Hey guys, just thought I'd throw my two cents worth into this as its an interesting discussion. Since I fish and raise koi and goldies, my experience might prove useful.
One thing I'd have to ask you (and this might be a good compromise for you and your wife as well as bring in a smile to the kids), is do you have a small corner of a garage or a basement you can use? The reason I bring this up is because as Bassboy1 mentions is that he's wanting a 100 gal tank for his bait. I have a homemade pond in my backyard (and the sore back to prove it) that is 2400 gal and has Koi and goldies in it. Because it's over 4 ft deep, I don't have to worry about the weather. On the flip side of this, a corner in your garage that is at least 2 feet wide and 4 feet long will give you a good area but as pointed out by web, bigger is better: ideally if you can go 8'x2' to 3', and about 3'to 4' high, you can build a small 'indoor pond' that will be more than suitable for your fish. Again, you'd need a good pump and filter system but you can find plenty of ideas on youtube for such a project. The easiest way to do it is go to home depot and get landscape timber (8' lengths and less than $2.00 ea) and pond liner. You can also build your own filter for a lot less than what they charge but you'll still need some simple plumbing and a dependable pump. As an example, the simplest yet one of the most effective filters I've encountered and built (and still run) is a simple wooden box with a pipe coming from the pump, buried under gravel. At the top of the filter, I have a drain back into the pond (a waterfall) and plants in the gravel (they'll thrive on the detritus from the pond, generate oxygen, and help filter and clean the water. For what it cost to buy a 100 gal set up with all the necessary filtering equipment, you can build an attractive pond for your baitfish that will take up about the same amount of space, but will be deeper and hold more fish. You can add an airpump and airstone if you want, or even put river rock or pea gravel on the bottom. since you're wanting to keep baitfish, it wouldn't hurt to invest in some pond plants (or get some from your loval area) and plant them on the bottom of the pond. Just remember to keep the cat out of the garage! :mrgreen:
