What do minnows eat?

Question

my mom and i caught a little minnow at te pond. it is so cute. but we don't know what it eats, or where to find it!

Answer 1

Mostly they eat insect larvae  and tiny worms that float on the water surface.

Minnows are not "pet fish."  Yours will not survive in captivity. Please let him go so he'll have a chance to survive.

Answer 2

Here's what I know, I have caught some fish out of a river and am keeping a river themed tank. It depends on what type of minnow you have caught.

If it is a small minnow like a blunt-nose or a spot-fin they are very much like goldfish and will eat flakes and whatever else you put in the tank. They even eat bread although I don't recommend you feed them that.

I would start with a frozen food like brine shrimp, daphnia, or blood worms and slowly ween them off of that and on a flake as the stable and the frozen as a treat.

Answer 3

Insects and insect larvae, mostly.  You can try finding mosquitoe larvae to feed it, or just get some frozen or freeze dried bloodworms or daphnia.  I've never known any fish to pass up bloodworms yet!

Don't listen to that other guy.  I have a friend who catches minnows and keeps them in tanks all the time.  They do fine.  She just releases them back into the stream if they start to get too big and catches some more.