White Cloud Minnow Breeding?

[Teabone3]

So I have about 10 White Cloud Minnows and two tanks. One is a 5 gal and the other is a 10 g. I'm wondering what are the best breeding conditions for white clouds. I have an even number of males and boys. One of the males is massive.

One of my tanks I can make 21C and the other 24C with a heater. I understand they are fish that like cold water but im wondering if 24C might encourage breeding? I also have java moss and other plants in all tanks.

I see lots of flaring and displaying from the males and the females sometimes disappear into the java moss but the males dont seem to really follow. I've not seen any spawning going on.

 

So any help would be awesome as to what I may be doing wrong. I live in a big city in the dead of winter so getting access to live food is almost impossible. I do have brine shrimp eggs though but never tried that yet. I have dried worm food and pellets and flakes.

[Brenden Mitchell]

I am by no means experienced or very knowledgeable, but the two times I have moved my white clouds from their tanks I have immediately had large spawns of fry within 2-3 days. I believe that they eat their eggs/fry, and once you move all the parents away the fry grow and become visible. Last time I had fry I tested this assumption and recombined the adults and the fry and they were immediately eaten. I had heard that white clouds would not eat their fry, but in this case they did - very quickly. 

Edited December 24, 2022 by Brenden Mitchell

[PineSong]

Youtube has some great vids on breeding white clouds and as Brenden described, I believe the key is to remove the parents so that they eggs can develop and hatch. I started out with 5 white clouds and I have seen spawning behavior but never had any fry. Whether it's the parents or the other fish in the tank snacking on the eggs or fry I cannot say, but 1.5 years later I don't have any babies.

If I was actively trying to raise them I would use the methods shown in the videos which are focused on getting the parents to spawn and then removing them. 

 

[Teabone3]

Wow so same day I asked the question here later that night I noticed what I thought were 3 insects in my tank turned out to be fry! I removed them immediately to their own tank with low water. I think the parents ate all the other babies or eggs since ti only found 3. 

 

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

@WhitecloudDynasty might also have some recommendations on breeding them.

[CornAndCrawlers]

I followed whiteclouddynasty's advice and he led me to a successful batch of fry that are now three months old. Congratulations on your new found fry!

[WhitecloudDynasty]

I recommend less fish per setup, more breeder will just start a feeding frenzy. temperature doesnt really matter to them, itll just speed up or slow down the hatch rate by 1 day. 

 

 

 

 

 

[CT_]

On 12/31/2022 at 12:58 AM, Teabone3 said:

Wow so same day I asked the question here later that night I noticed what I thought were 3 insects in my tank turned out to be fry! I removed them immediately to their own tank with low water. I think the parents ate all the other babies or eggs since ti only found 3. 

 

 

Funny you describe then like that.  My first experience with white cloud fry i was walking by my tub pond and thought it had been over run with mosquito larvae.  Turns out they were fry

[Goosedub]

I am having a similar issues. I have probably 8 long fin white clouds in a breeding setup with a false bottom, it’s about 2/3 choked with guppy grass and I still haven’t gotten fry. I’ve had them set under in this tank for probably 4 or 5 months. I see a ton of flaring. Maybe I have too many?

[WhitecloudDynasty]

On 1/6/2023 at 11:47 AM, Goosedub said:

I am having a similar issues. I have probably 8 long fin white clouds in a breeding setup with a false bottom, it’s about 2/3 choked with guppy grass and I still haven’t gotten fry. I’ve had them set under in this tank for probably 4 or 5 months. I see a ton of flaring. Maybe I have too many?

You got too many  ...try 2 pair 

[JMP]

The best luck I’ve had spawning mountain clouds, zebra danio, and Tetras is with a large growth of Java Moss. By large I’m talking several inches long by about 5 inches across. I wasn’t even trying to spawn Columbia Tetras when one day I noticed several about 1/2” long had joined the adult group. You could also try spawning mops for them to lay eggs in as it’s much easier than growing that much moss. The moss grew like a weed in a 75 gallon I was dosing with plant food and CO2. Whatever you use it needs to be dense enough to protect the eggs until you’re able to separate them from the adults. Good luck.

[Teabone3]

Yeah so as soon as I posted here to ask how to breed them... I noticed i had tiny fry everywhere. What I did was not use a heater (my room temp is 22C) I have java moss everywhere and lots of hiding places. I also do not have too many males in that tank.

 

The fry are now getting really big!

[lewk]

I'm happy to hear that these bred pretty easily for you. I have to figure out what my tank situation is going to be, but I think I might be ordering from @WhitecloudDynastysoon if I get a setup. Originally I was looking at breeding from inexpensive local stock instead, but after looking at what was available at my LFS I think I would like a better starting point. 

[Teabone3]

Whats weird is I have breeding going on and egg laying in my 5G but not my 10G o_o