I'm a sucker for feeders. I admit it. Thats how I got my first mouse. Thats how I got my first comet. Thats how I wanna get my first minnow. Oh, I'm also a sucker for cheapies.So if I ever end up getting a school of minnows, could someone let me know as much as possible? I've went on different sites and all I got was from 1.5cm to 2inches max. Big difference in a little fish. I wanna know basics like life span, how big a tank, tank mates, temp, ect. I could go on forever. But hey, I love to learn. B)

Hi, I have white clouds in a tank with my goldies. They don't take up much space or produce much waste. You could probably equate 6-8 white clouds makes as much mess as a small gf (about 1-2" without tail).

White clouds do not need a heated tank, provided your tank stays above 16C (62F) they will be fine.

WC prefer a neutral pH but mine do well around 7.5pH.

They can and do eat gf flake food and this provides all their nutrients.

Lifespan is up to 3 years.

They are schooling fish and do best in groups of 6 or more. I actually have 4 White Clouds and 3 Daninos but they school separately.

They are peaceful fish and do not chase or nip as daninos are known to do.

Don't know anything about their breeding habits.

Hope that information was helpful, good luck.

ditto fishmerised.
I have about 12 with 4 danios and mine do school together. They eat both goldfish flakes and tropical flakes, peck at the goldies pellets and love daphnia and bloodworms.
The biggest one I have is around 2.5 cms but with a big gut on him, he's girth is growing rather than his length! I can't imagine him getting to 2 inches though.
They're sweet little fish, and I've watched mine pairing off and doing little dances togther, but if they have produced any eggs, they've been the other fishes breakfast.
I really like having a mixture of different fish in my tank, and the WCMs and danios have never been a problem.
bw
cupoftea

I love those little dances too, they splay all their fins and look really pretty.

Sandy mentioned that daninos don't have a "season" to breed, they do it all the time, maybe WCM are the same. I've never seen any eggs though, they wouldn't last long with gf around.

My guys will release eggs (they display for each other then sort of wiggle hard against each other and eggs go flying) but then every white cloud in the area zoomes in and gobbles the eggs.

I've kept them alive for right around 2-3 years or so, but the ones I originally had that are dying off now came from bad stock (nnnnnn type fish). So more healthy ones might last a little longer. I'd say they top out at 2" max. Females have bigger bellies while males are more streamlined.

They generally stay up at the top levels of the tank, like cooler water and are interesting little buggars hehe...

Thanx for so much info. Its helped me. I'm not sure if I'll get any as I've already got more fish than I should.

Do any of you gf/wcm combination tank owners have photos to share? I'm curious to see how they look together!

Here is a photo of my pom pom, Elf, and some of the white clouds.

And one of Elf and Crackle and some of the white clouds

Thanks touchofsky, your pics look great. I think the white clouds are a very aesthetic addition to your tank. Are they still getting along fine with your goldfish?

Yes, they all get along fine. Actually the goldfish seem to take no notice of the white clouds. The white clouds have shared the tank with the goldfish for a year now

EEK!

I had 24 White Clouds, very sweet little fish. They are fearless, and will play/use any ornament you put into the tank hehe. They love to explore and swim through things, so they're great fun. Like has been said already, they don't cause any trouble and are very interesting to observe.

However...

Don't mix them with Goldies!!! (or at least, not anything that's FAST!) You may be alright with fancies etc. but a common goldie is not a good tankmate!

My 24 were none OVERNIGHT, and that was down to one 5 inch goldie.

I guess that once she realised she was capable of catching them, she did!

Yes, I only have mine with fancy goldfish. They are much slower than the white clouds and they don't bother to chase them. I guess they know better

Good advice to not put them with commons.

Crap! That's too bad... I have a common.

White Clouds are excellent hardy fish. I might be pushing this by bragging, I have had mine for 4 years now. Excellent fish!!!! They would be just fine with the fancy goldies like mentioned but I would not put them with comets. They are excellent dither fish too. If you want to have a small little pond on the deck out side they make excellent fish for something like that also.

i have 4yr old comet in my 10gallon tank...i was thinking of adding minnows since they dont require much but i dont want them to get eatin so i was thinkin of trying 2 of them and see if my common chases them around...if i do get them should i buy some more trees so they can hide

Personally I would not put the minnows with your comet. But if you want to I guess you could see what will happen. Minnows would do better with the fancy goldfish rather than the comets.

Good Luck.....goldygal

thanks...if my comet did eat one of the minnows would he get sick

origin: s. of china.

freshwater.

omnivore.

feed with flakes. can withstand 28ºC for short periods. take note for low temp. range.

ph: 6-8
temperature:
C: 8-22
F: 46-72

potential size: 4cm - 1.5"

active: diurnal.

easy to breed. use temp around 21C, female scatters eyes, after eggs are out, remove pair. they eat their young also.

life span: 2years.

main colors: white, red and yellow.

tail: concave.

MUST be kept in schools.

hope that helped..

No, eating a white cloud would not make your comet sick.

i wanna see how these minnows do in my tank so should i buy a skool of 6 just to try them out or just 2-3...and then buy more later on if they get along with my comet

They aren't expensive, so I would probably go with the school of six to start out. White clouds feel more secure in a larger group.

Also, when you buy them, try and get large ones. Some of the ones in stores are really small.

I have 5 white clouds in with my 2 Orandas. They get along very well, my goldies completely ignore them. Lots of fun to watch. I feed then tropical flakes and my goldies sinking crumbles so they aren't competing for food. I originally had 4 white clouds, but they spawned while in quarentine and I ended up with a fry that survived:)

thats cool, its awesome that you have fish and they spawn RIGHT in your eyes.

Trust me, your comet will LOVE them.

Another reason I hate lfs's so much... "Oh yes, they'll be fine with your goldie, they're very fast, she won't catch them"...Ching Ching, £48 please!

Yeah, right. 24 dead fish. THANKS

I'll say it again... White Clouds and fast goldeis DO NOT MIX!

same as koi and goldfish sometimes. koi kill goldfishes. ive got that from a LFS in china town, NY.

how long should i quarentine them for i only have a small fish bowl to do this in...should i put them in the tank and watch them for a few days...wut are signs of sick minnows? i wanna make sure i dont buy sick ones

if theyre sick, you can either see via physical signs or lethargy. if theres nothing wrong like that then you can put them into the tank.

arite thanks alot for the info ill try togoto petco sometime this week

i bought 3 white clouds yesterday and my comet dosent seem to bother them i think the white clouds are faster than my comet cuz they can get away from him...but there doing pretty well so far..iam gonna go backa and get 3 more

I have 8 white clouds in with my 2 comets. Occasionally they mistake the white clouds for food, but when they find out that they move, the comets usually give up. Most of the time they ignore the minnows. Granted, their mouths are too small to eat them, but I think in a few months they may try to eat them, and succeed. I don't suggest putting minnows with comets or commons, which has already been said. They seem to like eating the brine shrimp I fed my goldies, so...

They're fun to watch, they like to school, and they go through anything in the tank, whether or not they fit in the hole or not. I think in the future I'll put them in a different tank with other fish, so they won't get eaten.

Mmmmmmmmm... Protien. sorry... couldnt help myself.

after reading this thread, i want some whiteclouds!!!

eeee! I want some white clouds now They sound so fun and cute.

white cloud's lay eggs? that would explain why i dont have any fry. I have a huge about of pond snails in the same tank and I bet they eat the eggs.

White clouds will eat their own eggs, too.

GF will usually ignore white clouds. they are good hiders.