White Cloud Mountain Minnows

Common name: White cloud mountain minnow, poor mans neon, meteor minnow

Scientific/Latin name: Tanichthys albonubes

Maximum length: 3.5 to 4.5 centimetres

Colours: brown, green, yellow, red, neon blue, and black

Temperature preference: 5-30 deg C

pH preference: 6 to 7

Hardness preference: Soft

Salinity preference: Low to 1 Tablespoon per 10 to 30 gallons

Compatibility: Excellent with each other and all other species that I have kept.

Life span: 3 to 10 years

Ease of keeping: Easy

White Cloud Mountain Minnows are small, hearty fish found in the Mountain streams of China. These fish are active, healthy, and cheap. They can be a variety of tones, but all have a characteristic horizontal line on their bodies, and are usually less than 1.5". Males are generally more colourful than the females.

White Clouds are ideal for nearly any level of aquariast. They can survive very well in nearly any freshwater tank setup, and can even do well in a wide range of temperatures ranging from 5-30.C. They also do well with virtually all other fish, because they are very peaceful. The only exception to this would be larger fish that may eat them. Also if kept out of a shoal they have been known to attack more colour full fish e.g. guppies

Mountain Minnows will eat virtually anything you give them. A steady diet of flakes with the occasional veggie matter or live food treat is a great diet for these hardy fish. Because of this omnivorous nature, White Clouds are definitely not a pain to feed, and will not empty your wallet.

For all fish breeders, beginner and experienced, White Clouds are a dream. They must be one of the easiest, if not the easiest, to successfully spawn. All they really need is a good plant, such as Java Moss or others, to lay their eggs in... and those are almost Ideal conditions. White Clouds will spawn in nearly any tank, even community tanks. The eggs will hatch in around 48 hours, and after that, the fry will wiggle around for a few days before going to find food. A well-planted tank will be perfect for the fry to find micro-food. E.g. infusoria.

There is also a long-finned variety of White Cloud Mountain Minnows called "Meteor Minnow" or "Red Rocket Minnow". These fish are more colourful than the regulars, but are extremely rare to find in shops. These fish are also extremely hardy, and are just as active. This special breed is very fun to have, and is probably one of the coolest Cyprinids. Since White Cloud Mountain Minnows are small, hearty, and active; are so beautiful, easy to spawn, and are most of all extremely peaceful and cheap. Will eat mostly anything, and are so easy to keep alive, they are a must for the beginner, and also make a great addition to an experienced aquariasts tank

please tell me if it has any spelling errors :bounce: :bounce:

it shouldnt be two bad ive taken all day to write it :roll:

There are a number of spelling and grammar errors starting with the word 'cheep'. What are you writing this for?

i did it for people who want information on thease fish because i think there great

:bounce:

They are cool fish. I used to have some years ago.

they're one of my favorite fish, best schooling fish IMO.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/articles/wcloud.shtml

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/wcmm.htm

Wilson, I took the liberty to do an edit on your article.

Please find below:-

White Cloud Mountain Minnows

Common name: White cloud mountain minnow, poor mans neon, meteor minnow

Scientific/Latin name: Tanichthys albonubes

Maximum length: 3.5 to 4.5 centimetres

Colours: brown, green, yellow, red, neon blue, and black

Temperature preference: 5-30 deg C

pH preference: 6 to 7

Hardness preference: Soft

Salinity preference: Low to 1 Tablespoon per 10 to 30 gallons

Compatibility: Excellent with each other and all other species that I have kept.

Life span: 3 to 10 years

Ease of keeping: Easy

White Cloud Mountain Minnows are small, hearty fish found in the Mountain streams of China. These fish are active, healthy, and cheap. They can be a variety of colour tones, but all have a characteristic horizontal line on their bodies, and are usually less than 1.5". Males are generally more colourful than the females.

White Clouds are ideal for nearly any level of aquarist. They can survive very well in nearly any freshwater tank set-up, and can even do well in a wide range of temperatures ranging from 5-30.C. They also do well with virtually all other fish, because they are very peaceful. The only exception to this would be larger fish that may eat them. Also if kept out of a shoal they have been known to attack more colour full fish e.g. guppies

Mountain Minnows will eat virtually anything you give them. A steady diet of flakes with the occasional veggie matter or live food treat is a great diet for these hardy fish. Because of this omnivorous nature, White Clouds are definitely not a pain to feed, and will not empty your wallet.

