Maybe this topic has been covered elsewhere on the TFF, but i'm not very successful when searching the archives. Is anyone familiar with a commercial or easily attainable "food source" for captive gizzard shad? Myself and a couple friends have all established bait tanks at home to keep large gizzard shad alive for months on end. While I did not have trouble keeping big shad alive last winter for over 2 months, I noticed a substantial difference between my bait and that of a friend. He has a pond close to his shop where he keeps his shad tank, after approximately 3 months, we were using the last of his shad and they were BEAST MODE, super lively and seemed to be in GREAT health. My shad were perfectly alive, just did not seem as frisky as his... i'm not certain his shad were not continuing to grow while in his bait tank. The big difference between his setup and mine, he was able to do 1/3 water change each week with water from the nearby pond, and he noted they went ballistic when he pumped the freshwater in... we are assuming it was a feeding frenzy. I never ran into problems with sick or sluggish fish, or any shad dying, so i'm pretty confident I never had any problems with chemical buildup in the tank. Hoping someone here has figured out how to feed their shad. The Google machine has not produced much info that seems useable to me. Any help pushing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Just a guess, but since they eat plankton in the wild, the pond water likely already has it in there. You can buy freeze dried plankton, it isn't super expensive. Although I don't know if they would be as jazzed up about it, as the real thing. Also, maybe try putting a couple pieces of hadite or flat rock in there, as a place for algae to take hold.

The striper guides in Arkansas have big plastic tanks 400-500 gallon and keep shad all season and they don't feed them anything and they are very lively, The shad they keep are 10-15" long. They feed on the plankton growing on the tank. I ask the question of what they fed them and they said we don't.

and if they ever find out where you catch gizzard shad they will continue to come until they deplete the resource entirely.... I've watched them do it.... never tell people where you catch bait.... Commercial bait fisherman will wipe you out and your spot... I live in Arkansas I know......Ithey do it another places too they're bad in Alabama about it

Maybe putting your focus on something other than food would do the trick?
Many important things to consider when working with shad. Filtration, oxygen infusion, temp, etc.

Box Fish Hero, did anybody send you any good info on this? It seems to me that if you don't have a tank that has plankton or algae in it and you are using a water filtration system, you can go by water clarity. If the water clarity is clear then it seems your in good shape and they feel good, but when filtered water starts to turn murky we're in trouble and it's a sign of off balance. it seems to me they do the best in good clean water 55 to 65 degrees.

Prime,
Never really came up with any answers for feeding the shad. I’ve had them in the tank about 9 weeks now and they are doing okay. Its pretty easy to keep the water crystal clear, i just know its a long time without food, they have to be degrading over time, was just trying to figure a method for keeping them in top condition for indefinite amount of time.
Thanks to all who have replied!

I've got my small bait tank up and running now. At the moment it has some BIG minnows, some black salties, and some bluegill in it. I've been feeding them tropical fish flakes, and they love it. Just the cheap stuff from the pet aisle at Walmart..