White Cloud Mountain Minnow

White Cloud Mountain Minnow is known by several names like White Cloud, White Cloud Mountain fish, White Cloud minnow etc. in the aquarium trade. It is found in China, clear streams in White Cloud Mountains, near Canton. Scientific name of White Cloud Mountain Minnow is Tanichthys albonubes. Its life span is that of 3-5 years on an average but it can live longer. During the fourth and fifth decade of the past century, White Cloud Mountain Minnow acquired the nickname, the ‘Poor Man’s Neon Tetra,’ as it was much more affordable than the Neon Tetras. It is commonly still sold today as ‘White Cloud Tetra’. The following account gives rich information about this fish.

Diet

White Cloud Mountain Minnow is not finicky about food. It feeds on worms, crustaceans, small insects and zooplankton. It greedily eats small live and frozen food like Artemia, Daphnia and the like. This helps in best coloration and also encourages this fish to come into breeding condition.

Breeding

It is easy to breed White Cloud Mountain Minnow. You may condition this fish for breeding with live foods like daphnia and brine shrimp. You should place the most colorful White Cloud Mountain Minnows in a tiny tank with a spawning mop or some java moss. Males try to attract females by displaying their fins, often alongside one another. This fish is an egg-scatterer and drops its eggs freely in the vegetation. Usually, this fish does not eat its offspring, thus you can leave the parents in the tank. Eggs hatch within 48-60 hours. You may see the small fry on the sides of the glass or among plants. You can feed them a finely powdered fish food or infusoria, when the fry start swimming freely.

Physical Description

White Cloud Mountain Minnow is silver-green in color with a bright red caudal fin. Among the numerous varieties known, one is with bright light edges to the anal and dorsal fins and one is with red edges to those fins. There is a long-finned variety and a golden variety also. Usually males have brighter color and slimmer bodies. This fish grows to the size of about 1.5 inches or 4 cms.

Tank Set Up

Tank for White Cloud Mountain Minnow should measure 16 inches or 41 cms. It should hold 19 liters or 5 gallons of water. There should be ample open areas for swimming and it should be well planted. If the tank is very meagerly decorated, it tends to appear a little pale. It shows its best colors in a tank of dark substrate and subdued lightning. It looks fairly splendid in a heavily-planted arrangement ornamented with pieces of bogwood, twisted roots and patches of floating vegetation. In the wild this fish normally lives in temperature ranging from 18 degree C to 26 degree C or 64-72 degree F but it can endure water temperature below 5 degree C or 41 degree F. Thus, it is an ideal fish to be kept in an unheated aquarium in cold climates. 5-19 dH should be the water hardness, pH level should be 6.0-8.0.

Social Behavior

White Cloud Mountain Minnow is a peaceful, schooling fish that can be combined with species that can tolerate lower water temperature. Companions that are suggested for White Cloud Mountain Minnow tank are Corydoras, Barbs, Rosy Barb, Red Phantom Tetra, Neons and Danios.

White Cloud Mountain Minnow is pretty undemanding provided its tank is well-maintained. In the wild it is practically extinct. It prefers clean water and is intolerant of copper in water. Even now, there is still some confusion over the naming of this species which arises out of the existence of two colour variants (some say two subspecies): one with light edges to the dorsal and anal fins, from Canton and another with red edges - apparently from Hong Kong. For a time, there was also a long-finned variety. If you are keen to have this fish as pet, go for the details, choose carefully and take care of your fish with the help of above account.