I bought 7 white clouds to put in my 75 gallon tank. I am now down to four.... Guess I have been serving up the white clouds on a cracker to my goldfish! They have been eating one a day. White clouds may fit in with goldfish, but NOT in my tank!

I quickly filled up my 29 gallon. Moved one of the filters from my 75 gallon and put it onto the tank. The 29 gallon now has the Whisper 300 on it, and the 75 gallon has a 600 from Goldfish Connection that I bought.

The 29 gallon just has gravel in it. No heater... No plants... On Friday when I get paid, I will buy the heater and plants.

I figure that the white clouds can cycle my tank.... I feel bad, because they weren't bought for that purpose. I just had to get them away from the goldfish because they would definately become somebody's lunch!

How big were your goldfish that were eating them? I was about to buy a school of them but reading your post as just put me right off.

Thanks

My goldfish are not that big. About 3 inches... I didn't think that they were big enough to eat the white clouds... but I was wrong.

PeachesCat, I read your post with interest because I've been telling folks that white clouds go well with goldfish.

I'll certainly stop giving out that advice for now, and watch my fish carefully.

Did you actually see your goldfish chasing the minnows? Mine don't, but they are fat orandas and lionheads, there is absolutely no way they could catch a healthy minnow. Maybe if the little butterfly-tail Ryukin were bigger he could do it, so I'll keep watch.

Did you get baby white clouds or the fully grown ones? It dawns on me that the little guys might be more appealing to goldfish as snacks. I got bigger ones so they wouldn't fit through the filter overflow. I still don't think my goldfish could catch even a baby one though.

Both times I've bought minnows, I did lose a couple when I first put them in the tank. But they didn't disappear into goldfish. They just hid in the plants for a day or two before they died. Compared to goldfish and dojo loaches, they seem to be very easily stressed by being transported.

From me and my minnows, thank you for the heads up.

Caroline in San Jose

As far as I know, the minnows were grown. I didn't actually see the minnows get eaten (thank god because I don't think I could handle it), but I did notice the goldfish constantly chasing the minnows.

Maybe my goldfish eating minnows is a fluke, but the surviving 4 are doing well in my 29 gallon tank. I will buy 2-3 more on Friday to get the school back up.

From now on, going to stick with fish bigger than my goldfish like Plecos and Dojos!

Jeepers. I will continue to watch my little guys for problems, and urge others to do so.

PeachesCat, what kinds of goldfish are they? Are they 3" with tail or without? Are there floating plants or anything like that in their tank? Is there much current? I'm trying to figure out what works with minnows and what doesn't.

You might want to hold off on buying more minnows until the cycling of the new tank is done. The 4 of them are plenty for that task.

Who else are you going to put with the minnows? (Or have you had time to think that far ahead?)

Best wishes,
Caroline in San Jose

I have Oscar who is a lionhead, two ranchus and a pearlscale. They are a little bigger than 3 inches with the tail.

I have lots of live plants and floating plants in my tank, and it is a 75 gallon. Also, I admit, the goldfish are overfed.

In my 29 gallon, I plan on adding a betta, guppies, tetras and some sort of catfish.

I had no choice moving the white clouds into the other tank. I didn't want to wake up minus another fish (they get eaten at nightime.)

I added one of the filters from my old tank to the 29 gallon. The 29 gallon also had gravel that was used already, so there was bacteria harboring in it...

PeachesCat, how long were those White clouds quarantined before they went into the tank? My lionheads are some bigger than yours, and there's no way they could catch healthy minnows. They have trouble catching sinking pellets. So, there's a chance the minnows were weakened for some reason.

That's not to deny the good possibility that you have Olympic-quality goldfish. I have a snail that we named SeaBisciut because he is seriously fast compared to the others.

I'd still wait to add anybody to the 29 gallon until you are sure those little guys are ok and the tank's cycled.

I keep going into the livingroom and counting the minnows. At the first sign of trouble I'll yank those minnows out.

Caroline in San Jose