Breeding White Clouds?

[Eric]

I've recently fallen in love with white clouds. I have two in a little 1 gal.
with a nano-filter. I will be moving soon and will be setting up my big tanks
again and I'd like to set up a 55gal so that a small school of white clouds
can turn into a huge mass of them.

I have read that white clouds are one of the few small egg layers that can
grow in population to almost infest a large tank the way that guppies and
mollies can. Has anyone out there had experience with this? What other fish
could I put in this tank? I'd like to have otos and cories as cleanup, but I
fear the otos would be egg eaters.

-E

[Daniel Morrow]

"Eric" > wrote in message
. sbcglobal.net...
>
>
> I've recently fallen in love with white clouds. I have two in a little 1
gal.
> with a nano-filter. I will be moving soon and will be setting up my big
tanks
> again and I'd like to set up a 55gal so that a small school of white
clouds
> can turn into a huge mass of them.
>
> I have read that white clouds are one of the few small egg layers that can
> grow in population to almost infest a large tank the way that guppies and
> mollies can. Has anyone out there had experience with this? What other
fish
> could I put in this tank? I'd like to have otos and cories as cleanup, but
I
> fear the otos would be egg eaters.
>
> -E
>

I don't know about the otos but the cories might eat the eggs. White cloud
mountain minnows are wonderful fish that breed easy. I got mine to breed a
few weeks after I got them at about 80-81 or 82 degrees fahrenheit and the
water was probably soft and acidic. The fry are at first about 1/2 of a
millimeter in size but my memory might not serve me right there. The fry
definitely are tiny (kind of like small hairs) and at first I think they are
dark but soon they color up in a way better than neon tetras and the fry
sure are beautiful. Mine stopped successfully producing fry because the
fancy guppies in the tank eat all of the minnow's eggs (argh!) but before I
put the fancy guppies in with the white clouds the silver dollars were in
with the minnows and I think they totally cohabitated peacefully and I doubt
any of the silver dollars ate any of the white cloud's eggs. You have made a
great choice in white cloud mountain minnows - listen to the others here and
you are almost guaranteed success, listen to the others here for
recommendations on tank mates with the white clouds that don't eat there
eggs. Good luck, later!

[Elaine T]

Daniel Morrow wrote:
> "Eric" > wrote in message
> . sbcglobal.net...
>
>>
>>I've recently fallen in love with white clouds. I have two in a little 1
>
> gal.
>
>>with a nano-filter. I will be moving soon and will be setting up my big
>
> tanks
>
>>again and I'd like to set up a 55gal so that a small school of white
>
> clouds
>
>>can turn into a huge mass of them.
>>
>>I have read that white clouds are one of the few small egg layers that can
>>grow in population to almost infest a large tank the way that guppies and
>>mollies can. Has anyone out there had experience with this? What other
>
> fish
>
>>could I put in this tank? I'd like to have otos and cories as cleanup, but
>
> I
>
>>fear the otos would be egg eaters.
>>
>>-E
>>
>
>
> I don't know about the otos but the cories might eat the eggs. White cloud
> mountain minnows are wonderful fish that breed easy. I got mine to breed a
> few weeks after I got them at about 80-81 or 82 degrees fahrenheit and the
> water was probably soft and acidic. The fry are at first about 1/2 of a
> millimeter in size but my memory might not serve me right there. The fry
> definitely are tiny (kind of like small hairs) and at first I think they are
> dark but soon they color up in a way better than neon tetras and the fry
> sure are beautiful. Mine stopped successfully producing fry because the
> fancy guppies in the tank eat all of the minnow's eggs (argh!) but before I
> put the fancy guppies in with the white clouds the silver dollars were in
> with the minnows and I think they totally cohabitated peacefully and I doubt
> any of the silver dollars ate any of the white cloud's eggs. You have made a
> great choice in white cloud mountain minnows - listen to the others here and
> you are almost guaranteed success, listen to the others here for
> recommendations on tank mates with the white clouds that don't eat there
> eggs. Good luck, later!
>
>
I had breeding white clouds too. In total contrast to Daniel's tank
conditions, mine were in a half-barrel pond with temps fluctuating from
60-70F, hard, alkaline water, and pH 7.8. There was some rainfall, so
the hardness and pH were probably fluctuating as well. The males were
displaying in the critter keeper where I had them quarantined, but it
wasn't until they got into the pond with a nice current and more water
that they actually spawned. I saw fry, but I wasn't trying to grow them
out and didn't have any way to keep the fry from escaping down the
spillway to the next barrels with hungry fingerling koi and goldfish.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Daniel Morrow]

