White Cloud Mountain Minnows are beautiful and easy to care for freshwater fish. This species comes in three different variants which are, White Cloud Minnow, Gold White Cloud Minnow, and Longfin White Cloud Minnow. Each of these could be kept together and they will likely school together with no problems. Unlike, many other fish that you come across in this hobby, White Clouds prefer living in cooler water. This guide will discuss their temperature needs as well as other aquarium requirements, food and diet, compatible tank mates, and breeding habits.
Aquarium Requirements
White Cloud Minnows will grow to a max size of 2″. This makes them great candidates for a 10-gallon aquarium. Keep in mind that they do best in schools of at least 6 individuals, but more is always preferred. If your aquarium is well planted and they are the only fish in the aquarium, you should be fine with keeping between 6 – 12 individuals. A larger school will help the fish feel more comfortable and less shy in the aquarium.
They’re not known to be jumpers, however, I do recommend providing a well-fitted lid on your aquarium to be on the safe side. Any fish can jump out of the aquarium if they are determined enough.
How Many White Cloud Minnows in a 20 Gallon Tank?
With a good filter and a well-planted aquarium, you should be able to keep up to 20 White Cloud Mountain Minnows in a 20-gallon aquarium. This is only if this species of fish is the only fish in the fish tank. You will need to lower the total White Clouds if you plan on adding plecos, cory cats, or other fish into the fish tank.
Water Parameters
The water parameters, specifically temperature, make them a little harder to keep with other tropical fish. White Cloud Mountain Minnows are very hardy fish but we will need cooler water to help them thrive in your aquarium. The following are the water parameters that White Clouds do best in.
- Temperature: 64°F – 72°F
- Water Hardness: 10 – 15 KH
- pH: 6.0 – 8.0
As you can see, they do best in waters that are at their warmest 72°F. Most tropical fish require water usually between 74°F – 78°F. There are a few fish species that will do well in cooler water. You may not require a heater for this aquarium, but a thermostat is still recommended just to keep an eye on the temperature. You can pick up this fancy PAIZOO Digital Thermometer from Amazon or keep it simple with the Marina Floating Thermometer.
Food & Diet
This species of fish is omnivorous, and they are generally not picky eaters. White Cloud Mountain Minnows will easily accept frozen foods such as Tubifex Worms and Bloodworms. I would also recommend providing them with high-quality flake food, such as the Omega One Super Color Flakes, and small pellet foods like the New Life Spectrum Tropical Pellets. Giving them a variety of food will provide them with a well-rounded diet which will help keep them healthy.
Tank Mates
Although there aren’t as many fish that have the same water parameter needs as White Cloud Mountain Minnows, there are still plenty to choose from. In appropriately sized aquariums White Clouds can be kept with Zebra Danios, Gold Ring Burmese Danio, Platys, Paradise Fish, and/or Guppies. You can also strengthen the size of your White Cloud Minnow population. They will also do fine with Red Cherry Shrimp, Ghost Shrimp, Mystery Snails, Rabbit Snails, and many more invertebrates.
Although White Clouds and Goldfish have similar water parameter requirements, I would not recommend keeping them together. Goldfish will be able to make a nice meal out of your White Clouds. Also, Goldfish are very messy and get incredibly large. They do best with other Goldfish and Koi, preferably in an outdoor pond. You can learn more about Goldfish by checking out the Goldfish – Complete Care Guide.
Breeding
White Cloud Minnows should easily breed in the aquarium on their own. They lay eggs which will probably get eaten by many different species of fish including the White Cloud Minnows themselves. You can try to imitate a transition from spring to summer by increasing the temperature a degree or two in the fish tank. Also, increasing feeding may create a breeding response in your fish. If you want to increase the success of the eggs and fry without setting up a breeding tank, I would recommend providing a variety of plants in your aquarium. Denser populations of plants will give your fry more places to hide. Moss, floating plants, and Hornwort are good options for this.
Fry may figure out how to survive on their own, but if you see fry moving about the tank, you may need to feed them live baby brine shrimp to help promote growth. Feeding them live foods will help them successfully reach adulthood.
Final Notes
White Cloud Minnows are fantastic and hardy cool water freshwater fish. If you are getting into this hobby, they’re a great fish to start with. They are fairly cheap, very colorful for the type of fish they are, and very active. You will likely not be disappointed in keeping this fish.