What does the water need before the fish arrive?
City water usually carries chlorine or chloramine, and either one is hard on fish. The farm's holding guidelines say to remove it with a remover, and the shelf has one: LCR liquid chlorine remover, 8 oz, $16.99. Treat the water before the box is opened, not after.
Foam Off, 8 oz, is $16.99, and Tranquil Fish Calmer, 8 oz, is $26.99. Neither one replaces what the guidelines ask for first: fresh water, aeration and a tank kept in the shade or in an air-conditioned building.
Better Bait comes in four sizes: a 10 g packet at $1.99, 2 oz at $13.99, 10 oz at $21.99 and 3 lb at $38.99. Finer Shiner, 10 oz, is $23.99.
What moves air and fish?
Fish in a tank need oxygen from the moment they land, and the farm lists its guideline first: a well-aerated holding tank. The 110 Air Bubbles A1 is $19.99. The Bubble Box portable air pump is $16.99, which makes sense for a bait tank in a truck bed or a boat. A 3 inch Bubble Donut air stone is $8.99, and 6 feet of silicone airline tubing is $4.50.
For hauling fish yourself, fish bags in a 100 pack, 10 x 20 x .002, are $19.99, and a 1 lb bag of Advantage rubber bands is $14.99. Those two are the plain basics of moving fish in a bag.
All of it is sold by the farm in Lonoke, Arkansas, the same place the fish come from. Order questions go to 1-800-20-MINNO (1-800-206-4666).
What else goes in the kit?
A pocket thermometer is $11.99, and it earns its price by telling you when the tank is drifting warm. The farm's guidelines tie tank volume to water temperature, so a number beats a guess.
A minnow bucket dip net is $2.99, and fish food in a 1.5 lb size is $18.99. The Anderson Minnow Farm custom patch hat is $18.00, which is the one item on the shelf that is not for the fish.
