Raising minnows and shiners for bait?

[Eskimo]

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I lost all my tropical fish after hurricane Sandy hit last October. When I got power back two weeks later, I decided to keep the filter biologically active by placing a school of Fathead Minnows in the aquarium. Those are the little fish sold as bait and feeders. The yellow-orange ones are sometimes called "rosies".

I have to say that Fathead Minnows are interesting aquarium residents. They are supposed to breed in the caves I supplied them, but I never see any fry. They are probably cannibalizing their young.

Anyway, I don't see breeding your own minnows to be worth the effort of expense. Especially when the pet shops sell them for $0.12 each. What an aquarium will allow you to do is maintain a small stock of minnows and crayfish that you can reach into when you want to go fishing.

Just a note that alewives (herring) will not last long in an aquarium and certainly won't breed.