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Breeding the White Cloud Mountain Minnow.
Breeding the White Cloud Mountain Minnow.
The first egg-layer I was ever successful with was the White Cloud Mountain Fish.
The proper name is Tanichthys albonubes (Lin-shu-yen), 1932. What this boils down to is a short history about this fish. My research advises that it was "discovered" by a Boy Scout and carried to a scientist by the name of Lin who officially described the fish and named it in honor of the Scout, Tan; hence the genus name, Tanichthys (Tan's Fish.) The name (Lin) in parentheses advises the name of the official describer and 1932 in the year of publication of the description.
The fish comes from the White Cloud Mountain area, near Canton, China. They are supposed to exist in the gorges throughout the area, in all streams, including the fast flowing ones. Temperatures ranging from 40 to 85 degrees suit them very well and water composition, within reasonable bounds, isn't important in maintenance or breeding. These fish are of a size to accommodate a modest budget, in that they do well in any tank from a 5-gallon on up. They grow to about 4 cm. or in other words, about the size of a neon tetra. They are olive brown or bronze on the upper body, with a stripe that runs from the snout to the tail and glows with a greenish gold hue. The area just below the stripe is the same as the upper body, fading into a white underside. The caudal fin has a center of brilliant red, with clear edges, and the dorsal is bright red with a yellow border. The anal and pelvic fins are trimmed in yellow. The colors are as I describe them and not pale or washed out. Lots of colors like that of the "Red Zebra" and "Blue-Tail Goodied" are there if you look hard enough and really want to see those colors, but the colors of the White Cloud are honest and easily seen. In fact, that is a good description of the White Cloud; a handsome, hardy, active, peaceful little fish that is so undemanding that it can honestly be called an ideal aquarium fish.
My book research leads to the conclusion that this fish is monotypic. That means it is the only one in its genus. It does have a close relative in a fish named Aphyocypris pooni. This fish was also described by Lin in 1939 and is sometimes called the "Red-finned Wonder Fish" or the "Venus Fish". A pooni comes from an area east of Canton and around Hong Kong. The size of the fishes is similar and the only difference is reported to be in the fin color, with a pooni getting the short end of the deal. Apparently, these fish hybridize quite readily, and the hybrid is quite common in Central Europe. It is felt that a pooni in the pure form is, in all probability, lost to the hobby. Fortunately, for a change, the best one is left with us as the White Cloud Mountain Fish. As a little aside, I checked with four authors and got the opinion of color variety to separate species and since Sterba is of the opinion that pooni and albonuses are separate species, that is good enough for me.
White Clouds are a snap to spawn and I have spawned them in a container as small as a one-gallon jar up to a 40-gallon tank. Both shape and color easily sex mature fish. You can go to the trouble of separating sexes and conditioning and breeding in pair's etc. and have reasonable success, but if you take my advice you will have more.
As these fish are easily bred and quite hardy. If you want real production put these fish in at least a ten-gallon tank and feed them until some look kind of fat or full of eggs. If you have eight fish, surely at least a couple will be slim (males) or fat (females). Then put the whole herd in a clean, no snails, and ten-gallon tank with whatever tap water you have. Add an airstone and a couple of spawning mops or some spawning grasses and wait for success. For maximum production, move the fish every week or ten days to another tank and expect to have lots of fry in the tank. Of course, the babies that appear at the top with the adults aren't an accident and you can raise them with the adults. White Clouds don't eat their babies. So why move them? Because babies eat smaller babies and while these fish will increase their numbers in a permanent set-up, it is a very slow process. By sorting them every week or so via moving the breeders, this sibling cannibalism is eliminated.
The spawning and hatching of babies is just as easy as I have mentioned above, With no tricks, special handling or anything artificial. In my first efforts with White Clouds as an experiment, breeding adults work like a charm. I prefer to give the fry infusoria as a first food, which I supplement with powder fine dry food. I get a lot more babies to survive if I use the infusoria at the start. In a month they are eating crumbled dry food and in less than six months they are breeders. Frequent water changes seem to really speed up the growth.
These fish are pert and active in the tank and in a large tank will show some schooling tendencies. My experience is that they are quick and alert enough to be picked on and yet don't pick on other fish. The colors and activity of these fish in a well-planted tank would warm the heart of anyone.
I have seen pictures of a sport of the White Cloud called the Meteor Minnow, which was a long-finned White Cloud, similar to the long-finned Rosy Barb. The beauty of the fish was enhanced rather than making it look deformed, as some man-made "improvements" do. I have seen only pictures and never the real live fish. From what I understand, one strain was in Canada in the 1950s and was lost and in the last few years, some were in Europe, but again, I never saw any. I would sure love to get my fat little fingers on some of those long-finned beauties. Maybe if I raise enough White Clouds, I can develop my own strain.
In summary, I can't recommend this fish too highly. It's beautiful, regularly available in pet shops, has a low price, is easy to maintain, and easy to breed. They are quite handsome as both youngsters and adults. In fact, many people have had both Neon's and White Clouds in a community tank, and after taking the fish out to put into another tank or moving plants to another tank, discover "baby Neon's". Baby White Clouds seem to glow in the dark and really look like baby Neon's. Fooled me the first time and I knew better as I didn't even have Neon's at the time. You can amaze friends with baby White Clouds. At night, their eyes reflect so much light that a flashlight shined on one swimming towards you looks like two headlights on a car and the sides appear to glow in the dark.