"Elaine T" > wrote in message
m...
> Daniel Morrow wrote:
> > "Eric" > wrote in message
> > . sbcglobal.net...
> >
> >>
> >>I've recently fallen in love with white clouds. I have two in a little 1
> >
> > gal.
> >
> >>with a nano-filter. I will be moving soon and will be setting up my big
> >
> > tanks
> >
> >>again and I'd like to set up a 55gal so that a small school of white
> >
> > clouds
> >
> >>can turn into a huge mass of them.
> >>
> >>I have read that white clouds are one of the few small egg layers that
can
> >>grow in population to almost infest a large tank the way that guppies
and
> >>mollies can. Has anyone out there had experience with this? What other
> >
> > fish
> >
> >>could I put in this tank? I'd like to have otos and cories as cleanup,
but
> >
> > I
> >
> >>fear the otos would be egg eaters.
> >>
> >>-E
> >>
> >
> >
> > I don't know about the otos but the cories might eat the eggs. White
cloud
> > mountain minnows are wonderful fish that breed easy. I got mine to breed
a
> > few weeks after I got them at about 80-81 or 82 degrees fahrenheit and
the
> > water was probably soft and acidic. The fry are at first about 1/2 of a
> > millimeter in size but my memory might not serve me right there. The fry
> > definitely are tiny (kind of like small hairs) and at first I think they
are
> > dark but soon they color up in a way better than neon tetras and the fry
> > sure are beautiful. Mine stopped successfully producing fry because the
> > fancy guppies in the tank eat all of the minnow's eggs (argh!) but
before I
> > put the fancy guppies in with the white clouds the silver dollars were
in
> > with the minnows and I think they totally cohabitated peacefully and I
doubt
> > any of the silver dollars ate any of the white cloud's eggs. You have
made a
> > great choice in white cloud mountain minnows - listen to the others here
and
> > you are almost guaranteed success, listen to the others here for
> > recommendations on tank mates with the white clouds that don't eat there
> > eggs. Good luck, later!
> >
> >
> I had breeding white clouds too. In total contrast to Daniel's tank
> conditions, mine were in a half-barrel pond with temps fluctuating from
> 60-70F, hard, alkaline water, and pH 7.8. There was some rainfall, so
> the hardness and pH were probably fluctuating as well. The males were
> displaying in the critter keeper where I had them quarantined, but it
> wasn't until they got into the pond with a nice current and more water
> that they actually spawned. I saw fry, but I wasn't trying to grow them
> out and didn't have any way to keep the fry from escaping down the
> spillway to the next barrels with hungry fingerling koi and goldfish.
>
> --
> Elaine T __
> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
> rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Eric might want to look into special food for the fry - the fry might be too
small for powdered flake food. I used a hikari first bites food for my white
cloud fry and it seems to work good. Good luck eric, later!

[Eric]

On Fri, 5 Aug 2005 16:13:40 -0500, Daniel Morrow wrote
(in article >):


>
> Eric might want to look into special food for the fry - the fry might be too
> small for powdered flake food. I used a hikari first bites food for my white
> cloud fry and it seems to work good. Good luck eric, later!

I know about First Bites and other foods. However, I'm trying to set up all
this to be as low maintainence as possible. I don't want to net out fry and
put them into a grow out tank, I just want to see if I can start with a dozen
and end up with forty or so with as little effort as possible other than
setting up what I think will be the optimal environment for this to happen.

BTW, are there any frozen foods that might help any fry that may be there?

-E

[Daniel Morrow]

"Eric" > wrote in message
. sbcglobal.net...
> On Fri, 5 Aug 2005 16:13:40 -0500, Daniel Morrow wrote
> (in article >):
>
>
> >
> > Eric might want to look into special food for the fry - the fry might be
too
> > small for powdered flake food. I used a hikari first bites food for my
white
> > cloud fry and it seems to work good. Good luck eric, later!
>
> I know about First Bites and other foods. However, I'm trying to set up
all
> this to be as low maintainence as possible. I don't want to net out fry
and
> put them into a grow out tank, I just want to see if I can start with a
dozen
> and end up with forty or so with as little effort as possible other than
> setting up what I think will be the optimal environment for this to
happen.
>
> BTW, are there any frozen foods that might help any fry that may be there?

Yep, frozen daphnia and especially infusoria (if you can get it!) would be
best for newborn fry. After they grow some frozen brine shrimp would be good
too. Good luck and later!


>
> -E
>
>

[Elaine T]

Eric wrote:
> On Fri, 5 Aug 2005 16:13:40 -0500, Daniel Morrow wrote
> (in article >):
>
>
>
>>Eric might want to look into special food for the fry - the fry might be too
>>small for powdered flake food. I used a hikari first bites food for my white
>>cloud fry and it seems to work good. Good luck eric, later!
>
>
> I know about First Bites and other foods. However, I'm trying to set up all
> this to be as low maintainence as possible. I don't want to net out fry and
> put them into a grow out tank, I just want to see if I can start with a dozen
> and end up with forty or so with as little effort as possible other than
> setting up what I think will be the optimal environment for this to happen.
>
> BTW, are there any frozen foods that might help any fry that may be there?
>
> -E
>
>
The other day I saw frozen rotifers at a marine store. Those should be
plenty small. You could also try frozen baby brine shrimp. Frozen
cyclops are surprisingly large and my 3 week old guppies are only now
eating the larger ones. For the easy approach, if you light the tank
brightly enough to grow algae, many fish fry will pick at tiny critters
living on the algae (or the algae itself) between feedings.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com