Is my white cloud minnow pregnant?

[BeccaMorriceX]

I have got my first two white cloud minnows two weeks ago and named them Oliver and Olivia (I didn't know if they were boy or girl so I just decided to presume) and over the past two days I have noticed that Olivia has gotten a bit bigger in the stomach compared to Oliver. She is still darting about really fast but I noticed she has started going in the little cave decoration that I had in my tank. Could somebody please have a look at the pics I have and tell me if she is pregnant and give me any advice if she is.



Also, Oliver seems to follow her about the tank a lot and seems to be quite protective of her. I can't get a clear photo of her as she keeps darting about but hopefully you can see in the video. Olivia also keeps staying in darker corners of the tank and basically hiding. When Olivia is in the cave decoration, Oliver "guards" the entrance round the back to it.


In the video (sorry they darted out then in) Oliver is the one that comes out first and then Olivia darts out behind him and then they dart back into the cave bit together with Oliver guarding it again. HELP.


Many thanks x

 

[BeccaMorriceX]

I have got my first two white cloud minnows two weeks ago and named them Oliver and Olivia (I didn't know if they were boy or girl so I just decided to presume) and over the past two days I have noticed that Olivia has gotten a bit bigger in the stomach compared to Oliver. She is still darting about really fast but I noticed she has started going in the little cave decoration that I had in my tank. Could somebody please have a look at the pics I have and tell me if she is pregnant and give me any advice if she is.

Also, Oliver seems to follow her about the tank a lot and seems to be quite protective of her. I can't get a clear photo of her as she keeps darting about but hopefully you can see in the video. Olivia also keeps staying in darker corners of the tank and basically hiding. When Olivia is in the cave decoration, Oliver "guards" the entrance round the back to it.

In the video (sorry they darted out then in) Oliver is the one that comes out first and then Olivia darts out behind him and then they dart back into the cave bit together with Oliver guarding it again. HELP.

Many thanks x

SORRY IF THE VIDEO IS NOT AVAILABLE. I AM NOT SURE WHERE TO UPLOAD PHOTOS OR VIDEOS any tips so yous can see???

 

[Andy Sager]

Okay for starters, without knowing anything other than the type of fish you are talking about, she is, unquestionably NOT pregnant. You see, White clouds are egg layers not livebearers so she cannot, by definition, be pregnant. ( Sorry but this gets me everytime )
What is most likely happening is that she is filling up with eggs ( the term is Gravid) which is why she appears fuller in her abdominal area. The change in water from the store to your tank might have started her getting ready to spawn.
Spawning white clouds will dart around the tank with the male chasing the female, trying to get her to go into the bushes or bushy plants so they she will scatter her eggs and he can fertilize them. It sounds like what you call guarding her is this pre-spawn behavior. Most likely, soon, you will wake up one morning and she will be thinner, Like MAGIC, lol, and that will be your clue that they have spawned. You should remove the parents if you want to save most of the spawn.
Raising White Cloud fry is another story. Once the eggs hatch and the fry absorb their yolk sac, they will become free swimming and you will need to feed them tiny foods like Infusoria until they are large enough to take prepared foods like "First Bites" or Newly Hatched Brine Shrimp.
They can be challenging to raise if you are not prepared or have adequate food for the fry.

Hope this helps

 

[BeccaMorriceX]

I had no idea what the right word was instead of it being "pregnant" so apologies for that lol. This is my first ever lot of fish - I have grown up with fish my whole life as my parents have had but I never had and this is the first lot of minnows anyone in the family has ever had, I don't have another tank to remove the parents so to save most of the fry would it be okay to get those little cups (don't know the right name for them) that hook onto the side of your tank and it seperates the fry and parents? Thanks for all your help. Also I have flakes - can you feed that to the fry?
Many thanks.

 

[juanrivas16]

You can feed the fry crushed flakes once they are big enough, if you want to start a infosuria culture you will need:

- 1 jar ( make sure you can close it tightly )
- and some lettuce

First you fill the jar with water from your aquarium, it's better if the tank is planted because there will be some infosuria in the water ( infosuria is just the word used to describe a community of microorganisms usually conformed by: phytoplankton, protozoa's, zooplankton, etc )
Then add some lettuce leaves in the jar, close it and put it near a window where sunlight will "hit" the jar. Wait for the water to turn slightly white and cloudy, this will be the bacteria feeding on the lettuce, the zooplankton will feed on the bacteria, the protozoa's will feed on the lettuce, and phytoplankton will be good with the sunlight ( due to the fact that phytoplankton is mostly a "vegetable" life form, so it will turn the energy of the light and turn it into chemical energy ), in a few weeks the water will turn pink slightly red or slightly brown, this is simply the infosuria in great abundance once this happens you can simply feed the fry.

A good thing about infosuria is that due to the wide variety of microorganisms the fry have plenty types of food to choose from

 

[Andy Sager]

I had no idea what the right word was instead of it being "pregnant" so apologies for that lol. This is my first ever lot of fish - I have grown up with fish my whole life as my parents have had but I never had and this is the first lot of minnows anyone in the family has ever had, I don't have another tank to remove the parents so to save most of the fry would it be okay to get those little cups (don't know the right name for them) that hook onto the side of your tank and it seperates the fry and parents? Thanks for all your help. Also I have flakes - can you feed that to the fry?
Many thanks.

No apologies necessary. It's just a pet peeve of mine
It is not the best scenario to keep the parents on any small containers so my best suggestion is to just let nature take it's course and if you are lucky, you might see some White Cloud fry swimming about. Your chances increase by having a heavily planted tank.
As for the infusoria, juanrivas16 laid the whole process out for ya. Once the water has turned, you will just add small amounts of it to the fry so as not to pollute the fry tank.

Good luck with these

 

[BeccaMorriceX]

thank yous both very much for the advice! hopefully there may be some mini minnow frys soon