Fishing Rockport the other day. Bought 2 qts live shrimp & put them in the boats livewell. Had the aerator running, but alot of the shrimp seem to die in a short period of time. What can I do to keep the shrimp alive & healthy? Thanks!

use ziplock bag full of ice to cool down water
or put shrimp in bag of sawdust!

When you get live shrimp and put them in the live well, make sure you have a bag of ice, hopefully not with a hole in the bag, and put in with them in the live well. This time of year, you may have to have 3 or 4 bags handy to keep the water cool, but that is the key. Also not letting the melted fresh water get in with them.
Dusty

also make shure the ice has no chlorine in it or youll have ALL your shrimp dead lol

When the water is hot its hard to keep them alive, so use the previous methods mentioned. Also make sure you dont have sun screen lotion on your hands, because that can kill them.

Kyle

Maybe some day someone will start selling frozen saltwater ice... Just a thought. mmmmmmm.

that would be cool, but isnt it harder to freeze saltwater.

Shrimp are actually pretty hardy and easy to keep alive as oppossed to delicate baits such as croaker or shad. Occassionaly you will get a bad batch but it is usually our fault if they die. Already mentioned, the sunblock thing is something that will do just that. Make sure to always have clean hands before entering the bait box or live well. It is also a good idea to thouroughly rinse out your bait box or live well before putting the shrimp in. You must also get them into your device quickly because they, like all things, need oxygen. If we didnt have oxygen for a couple of minutes we would die too. Ice is a good idea but usually not necessary unless you need to keep shrimp alive over night or for extended periods of time.

Here's how I do it and I can keep shrimp alive all day.

Buy a large rubber container, like they make to store soap (tide) in. Maybe 15 gallon or so. Must have handle to lift and to tie the lid down with. Drill holes in the lid.

Purchase the guide series saltwater aerator from Academy. Draws very little juice from the battery.

Buy Croaker Saver from Academy and dump a couple of lids full in from the get go. It will foam up, but that's ok.

Keep the water kewl. I use plastic pop bottles and re-freeze them every night. Keep the bait bucket in the shade if possible; back side of the console maybe.

Change the water every few hours to get the bad ammonium water out. Re-add Croaker Saver as needed.

Whole rig is less than 60 bucks and well worth it.

GOOD LUCK!

That was happening to me when i went out this past week. The last time i got shrimp i used two aerators to add more oxygen. I also put ice in a sealed baggie and put it in with the shrimp. Lastly, i never stuck my hands in by using a net and the shrimp stayed alive from 6am till 4pm in the afternoon and they were still kickin.

Always use a dip net. Shrimp will die off quicker in your livewell just swimming around. Get some netting and try to place it were the shrimp can hold on and you will have better luck keeping them alive.

When I used to fish with shrimp, I never had any sort of problems keeping them alive. Of course, if you do something stupid then they will die, but for the most part they are very easy to keep alive and you should not have a problem doing so. I use to use those little bubble box setups that they sell real cheap at Acad. or Wmart and they work just fine on shrimp. Ive even kept them over night on those things with the same battery, no ice, and no water change. Though these things will give you added protection, I would not waste the effort that they take just for shrimp. Now croaker is a different story. They produce so much amonia it is not even funny.

Aint nothin' like LIVE shrimp...don't know of anything near so frustrating as discovering you've ended up with a quart of dead ones. Flow troll type buckets work real good for us (if an areator isn't practical). We're REAL CAREFUL about how many shrimp we put in a well or bucket...never more than a pint per 5 gallons, with plenty of ice... Even been known to take an extra 48qt igloo with nothing but bottled ice...just to be sure! When using the flow-troll types, just a handful per bucket. NO CROWDING! The big issues seem to be:
1. temperature

2. oxygen

3. turbidity (suspended particulates/
amonia/wastes)
Cold water retains oxygen...warm water releases it. Bought one of those floating temperature gauges to help us keep temp as close to 70F as possible and we change the water at least every couple of hours.

Really like the net curtain thing...it works too. Keeps the shrimp from "swimming" all the time and I think that reduces the amonia output. Been using the 12vdc double diaphragm areator with air bubble rings for years...good for one or two wells. Rvrrat14 has the right idea too with the guide series saltwater areator from Academy.

I think sunblock lotion is really "shrimp-killer in a bottle!"...so the dip net is the way we go. Not real familiar with "croaker saver" or "shrimp-saver"...what are they really?

Remember...if the fish don't eat your shrimp...you can! (we call it bait shrimp cocktail!) Good Luck. Go catch a fish!