light over bait tank?

[Ty]

Im in the process of setting up a 20 gallon bait tank in my laundry room right now, and I was wondering if its as important for minnows to have 12 or so hours of light a day as it is for other aquarium fish?

I have had my 75 gallon goldfish tank up for about 7 years now, so I have all the stuff sitting around to set this up right, I was jst wondering if they need light, or if I can just leave them in my dark laundry room, haha

[MEMAGGIENCOMET]

I keep my minnows in the dark in the back cornor of my shop and had really good success with that. I have about a 30 gallon rubbermaid container and leave the lid on it and run an air stone and a filter.

[24-7 Fishing]

Dark is fine.  It's more important to do regular water changes.  Make sure you leave the new water sit awhile before transfering the fish into it.  I too use rubbermaid containers....I use two of them and rotate each container with a water change. 

[bearbgone]

Mine are always in the dark also. They do real well..

[d4ng3r3ux]

I have the light on top I only open it when I cange the water or feed them

[pascoag icefisher]

I keep my bait in the dark. I only use the light when i need to see in tank to change water or when im getting the bait out to go fish.

[chopper_jon]

The only thing the light will do is promote the growth of algae

[big scott]

I too have a 20 gallon tank in my laundry room! works great! sometimes I like to sit down there, turn the tank light on and admire all my shiners! having a pump filter is the best thing ever! don't waste time with an aerator, water changes maybe once a week. my bigger concern was water temp because the laundry room is warm, but I've only had an issue once.

[SteveF94]

I agree with chopper_jon, the bait doesn't need light, but it will make algae grow.  Aeration and filtration are probably your most important factors.  Depending on how many fish you have in there and the size of your filter, how often you do water changes can be pretty important, too.