huge tanks are just sitting there empty..

Thought I would tap the NJF knowledge pool as i started in on the HW.

Still don't get why you wanna start with fry, it probably would take any where from 1 to 3 years depending on the size of chubs you wanna use for bait. To me it just make sense to spend one afternoon at a small creek and have a couple hundred ready to use. Small size 10-12 hook and a piece of a garden worm just big enough to cover the hook and you will catch all the chubs you could ever use.

[UglyStick]

This is a little off topic but good for people to know since some rules just changed:

Trout May No Longer Be Used as Bait Within the Pequest River Drainage

Trout may no longer be used as bait within the Pequest River Drainage including Furnace and Mountain lakes. Small trout are purchased as bait by some anglers targeting larger trophy-sized species such as muskellunge. A common practice for some anglers is to keep unused bait trout obtained from outside the Pequest River drainage area in submerged cages between fishing trips or to release them directly into the lakes. This practice can result in a transfer of disease from a private fish culture facility into waters within the Pequest drainage where the state trout hatchery is located. Birds of prey feeding between these waters and the hatchery's nearby raceways can transfer these pathogens into the facility.

[The Birdman]

This is a little off topic but good for people to know since some rules just changed:

Trout May No Longer Be Used as Bait Within the Pequest River Drainage

Trout may no longer be used as bait within the Pequest River Drainage including Furnace and Mountain lakes. Small trout are purchased as bait by some anglers targeting larger trophy-sized species such as muskellunge. A common practice for some anglers is to keep unused bait trout obtained from outside the Pequest River drainage area in submerged cages between fishing trips or to release them directly into the lakes. This practice can result in a transfer of disease from a private fish culture facility into waters within the Pequest drainage where the state trout hatchery is located. Birds of prey feeding between these waters and the hatchery's nearby raceways can transfer these pathogens into the facility.

good to know, I haven't used trout as bait before but I see a LOT of ppl using them in those waters. Usually from musky hatchery or PA hatchery. this is good news for the fish too. Is this new rule posted somewhere in a link?
savage gear trout it is !

[The Birdman]

nvm, page 8 / 48 on PDF 2016 freshwater guide

[Skunk City]

Biggest thing with keeping baitfish alive, as previously mentioned, is maintaining good water quality and sufficient oxygen. Filter and aerator are a must. Over the first 2-4 weeks of running the filter, good bacteria will build up in the filter pads. That bacteria breaks down the ammonia (toxic) released from the fish, making it less harmful to them. Even if you go through a period with no bait in the tank, leave the filter running to keep this good bacteria alive. When you do get more bait, the ammonia levels will not spike and your bait will stay alive. Also, there should be no need to clean the filter any more than every 3 months or so. When you do clean the filter pads, simply rinse them with water from the tanks, not tap water.
I've kept fish, both tropical and bait, for may years, as well as operate a side business doing aquarium maintenance for business/personal, so if you have any questions or need more tips on doing it right, throw me a private message!

[Chrisper4694]

Biggest thing with keeping baitfish alive, as previously mentioned, is maintaining good water quality and sufficient oxygen. Filter and aerator are a must. Over the first 2-4 weeks of running the filter, good bacteria will build up in the filter pads. That bacteria breaks down the ammonia (toxic) released from the fish, making it less harmful to them. Even if you go through a period with no bait in the tank, leave the filter running to keep this good bacteria alive. When you do get more bait, the ammonia levels will not spike and your bait will stay alive. Also, there should be no need to clean the filter any more than every 3 months or so. When you do clean the filter pads, simply rinse them with water from the tanks, not tap water.
I've kept fish, both tropical and bait, for may years, as well as operate a side business doing aquarium maintenance for business/personal, so if you have any questions or need more tips on doing it right, throw me a private message!

whoops, so i shouldn't keep rinsing the filter? all i have is tap water and that's what they live in and that's what i rinse it in. didn't seem to cause an issue, but when i don't rinse the filter the water seems to get dingy much quicker....should i just leave it?

[Delawareriver]

whoops, so i shouldn't keep rinsing the filter? all i have is tap water and that's what they live in and that's what i rinse it in. didn't seem to cause an issue, but when i don't rinse the filter the water seems to get dingy much quicker....should i just leave it?
Keep a small bucket of water in the garage. When the water starts getting bad rinse it in the bucket. Majority of the chemicals found in tap water like chlorine will disipate over a day or two.

[Chrisper4694]

i had heard that but didn't believe it...anyway i was doing that anyway, i would let the bucket sit with the tub for a day or two mostly to match the temperature of the tub, but i guess it was having a two part effect. I should just stop rinsing the filter i guess. I don't even know what the hell to do with the bait now, it was just for ice fishing...i pretty much go 100% lures after ice out

[tautog]

flathead and musky bait

[Delawareriver]

i had heard that but didn't believe it...anyway i was doing that anyway, i would let the bucket sit with the tub for a day or two mostly to match the temperature of the tub, but i guess it was having a two part effect. I should just stop rinsing the filter i guess. I don't even know what the hell to do with the bait now, it was just for ice fishing...i pretty much go 100% lures after ice out
Won't be long before the flatheads get active. They are already getting them I'm the susky but all small punk fish. That or cut them up for channel cats