anyone ever breed white cloud mountain minnows???

[Magnum Man]

I'm sure my fish were young, when they got here, and haven't been here that long, but I added 4 of them to one of my 10 gallon shrimp tanks, about 6 ish months ago... I've never had them before, I really like them, and they seem to be doing well... the shrimp tanks are only visible in my work area, so they are protected from the noise and traffic of the rest of the house, and are there as breeding tanks... all the shrimp are doing well, as are the live bearers in the other tanks... I've never intentionally tried to breed any egg scatterers all of these tanks are highly planted, and are getting a blend of my hard well water, and RO, and are kept in the low 70's F. I'm doing the blend for the shrimp, and the live bearers are breeding like rabbits in it... if the white clouds need different conditions, I could move them to a more visual tank, and replace them in this tank, with another small live bearer... or do you think I just need to be more patient, and give the fish more time to mature??? I suppose there is also a chance they are all the same sex,as they are not as easy to tell as the live bearers???

 

[connorlindeman]

My white clouds bred in the above tank on their own. No special intervention from me. Just lots of plants. No heater, no filter.

 

[GaryE]

They're easy to breed, and to sex. Females have thicker bodies from the back to belly, and often show a bit more white on the belly as they fill with eggs. Here, they just bred in heavily planted species tanks at room temperature, with no effort on my part. I just feed tanks like that as if there are babies in them. You often don't see the young for a bit.

 

[Magnum Man]

that was kind of my understanding as well... not sure if the harder water blend is helping or hurting... I have witnessed a fish that looked full of eggs, so maybe they just need more time???
those tanks regularly get finely ground foods, with a fry mix in the blend, as well as a few algae cookies...

there is one small super red pleco in the tank... I never see it on the bottom, so I don't think it's hunting eggs, but I may have to remove that fish???

 

[GaryE]

I doubt you'll ever have an egg make it to hatching in a shared tank.

 

[Magnum Man]

I'm curious if the yellow neo shrimp would be eating the fish eggs???

 

[Colin_T]

They are probably breeding in the tank but the shrimp are eating their eggs.

White Cloud Mountain minnows require a cool period and do best when they have cold water for several months each year. We have them outdoors all year round and the water temperature drops to around 5 degrees Celsius (0C is freezing and our refrigerators are set at 5C). In summer it goes up to 35-40C. They usually breed in spring and summer. The babies look a bit like neon tetras but without the red line. After a few weeks they lose the blue line and start to look like normal fry.

If kept indoors, don't have a heater in the tank and don't have any snails or shrimp because they will eat the eggs. The adults don't normally eat their eggs or fry if they are fed well.

Have lots of plants in the tank. We used Java Moss and Water Sprite. They bred in the moss and the fry hung around the Water Sprite. You can scoop the fry out and grow them up in a rearing tank. Hydra will eat the fry so make sure there's no hydra on plants or in the tank.

If you want to specifically breed them, separate males and females for 5 days then put a pr in a breeding tank. Leave the adults there for a couple of days and then remove them (or remove them sooner if you see the female has gotten really skinny). Males are slimmer and have nicer coloured fins, females are fatter due to eggs.

We always kept them in soft water. If your GH is high (above 150ppm) it could be hindering breeding. Young fish breed more readily than older specimens.

 

[emeraldking]

My WCMMs have only reproduced outdoors...

 

[gwand]

In addition to endlers, Platys and Mollys breeding, which barely counts, I have had j. transcriptus, a. cacatuoides and a. anomalochromis breed several times with little encouragement from me. I never had my WCMM produce fry without my intervention. These minnows are the first fishes I purchased three years ago.

 

[Innesfan]

It should surprise no one that I reference Innes on this subject:

 

[OldFishKeeper]

I'm sure my fish were young, when they got here, and haven't been here that long, but I added 4 of them to one of my 10 gallon shrimp tanks, about 6 ish months ago... I've never had them before, I really like them, and they seem to be doing well... the shrimp tanks are only visible in my work area, so they are protected from the noise and traffic of the rest of the house, and are there as breeding tanks... all the shrimp are doing well, as are the live bearers in the other tanks... I've never intentionally tried to breed any egg scatterers all of these tanks are highly planted, and are getting a blend of my hard well water, and RO, and are kept in the low 70's F. I'm doing the blend for the shrimp, and the live bearers are breeding like rabbits in it... if the white clouds need different conditions, I could move them to a more visual tank, and replace them in this tank, with another small live bearer... or do you think I just need to be more patient, and give the fish more time to mature??? I suppose there is also a chance they are all the same sex,as they are not as easy to tell as the live bearers???

If they are over 6 months old, they should be mature. As others have said in this thread, they do better in their own tank without snails and hydra. Temps in the low 70s and softer, slightly acid water.

IIRC, several years ago, I purchased 6-long finned from an Asian importer. After they reached maturity, they refused to produce any offspring. I added normal white clouds to the mix and they only reproduced amongst themselves. I now watch where I buy all fish from.

 

[Magnum Man]

these were long fin fish

 

[OldFishKeeper]

these were long fin fish

Yes.

 

[Magnum Man]

reply... I meant mine are long fins

 

[OldFishKeeper]

reply... I meant mine are long fins

Do you know where they came from?