# White Cloud Mountain Minnow Will Not Breed



## user (Mar 12, 2015)

Hello everyone,

I'm having difficulties breeding some white cloud mountain minnows I have, and was hoping someone could provide advice.

Right now I have 3 white clouds in a 10 gal tank, along with some red cherry shrimp. The tank is established and well planted, and has a nice size clump of java moss. Two are adults (one male and one female) I got about a year ago, and one is a juvenile around 4 or 5 months old that was previously born in the tank. 

All three fish are very active in the tank and appear healthy. For the last couple months the female appears to be full of eggs. The male fish actively chases her and displays his fins trying to engage her, but she just swims away. It's extremely frustrating to watch at this point because I can't figure out why she will not breed. 

The tank conditions and temperature are stable and where it's recommended for breeding these fish, so I'm really not sure what she doesn't like. Will the fish breed with only 2 adults in the tank? Or will they only breed if there is a group in the tank?

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated!


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

What are the exact parameters? WCMM like to flock breed, but I've heard of people pair breeding them before. What have you been feeding the fish? Have you checked the moss for eggs yet? Try doing a 50% water change, that might catalyze the breeding process?


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## ErtyJr (Jun 21, 2014)

I suspect they are breeding and you just don't see it. Most likely they are breeding and then eating eggs and fry.


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## Krispyplants (Apr 15, 2014)

ErtyJr said:


> I suspect they are breeding and you just don't see it. Most likely they are breeding and then eating eggs and fry.


Agreed, you got to keep them on a protein rich diet like frozen brine shrimp. Do you feed your shrimps too? They can and will eat fish eggs if starved and desperate enough.


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## Powchekny (Jan 25, 2010)

Exactly what happened to me. I had to keep a school of white clouds for a few weeks for my brother while he was moving tanks. When he took back the white clouds, the tank was empty. Until I noticed a cloud of 50 white cloud fry. I raised them up and gave them to my LFS.


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## user (Mar 12, 2015)

Thanks for the help.

I'm going to try and get some more white clouds in case the small number is a problem. I feed flake food as well as freeze dried blood worms to the fish, and also feed the shrimp well with "shrimp cuisine". 

I checked the moss and can't see any eggs there. I'll try doing a 50% water change today to see if that starts anything.




Powchekny said:


> Exactly what happened to me. I had to keep a school of white clouds for a few weeks for my brother while he was moving tanks. When he took back the white clouds, the tank was empty. Until I noticed a cloud of 50 white cloud fry. I raised them up and gave them to my LFS.


How long was it before you could see the fish?


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## user (Mar 12, 2015)

Okay, so I did a ~50% water change yesterday morning. Also got to the LFS and bought 6 "Golden" white clouds and some frozen blood worms. (Clearly doing the best experimental procedure here by changing 3 variables at the same time....)

The fish seem more active and do swim through the moss quite a bit now.


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

I bred long finned WC and they were some of the smallest FRY I may have ever seen!
Often I did not know how many there were .
They were the only fish in 30B.
I had lots of floating plants and never saw any eggs ever in BB tank!
I bred them for a year or so.


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