Keeping live bait Live

I've been searching all over for a twelve volt aerator pump for a built in live bait tank on my boat. Plenty of small battery operated ones around but I just can't seem to find one to run off the main battery - Can any body put me on to one before the bass arrive?

Surely the ones in aquarium shops with the transformers could be used?

Otherwise I've only seen the little battery ones.

Thanks for the suggestion, but as far as I know the aquarium ones through transformers run on mains. If we're a few miles out at sea I'd need a hell of a long extension lead !

Paul....a mate of mine rigged up a 12 volt car water pump in the back of his van to spray water into a live bait tank. I know a car one waould not last 2 minutes in salt water, but what about a bilge pump? Could this be rigged to spray water into the live bait well?

Hello again Rob,
What I've got on my boat is a built in tank - about 20 gallons. This is filled quite simply by dropping, as you suggest, a bilge pump over the side and plugging in to one of the cigarette lighter sockets in a ring around the boat.
While fishing at anchor or on the drift, no problem, it just pumps fresh water into the tank which overflows out through the hull. The same pump is used to empty the tank, and with the aid of a garden hose connector can be used for hoseing down, washing fish or whatever - very versatile!
BUT, if you're rolling along at about 25 knots, you can't have a pump hanging over the side, and sand eels being sand eels, they seem to want to suffocate in very short time if the water is not changed regularly. Also, I know the local marks for sand eel trawling, but wouldn't know where to start if we were travelling up into Scotland or down into Wales for a fishing trip. With a good aerator pump, working off the same sockets as the bilge pump, maybe I could go out locally the day before our excursion, load up with sand eels and keep them fresh and happy in the tank overnight, while towing along the motorways, or whatever. That's the theory anyway, but I can't test it until I find a suitable 12 volt aerator.
I've looked at the small compressors from the likes of Halfords but they're either too bulky or too noisy.
Somewhere out there, somebody must be able to put me onto a simple aquarium type aerator - but 12 volt powered!
I've just had a thought - fish farms, etc, must use something similar, but perhaps on a larger scale, for transporting fish by road. Perhaps there is light, or should I say bubbles, at the end of the tunnel!!!

My point about aquarium ones is that because they run on step down transformers, you need to find one that steps down to 12 volts.
Rip off the transformer and wire it direct to the battery.

Can u not drop the bilge pump in the tank. All they will need is water movement so that oxygen can be exchanged at the water surface. Thats all an aerator does, it does not put oxy direct into the water.

I had a chat with my local trout lake, they use...wait for this....simple when u think about it....bottled oxygen!!! They just crank open the tap...and ..hssssssssssssss....bubbles!!

Most fishery managers who transfer a few fish (rather than tankfuls) use strong plastic sacks with just enough water to cover the fish, squeeze the neck round the hose, squirt a dose of pure, tanked oxygen into the bag until it's like a balloon, and then tie it tight enough not to let the oxygen escape. The fish will live for several days like that.

Live tropical fish are posted all around the world in exactly the same way.

Thanks for that, Carp Angler. I hadn't thought of simply discarding the transformer, but I'll look into that.
As for the oxygen bottle idea, one of my fishing mates now spends more time diving than he does fishing - I must have a word !!!!
Thanks for providing this forum service, Graham. With all these ideas, I'll get there in the end.

I hate to say this cos they're always taking the you-know-what about my wallet, but it's all you lot who use the forum that make it good.

The mains power pumps use a 12V DC transformer, just cut the wire off (with the power off!) and throw the transformer away, just crimp 2 wires on the end of the wires, (don't put the joins in the water) and connect to the main battery, if it sucks rather than blows, just turn the wires round on the battery (I do this with the missus if she gets it wrong)....
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