White Cloud minnow behavior?

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HOLLIEO

Aquarium Advice Freak
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Jun 10, 2003
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I don't think my little White Cloud Minnows like their home.
I have them at work with me, in a hex tank that by the measurements I think is about 7 gallons. The water is like 75°-80° (room temp). I have a bunch of large marbles on the bottom and a fake aquarium rock decoration in the middle. The back of the tank is mirrored and they just wont stay away from it. I have never had these type of fish, so I am not sure of their behavior or what i should actually have in the tank for them to make them happy. :roll:
I thought that since they were schooling fish, maybe they thought that the 'other' fish in the mirror were the rest of their school and that is why they are always in the back. Any ideas or thoughts???
 
I think you are right about the mirror, they are probably trying to join the fish they can see in the reflection. Is there any way you can cover up the mirrored area, this might bring them to the front.
White cloud mountain minnows are in fact a species of fish that like the colder waters. You will find that they do very well in temperatures of 61 - 64 degress and for breeding raise the temperature to 68 - 72 degress. Spawning takes place among the plant clumps, i have always put floating plants in the tank and they spawn into that. The male curls the rear part of his body around the female and the eggs are placed on the plants. If you keep these fish well fed they won't eat there eggs and the eggs hatch in about 48 hours.
If you would like a little bit of history on this fish here goes..... A chinese boy named Tan is said to have discovered this fish on the white cloud mountain near canton around 1930, the genus Tanichthys comes from the boys name; the species albonubes, means 'white cloud'.
I hope this helps.
 
You could run a bubble wall across the back where the mirror is to obscure the reflection. I love these fish and they do spawn relatively easily.
 
That's it. The White Clouds are goin' home today. I have tried to cover the mirror, but it is a hex tank with 6 sides and the mirror is on 3 of the sides!! ahhhh!!
I stuck a plant over it, but that didn't work. I ran the bubbles, but they actually liked them. That didn't work. So, I am taking them home to go live with the turtle and the goldfish since the water stays colder in that tank.
I think I am going to put a betta in this tank now. At least he won't care about the 'other' fish in the mirror. :lol:
 
You mean all the fish out there care if they see a reflection in the mirror???
Why the heck would they manufacture a fish tank with mirrors????
What ding bats!!!
OH! I know!!! :idea: I can keep some plants and some snails or something????
They don't require any heaters... and they don't care what is in the mirror...
Right???
 
Reflections On Reflections

Sorry about the title, I couldnt' resist. I suspect the sale of mirrored glass has much more to do with what we like as opposed to what the fish like. If you have small tank, e.g., 7 gallons, get another one without the reflective glass. I'd love to have a small tank at my office, but the cube police would track me down in no time!
 
How about a really cool planted shrimp tank? That would be fun to watch during the day. They are cheap and you could stuff a whole bunch of those fellas in there.
 
I imagine the tank is designed to a) give a sense of space and b) give bettas something to do while they're in there. If they see their reflection, they'll want to fight it, but I think your betta will be fine. Perhaps it's more entertaining to some betta owners to have a betta fighting against the impossible windmills...
 
I would say that there are probably some tetras that would not care about mirrors, but maybe just neons! (Maybe not even them) The betta fish will flare and posture and drive himself crazy though, as their agression is conspecific and he can tolerate just about anyone except another one like himself!
 
Bettas will think their reflection is another betta, and they will flare at the reflection! Maybe he will get used to it, or maybe he won't and will get stressed. I think the planted tank and shrimp sound good too.
 
Oh definitely do a shrimp tank!!

I have cherry shrimp in the planted 10g, and I'll be adding the bamboo shrimp once its out of QT.

The cherry shrimp are wee lil guys; tops a 1/2" long and bright red. REAL cute! The bamboo/wood/Singapore shrimp get to be around 2-3 inches (mine is about an inch and a half) and has the COOLEST fan hands (its waves em in the water to grab detritus, then folds em to its mouth to eat it). Check http://www.azgardens.com/index2.htm and http://www.franksaquarium.com/freshwatershrimpfarm.htm to get some idea of what they look like, how much they run and how to take care of em (I got my cherry shrimp from Azgardens).
 
You could always go with the dwarf frogs. I also love watching shrimp. I have some that are relatively long in the tooth and have grown remarkably large. They swim out into the open water to snag bits of fish food at feeding time!
 
I guess the other good fish if you can find them are blind cave tetras. Since they have no eyes the mirror is not a problem. Of course they would probably want a heated tank.
 
Wow!!! Great site for the shrimp info Allivymar!!! I think that is the direction I am gonna go. Sounds cool and a little different.
Now.... gotta get everything set up.
BTW... does anyone know what is the preferred substrate for a semi planted tank and some cleaner shrimp??
 
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