Min Number Of White Cloud Mountain Minnows?

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TheChards

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Hi guys,

I am hoping to get a second fish tank in the near future which will probably be somewhere from 30 to 45 litres although I can't be certain until I find exactly what I'm looking for. In the meantime however, I'm wondering about what to stock it with and am fairly sure that I'd like to have a male Betta, White Cloud Mountain Minnows (6?) and Pygmy Cories (6 - if I can find any). This is a total of 42cm/ 18" of fish.

While I'm fairly sure that these should do well together, I've read that White Cloud Mountain Minnows need to be kept in a school and since they'll only be in a small tank, it's quite important to me to know how many WCMM people think should be considered the minimum. I'm hoping that this minimum will be no higher than 6 or I'm going to be over-stocked even if the tank is towards the top end of what I'm thinking about getting and will have to re-think it.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/ suggestions,
Dan
 
Just want to add... WCMM like colder temperatures while bettas like higher temperatures....

But otherwise I would say 5-6 minimum.
 
Hi paw-paw, thanks for your comment.

I've read that WCMM should have a water temperature of 8 - 25C whereas Bettas prefer 24 - 30C so I hoped that if I could keep it at 24 - 25C then both should be happy. I know this might be a bit on the warm side for the WCMMs but I've also read that both fish are quite hardy and as long as the temperature stays consistent I should be able to keep them.

Dan
 
TheChards, thats very sensible. However a fish being hardy means that it is able to survive in conditions that are not optimum.... It doesnt mean that the fish will be "happy" in those conditions.

There is a big difference between being happy , and just surviving. Happy fish are active and a joy to have. Fish just surviving are slow, tired, sad, and get ill easily.

There are plent of beautiful fishies that would be happier at lower temperatures. Im sure some of the tetras are ok at 21 ish degrees. maybee swap the beta for something else.
 
The main reason I wanted the tank was for the Betta really. If it’s going to be impossible to keep both fish in the same tank then I’d rather find something to replace the WCMMs than the Betta. I’d rather not keep him alone in the tank though and was hoping I could find some suitable tank mates but there always seems to be some problem.

Try as I might, it seems quite hard to find any fish that will live happily with a Betta unless I get a much larger tank and I simply don’t have the space for anything much larger than 45 litres. It can’t be Guppy, it can’t be Neons, it certainly can’t be Dwarf Puffers (although I think they’re great) and now it seems as though it can’t be WCMMs either.

WCMMs seem to be kept with Bettas quite commonly from what I’ve read, even by people posting on this forum, so I assumed this would be OK…
 
I agree behaviour wise WCMM would be compatible as they are not nippy like danios or neons...But they really are not as colorfull in warmer T suggesting this isn't optimum T for them. They are however hardy, that is true...

I am sure there are some other non nippy fish, that like wormer T and would go with betta...i mean some people also keep bettas in un heated tanks but I wouldn't do it...

you could have female guppys - they don't have that colorful tails so betta would not see them as a threat...But of course they are not as pretty as males... Will try to think of some small betta tankmates...
 
That's true - I've heard of lots of people keeping Bettas in unheated tanks. Presumably the temperature would really fluctuate as well as being too cold for them most of the time.

Perhaps I'll just get my mum to knit some kind of jumper for the Betta and then lower the temperature so that the WCMMs are happy?
 
I'd actually got my WCMM to go in my minnow tank - until they made it obvious they were much too greedy and would starve my Central Mud Minnow out in no time.
So they wound up living in my Betta's 15 gal.
The compromise temp is around 77, which may not be ideal but all fish are active, colourful, eager eaters who have such a great time poking around in the jungle that sometimes the tank appears to be empty.
Last winter, with the dehumidifier going, (due to the multiple tanks,) the ambient temp of unheated tanks was around 77, and in the summer, the ambient temp was often warmer.
I actually couldn't have kept them any cooler much of the year.
They're very beautiful fish.
 
Minnows can thrive in temperatures around 23 degrees happily, even breeding. The only downside is apparently a shorter life expectancy due to them living in warmer temperatures than they would in the wild. But that's not fact.
 
There is a thread in new to the hobby about betta tankmates... i suggest you have a look at it

good look finding apropriate tankmates and let us know how you are going to decide :)
 

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