Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Building a Portable live well?

Does anyone have any good designs or ideas? I am looking for something to transport fish.

What type pump do you recommend and what type of container do you like?

I bought a kit at Basspro that comes with eveything you need. It is a bilge pump with some flexible hose and a piece of PVC pipe. All you need is a battery to attach the pump to.

I have mine setup to be used in an ice chest.

How about a large cooler with one of those Rule pumps used in live wells available from BPS? I have hauled fish this way in the back of a van. Only downside was the sloshing of the water spilled out and the wife was not a happy camper as it produced an odor in the carpet later on. Bill Cody tightly fits a piece of foam board on top on short trips to keep the water from sloshing out. I would also suggest putting down plastic as an added precaution.

If you want to get fancier you can put a regulator on a small oxygen pony tank that you can rent from a welding or plumbing supply store. Attach to that an airline (found at hardware stores, then a medical oxygen regulator and then a small oxygen airstone. Set the regulator at 30 lbs. and adjust the medical oxygen regulator to the level you want it. Usually just barely on is plenty and the pony tank can last for hours. The medical regulator either has a little ball that comes up higher and higher as you turn it on more or clicks into position for each level. The latter is superior as it it doesn't move in transport as the other can.

Great minds think alike!

And I hope that was no insult to you Chris!

Any chance of a link to the pump you guys bought?

I know all too well the smell of fishy water after its hits the carpet and so does my wife.

Chris?

This is not the one I have but it is pretty much the same thing.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores...5003000_225-3-5

I've used this rubermaid tub to haul sixteen 8"-9" fish for 1.5 hrs. The tub was about $6 and the pump from BPS was aroun $20. It comes back into shape once the lid is on but does leak out the top when the water swishes around. I used to use a cooler but they're so air tight that I can't see how the water agitation helps much when no air is exchanging. Maybe a tall PVC vent could be mounted to the top to allow air to exchange and allow less water to escape.

The first aerator I tried had a spray bar attached to the pump with a flexible tube. It could be used as an emergency bilge pump and was handy for filling the livewell. The tube kept getting knocked off and the pump eventually failed. The aerator I replaced it with has the spray head permanently attached to the pump with PVC. It's more reliable for aeration but can't be used to fill the well.




Here's the livewell for big moves. This would haul thousands of fingerlings. It's designed to fit in the bed of a pickup but I mounted it to a tiltable trailer to aid in dumping.

Here's an interesting DIY live well set-up..du
http://www.instructables.com/id/Portable-Livewell/

From an earlier post..du

Mike, how long a time period for transport?

A large Igloo or Coleman cooler works well for me and a bubble aerator is adequake for short hauls.
Personally I like the extra insurance of an O2 system.

The longest would be 2 hrs

Mike, I have 2 or 3 bubble aerators and air stones but never use them since O2 system.
The Point Four diffuser is the heart of the system and IIRC the small O2 bottle will last 11-12 hrs.
I use it exclusively in my 68 qt Igloo live well mounted in my Mule utility vehicle.

I have used a 55 gal plastic chemical drum 1/2-2/3 full in the back of a pickup. A cheap aquarium pump with a AC/DC converter you can plug into a cigarette lighter socket.(Radio Shack), and an extension cord to reach the bed of the pickup. Stabilize pump and drop an airstone on enough tubing to reach the bottom of the barrel. Very cheap and no medical oxygen necessary.

I have used a 55 gal plastic chemical drum 1/2-2/3 full in the back of a pickup. A cheap aquarium pump with a AC/DC converter you can plug into a cigarette lighter socket.(Radio Shack), and an extension cord to reach the bed of the pickup. Stabilize pump and drop an airstone on enough tubing to reach the bottom of the barrel. Very cheap and no medical oxygen necessary.

I've posted this before but here's my "Portable Live Well." It does the job and I've hauled fish in it up to 14 hours. I use both a Fresh Flow aerator and oxygen if I haul fish now. If the aerator should give me problems the oxygen is a good back up.

But I actually hate hauling fish. Anymore I produce all of them on the property except for my trout so there's not much need to pick them up from a producer. And the feds are running fish farms out of business in my region with unreasonable health testing requirements. When you have a tank this big it can be dangerous if you have to stop all of a sudden, and there is lot of preparation that has to be done before a haul along jacks, spare tires etc. I wouldn't want to haul fish for a living.

I too have posted my portable live well before. It is made from a 120 quart cooler, an inexpensive live well pump (about $12.00 ??), and a cord for plugging it into the cigarette lighter outlet in my truck.

I removed the cooler's drain plug and replaced it with the pump -- perfect fit. I put a gutter down spout strainer over the pump intake so that it wouldn't suck the fish tails against the pump. I drilled a hole in the cooler top, where I clamped the pump hose. I aimed the hose so that it goes through the air and hits the side of the cooler, hopefully adding a little oxygen to the water. It sure moves a lot of water. I've only moved trout and catfish with it. Except maybe for trout, I would think that most other pond fish could be kept healthy for at least a few hours, probably quite a bit longer if done in temperate weather.

Since I haul with my truck, it is hard to tell if water slops out of it when the top is locked down. The local fish dealer fills it with a 2-inch fire hose, so everything with about 50 feet is wet long before the cooler is filled. (Free truck wash!)

Here are some pictures of hauling 22 catfish that were about 12 inches long:









P.S. The catfish certainly prospered. These pictures are from last April. I harvested seven in September that were 18-22 inches, and darn healthy. I've never witnessed any floating dead fish after a transfer.

George, This is not a thread hyjack, but what model Mule do you have?

This is a hyjacked mule!

Dwight, it’s Kawasaki Mule 610 4x4, same as yours I believe from pictures I’ve seen.
Couldn’t get along without – It’s my legs for getting from pond to pond, feeding, and pond chores.
Rigged for pond fishing like a boat - carries all my gear plus O2 live well for transporting fish from one pond to other, and special usage for resuscitation of big HSB that will fight ‘til death unless revived.

My DIL uses it more than I do for ranch chores.

Great little vehicle.