Raising Your Own Bait In A Fish Tank??

ngt

ngt

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Feb 26, 2009
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874
My local bait shop doesn't open until 6:30 and well, I want to be out on the water at 5:30 instead of an hour away from my favorite fishing spot. So, I am looking into raising my own grass shrimp. I went down to the Aquarium shop and the guy said it would most likely be possible to raise and keep my own live grass shrimp in a fish tank if I got one that was about 33-40 gallons.

I need to find out the habitat that they breed and live in. The guy said it would be fresh water or brackish (fresh/salt mix) but I needed to be 100% sure before spending money.

I know they get them out in the delta in Vallejo and that water comes from the bay, which is salt...but I catch catfish there so I'm guessing "brackish"?? for the shrimp? The bait shop I get them at is very close to San Pablo bay and their water has got to be all salt right?

The last couple of half pounds I got from the shop was full of pregnant shrimp and I figured I should look into this.

What do they eat? algae? so Algae pellets?

So, what type of water for live grass shrimp?

What food for them?

Any thoughts of opinions on this? Any suggestions?

If anyone could help me that would be great!!
 
FishyFish

FishyFish

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May 13, 2009
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Re: Raising Your Own Bait In A Fish Tank??

NGT,

You are working to Hard Bud! Most ramps, that I know of, are signed, no traffic until sunrise, by then most bait shops are open. Raising your own grass shrimp, that's a novel idea but I'm not sure if it's worth it. You'd be better off doing like the kids do when there's a New I-Pod, or I-Phone coming, camp out in front of the bait shop until opening. But I like your enthusiasm. Good Luck!

Fish
 
ngt

ngt

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Joined
Feb 26, 2009
Messages
874
Re: Raising Your Own Bait In A Fish Tank??

FishyFish said:
NGT,

You are working to Hard Bud! Most ramps, that I know of, are signed, no traffic until sunrise, by then most bait shops are open. Raising your own grass shrimp, that's a novel idea but I'm not sure if it's worth it. You'd be better off doing like the kids do when there's a New I-Pod, or I-Phone coming, camp out in front of the bait shop until opening. But I like your enthusiasm. Good Luck!

Fish
Click to expand...

lol, thanks. I don't always go out in my boat though...although I wish I could. My little 12 foot aluminum boat isn't going to cut it if I want to go out with 3-4 people.

Also, sometimes I go out to Bodega and fish perch off the rocks with the live grass shrimp. Bodega is the opposite direction of the delta/bait shops. It just adds another hour driving time to my trip. If the bait shop opens at 6:30, I wouldn't get to Bodega until around a quarter to 8 and not on the water where I like to go on my boat until 7:30. Gas is expensive, but it's more that there is just something nice about having a line in the water when the sun comes up...boat or shore fishing.

Plus having my own live grass shrimp tank would be pretty damn cool, lol.

thanks for the encouragement.

I was looking up info on grass shrimp and apparently there are a lot more types than I thought. Does anyone know the exact type that lives around Vallejo in the bay/delta? If I knew that, I'm sure I could find more info.

Unless someone from the area could fill me in on the living environments, temp. for water, and food source for them.

I know it seems like a lot of work, but it's something I'm shooting for now. A side project. If it doesn't work out and they all die, I can always turn it into a regular fish tank.
 
thurps

thurps

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Jan 14, 2007
Messages
538
Re: Raising Your Own Bait In A Fish Tank??

Call the ag dept., fish and game, or even a local college. They are all good resorces and in my experience, very helpful.
 
KurtG

KurtG

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Apr 27, 2007
Messages
323
Re: Raising Your Own Bait In A Fish Tank??

You can keep grass shrimp alive in a tank if you just want them for one trip to the next, but they (grass shrimp is a pretty generic term) have a free swimming larval form so they don't really reproduce there very easily.

I have spawned freshwater shrimp in my aquarium. There is an aquarium "cherry" shrimp which carry eggs and then have fully formed babies that grow to adults. They breed like crazy but are pretty small to be bait.

see: http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Cherry-Shrimp-Breeding-and-Care/23/
 
O

obxalan

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Joined
Jul 20, 2009
Messages
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Re: Raising Your Own Bait In A Fish Tank??

Just curious - but why not buy bait the day before and keep in your bucket/tank? Or set your own bait trap in a creek the night before?
 
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