A pond filter works well. They will last you a long time. They are used for Coy fish & yard ponds. Check people in your area that install ponds for people. They may have old used pumps or be able to put you in the right direction. We have one in work that's been running for 5 plus years.

It doesn't have to be complicated. I used to keep a 300 gallon bait tank all summer. A $20 bilge pump run up to a spray bar mounted above the water. Spray bar was 3" PVC filled with polyfill to filter the water. That's all there was to it.

I run air pumps and air stones from Walmart in a medium sized deep freezer. Keep it in the shade. Add Better Bait crystals to remove chlorine and add 2-cups of non iodized water softener pellets per tank when I change the water. After the bait is in the tank a couple days and clean themselves out I change the water and usually good to go for a while. Also if you are trying to keep live shad a round tank a water softener salt is a must. Really helps them keep there slime coat. And keep water cool. Shad will start to cause a foam on top of the tank and kill them if you don't keep an eye on them. You can sprinkle a bit of coffee creamer on top and will help with the foam after getting a bunch out by hand. Keep water changed and cool as possible in the heat is the biggest deal and plenty air.

That’s a great idea

Those bilge pumps produce heat. At least the pumps that are submersed in the water your pumping will warm things up. After a few days that water will get real warm. Your way better off to pump in air if the plan is to hold fish for an extended time. Cold water is best.

Aix I ve had my best results from a 3' cube pen I keep in a shady woods stream mother nature aerates and cleans the water. But you might have critters there that keep you from that!

What Danny said.....

I could see that we filled a old cellar once for bait it work amazingly well other than trying to retrieve them. If I was closer I got a 150' tremble net. Works great for getting fish out of ponds! your cages sound a lot nicer than mine I use a 2x2 frame wrapped with 1/2" hardware cloth and button nails holding it secure! to keep the snapping turtles at bay

Bingo, this is pretty much the same thing I was describing, all in one deal

Trapstickman apologizes for missing your birthday but is sending the traditional oatmeal birthday cake and surprise gift package that may or may not contain an aerator anyway. Happy belated birthday, Aix sponsa!

My main Aerator is a Marine Metal Product Dual Stone. They last and are durable. I use a Spitter bar on my Tank filter. My tank is 105 gallons and stocks baitfish for flathead catfishing.

I have often sunk 5 gallon buckets with holes drilled in them and a lid into spring/tile fed pools. The bullheads keep very well in there.

That’s cheating. I wish I had a spring fed something near the house

Old deep freezer work well and can be found for free. They are insulated.

What do you guys feed your minnows? I used to use a flake typ food that worked great, but it got to expensive. I started using regular fish pellets but you have got to grind the darn things down so that minnows can feed on the pellets. The fish food is what used to get my filter dirty. I used to always keep around 500 minnows on hand all summer. Anymore I keep around 5 or 6 dozen minnows on hand.

$14 pond pump from Menards. Wrap it in home air filter material and put it in a coffee can full of holes. This will move and filter your water. I used a double pump from Walmart about $15 with large long air stones. About 100 gallon tank. You can rinse out the filter material. Where you live the biggest problem is going to be heat. Mine sits under a shade tree all summer long and never shuts off.

I’ve tried several different versions to keep bait, some very similar to what was described here. None of them worked for me. Either the bait died or was to much work to keep them alive, until I came up with this.
I’ve got an old 40’ well (sand point will work), a 800 gal poly tank with the whole top cut off like a stock tank. I bought a $50 solar panel, a $10 DC timer and a $12 controller, hooked this all up to an old boat battery which is hooked up to an old boat bilge pump that I dropped down the well. Every 6 hrs it pumps 150 to 200 gal of water into the tank. This water will drop 2 feet through an old colander so it “rains” into the tank creating oxygen. At the 400 and 600 gal mark I installed a water spicket for an overflow with a garden hose that drains into my garden.
I can literally keep hundreds of big bait fish in this tank and never worry about them. The only time my fish died was when the water wasn’t going through the spaghetti colander. There was no splashing of water to ariate. I was told that well water has no oxygen or very little, this way did the trick.
I will be getting this set up for the summer in a couple weeks, maybe I’ll put up some picks if anyone wants to see it.

Most bilge pumps I have looked at are not rated above 3 foot of head. If I could find one that pushed 20' I could use my pond water and locate the tank under a tree for shade.

I made a tank out of a small chest type freezer. I cut a hole several inches down from the top and inserted a pipe with a screen covering the opening so the minnows can't get into it. This serves as an overflow. I run a garden hose with a spray nozzle that runs continuously. The insulated freezer keeps the water cool, but I still keep it in the shade in the summer. If you have creek chubs in it, you will need to cover it because they will jump out. I have well water at my cabin and home.

For short term or to transport in the summer, I've found the best item to keep minnows alive is a Minno-Mizer. I've never found anything better. They are truly amazing and I don't sell them either.

For short term transport for small quantities (enough for a days fishing), we used a styrofoam bucket with ice in the bottom and a perforated stainless steel disk about 3" down from the top. Dumped the minnows on the SS plate and kept the lid on the bucket until we needed to get a minnow out. Worked like a charm. The minnows stayed frisky with virtually no loss.