Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Major Fail

I had a huge failure yesterday. I bought 40lbs of golden shiners and 30lbs of fathead minnows and my aeration quit and lost them all. I will be reworking that to have a light on the tank to show when there is a power failure. What would you think would be the max lbs of FHM minnows in a 55 gal plastic drum with a bubbler aerator thru an air stone. On this trip I had 40lbs of the shiners in one tank and 30lbs of FHM in the other. I used this same set up to transport 4000 CNBG 1/2 in each tank last year with no problem. The CNBG may be a much hardier fish than the FHM.

Welcome to the fish hauling world!

I cannot advise you on how much fish to haul using a bubbler as I use pure O2 to haul fish. AND I monitor the O2 levels in the tanks with an O2 meter. (YSI ODO Pro) I check O2 levels 15 minutes after loading the fish, 1/2 hr after loading the fish, then if it seems to be stable, every hour after that and adjust the flow rate on every tank individually using flow control meters. Air has 21% O2, so a person can't haul near as many fish per gallon of water as a person that uses 100% O2. Plus you have Nitrogen from the air going into the water too.............

Using pure O2 I run roughly 1/2 pound of fish per gallon of water. How big were the CNBG? I can calculate their weight if I knew that.

Also, a pound of 2" fish will use more O2 than a single fish that weighs a pound.

Who did you go to to get the minnows?

Anderson are good people. 1"-1.5" weigh between 2 and 3.8 pounds per thousand. 3"-4" weigh 13-30 pounds per thousand.


Yes to a regulator like is on a cutting torch. You have to have a flow control gauge to limit the amount of flow going through the air stone. I use point four air stones. https://pentairaes.com/point-four-micro-bubble-diffusers-mbd Follow the instructions with the air stones. I cannot tell you what the flow rate is, that depends on the size of the fish, the amount of fish, the water temp, etc., etc. That's where the O2 meter comes into play and stopping to check O2 levels is important.

Yes, too much O2 will cause a problem with the fish. They will get their gills burned and "get the bends" from too much O2, that is why I will not haul fish without an O2 meter. https://www.ysi.com/proodo This is what I have. I try to keep the O2 level at 10 mg/L.

If you are using the O2 cylinder while driving you also have to have this on it. https://weldfabulous.com/gas-cylinder-regulator-protector-safety-cap-fine-thread-3-1-8-x-11/ Take note that there are coarse and fine thread models. Not all O2 cylinders have the same thread type, and I don't know why.

Then you have to have the hoses, fittings, etc., etc. I use cutting torch hose.

I also have duplicates of EVERYTHING on the truck just in case something happens to one of the pieces of equipment. Extra air stones, extra regulator, extra flow control, etc., etc. I have had the air stone crack within 1/2 hr of checking the O2 level in the water and I lost a whole tank full of 6" BG. I also carry an extra O2 cylinder "just in case". I've had regulators go bad, flow controls fail, etc., etc.

I also use different chemicals in the water to help the fish during transport. That is a proprietary mix and I won't give up all my secrets. As you can tell there is a steep learning curve to it. Most fish haulers use salt in the water plus a de-foamer. It ain't cheap, but then neither is killing fish and the associated miles to replace them.

Its a 10 hr drive one way for me from here to Lonoke.