For all fish breeders, beginner and experienced, White Clouds are a dream. They must be one of the easiest, if not the easiest, to successfully spawn. All they really need is a good plant, such as Java Moss or others, to lay their eggs in, and those are almost ideal conditions. White Clouds will spawn in nearly any tank, even community tanks. The eggs will hatch in around 48 hours, and after that, the fry will wriggle around for a few days before going to find food. A well-planted tank will be perfect for the fry to find micro-food. E.g. infusoria.

There is also a long-finned variety of White Cloud Mountain Minnows called "Meteor Minnow" or "Red Rocket Minnow". These fish are more colourful than the regulars, but are extremely rare to find in shops if at all in NZ. These fish are also extremely hardy, and are just as active. This special breed is very fun to have, and is probably one of the coolest Cyprinids. Since White Cloud Mountain Minnows are small, hearty, and active; are so beautiful, easy to spawn, and are most of all extremely peaceful and cheap. Will eat mostly anything, and are so easy to keep alive, they are a must for the beginner, and also make a great addition to an experienced aquarists tank

please tell me if it has any spelling errors

it shouldn’t be two bad I’ve taken all day to write it. (The two that you have in this line should be too)

I don't say it is perfect tho, just a tad better.

Al

thanks alot alan :D

is there any other information on the minnow that ive missed out?

Further to all prev posts, my 5 Sunset WCMM are happily living up to temps at present of 28 deg. but Wed. 8th was very humid in Auckland, strange weather, & a 3 week old & 2 x 1 week old fry were missing from the tank when I came home in the late afternoon. I do think the adults will eat the young fry. I have 4 x 12 day fry in a very small bowl & need to transfer them to a bigger container. Do you think this is too soon?

And is it a good idea to add sea salt?

Put in a large handful of java moss, teased out, and the babies will use this as a refuge

I frequently remove fry at an early age, you just need to be very careful that you maintain the same conditions. I would not add salt, just try to duplicate the conditions.

i agree with alanmin4304 try to keep the conditions (i would even use as much of the old water as i could and give them lots of plants to hide in

i'd love to get some of the sunset white clouds if anyone one has any for sale ? neat fish i saw one at hollywoods but was not able to get any home at that time . thanks

Got some sunset WCMM in my pond, big mistake :oops:

I doubt I'll ever see them again... I can only hope they are Ok and possibly breeding for me

thanks all. I feel happier now about putting them in a bowl - with lots of plants, java moss too - which must have had snail eggs in it and white worms - still trying to get rid of that.

Sorry Billaney - mine a little small yet!

i just got some more today

Thought this post is better here then in private sales (since its not really a sale :-) )...

I have been on the hunt for some meteor minnows and have come to the conclusion that:

1/ They dont exist in new zealand

2/ People who have them are hiding?

If anyone has been able to confirm sighting in new zealand, would be great (doesnt have to be recent, if they seen it 10 years ago then its good to know theres hope to get these in NZ without importing)...

cheers

Matt

It's even hard to find pics of meteor minnows Good luck!

Hollywood Fish farm Mt Roskill have 20 Sunset Minnows for sale - I bred them, and more happily growing.

hey lani do you have some photos of them?

Pics here, although not good as close-ups.

http://www.omegacommunications.co.nz/Page60.html

You can see their red tails are perhaps a bit longer than WCMM.

There is a closeup of one of the females. They are darker salmon colour under lights.

Hey Lani, they do look good, maybe i'll try some of those as a in-between until I locate some meteor ones (once again assuming they are around and all).

Do you sell off the babies? if so, I'll be up in auckland in march and would love to get my hands on afew in order to breed (wouldnt want to depend on luck of a petshop having some on the days i'm up there)

matthewY,

I just had a look at the image link you posted of the Meteor Minnows - really nice fins, yes a bit bigger than on the Sunset Minnows, but more colour in the body of the SM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Meteorminnow3.jpg

supprised that they dont have any images of the sunset ones on wikipedia, opportunity for you to get your name up there ;-)

yes! thanks for that matthewY. I will check it out