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White Cloud Mountain Minnows are definitely not fussy eaters. So feeding your White Clouds food that is simple but good for them is easy to do. Although it is worth knowing a bit about what they need in their diet.
White Cloud Mountain Minnows in the home aquarium can be fed on flake, frozen and live foods. Freeze-dried foods are readily accepted too. You can also offer your White Clouds fresh blanched vegetables to supplement their diet and to add some variation.
Adding a bit of variety to your White Clouds’ diet isn’t difficult to do. And it’s a great way to keep them healthy.
So which different types of food can you give them at feeding time?
What Should I Feed My White Cloud Mountain Minnows?
The White Cloud is a opportunistic feeder and will eat what is available at the time.
Which makes them easy to feed as well as easy to keep. In fact the White Cloud Mountain Minnow is an ideal beginner fish.
In their native habitat White Clouds love to feed on insects. Particularly when the insects are in their larval stage. Mosquito larvae is a firm favourite but they will also eat other tiny insects, crustaceans and plant matter.
But don’t worry.
This doesn’t mean that you need to go foraging for insect larvae or river weeds to feed your fish!
Flake Food For White Cloud Minnows
If you haven’t kept White Clouds before, or you’re completely new to the fish keeping hobby, it’s probably best to start with the basics. A good quality complete flake food is a great starting point until you’re ready to add a little variety to their diet.
Once both you and your fish have settled in nicely together you’ll probably want to move on with the menu.
The Easy Way To Feed White Clouds Insects
White Cloud Mountain Minnows are voracious insect eaters. And along with their taste for small crustaceans their diet is protein rich.
In the aquarium it’s easy to feed them some of the foods that they would eat in their native habitat. And also some others that they will readily accept.
Here’s a few examples of insect/crustacean foods that you can buy at your local Pet Store, Aquatic Dealer or order online.
- Mosquito Larvae
- Daphnia
- Brine Shrimp
- Tubifex Worms
- Walter Worms
- Blood Worms
- Copepods
Some insects and crustaceans are sold as live food but others can be bought dried or frozen. So if you’re not comfortable with feeding live food to your White Clouds you can always go for the dried or frozen option.
Feeding Vegetables To Your White Cloud Mountain Minnows
Treating your White Cloud Mountain Minnows to some extra veggies couldn’t be easier. It’s also good for their digestive system and helps to create a balanced diet.
Some of the vegetables you can offer to your White Clouds include:
- Shelled Peas (a definite favourite)
- Courgette/Zucchini
- Broccoli (my WCMM love this)
- Spinach
- Lettuce
There are lots of other green vegetables that you can offer to your White Clouds so it’s worth experimenting to see what they like to eat.
Soften the vegetables first: You need to steam or lightly simmer the veg until they have soften slightly. Then allow them to cool down before adding them to the tank. Softening the vegetables helps to break them down and makes them easier for your fish to eat and digest.
Always remember to remove any uneaten veggies from the aquarium after a few hours. Or you will foul up the tank water with rotting vegetable matter.
DIY Live Food Cultures
If you’re happy to feed your White Cloud Mountain Minnows live foods you can grow your own live cultures.
You can buy live food if you prefer to. But there may come a point when you want to have a go at ‘growing your own’. I know it’s not for everyone but it’s not difficult to do if you have a little time to spare.
You can find some helpful and interesting videos on YouTube about making your own cultures of things like daphnia, Walter worms and infusoria.
The YouTube video link below is by Marks Aquatics. It explains how to make your own infusoria culture. Which is a beneficial food source for both your fish and their fry.
How Much Should I feed My White Cloud Mountain Minnows?
Feed your White Clouds 2-3 times a day. But only feed small amounts each time or you can run into problems. Feed them just enough food so that they can eat it within 3-5 minutes without any leftovers.
It is a bit trial and error to start with but you’ll soon figure it out.
Because the White Cloud Mountain Minnow has a big appetite it’s easy to overfeed them. And overfeeding can lead to all sorts of problems.
Overfeeding your fish leads to obesity and digestive problems which will have a negative effect on their health. It will also mess up the quality of your tank water. If you’ve got leftover food decaying and polluting the water column it’s going to be bad news all round.
Poor water quality will make your fish unhealthy and will lead to disease in the aquarium. This will not only affect your White Clouds but their tank mates too.
So despite the White Cloud’s voracious appetite don’t be tempted to give them ‘just a little bit more’.
It’s worth bearing in mind that your White Cloud Minnows will also be eating any microorganisms that occur naturally in aquarium water. Particularly if you have a tank that has live plants in it.
Since I started growing Java Moss in my aquariums I’ve noticed the appearance of tiny ‘bugs’ such as Copepods. The fish and shrimp love to feast on them. And as I understand it, the microorganisms help to keep the tank clean while providing a source of food.
So that’s a bonus.
Do White Cloud Mountain Minnows Eat Algae?
The White Cloud Minnow will eat some of the algae that naturally grows in your aquarium. Being opportunistic feeders they will eat what they find available in their environment.
However, they are not considered big algae eaters when compared to some other aquarium fish. So you wouldn’t buy them to help you sort out an algae problem in your tank.
They do enjoy eating algae though. And it’s also a good addition to their diet. So if you get very little algae in your aquarium you can supplement your White Clouds’ diet with the occasional algae wafer.
Do White Cloud Mountain Minnows Eat Plants?
The general consensus about whether White Clouds eat aquarium plants is ‘no, they tend to leave them alone’.
That doesn’t mean that they won’t nibble on decaying plant matter as they would in their native habitat. It’s just that they don’t deliberately target the living plants in your aquarium.
My White Cloud Mountain Minnows have never shown any interest in eating the Java Moss that I’m growing in the tank. Even if they’ve knocked a piece of it off while chasing each other around the tank they ignore it. It obviously doesn’t appeal to them as a snack.
Of course it might be a different story depending on what type of plants you have in your aquarium. But as a general rule your plants should be safe from attack if you keep White Clouds.
It might sometimes look like your White Cloud Minnows are having a nibble on your plants. But the chances are that they are just picking algae or microorganisms off them.
Which is not a bad thing when you want your aquarium plants to look their best.
What Do White Cloud Mountain Minnow Fry Eat?
Baby White Clouds will eat the same type of foods that their parents do. The only difference is that you need to crush down the food into really tiny powdery pieces for the fry to manage.
Making sure your White Cloud Minnow fry get plenty of protein in their diet is important for their growth and transition into healthy adulthood. So the addition of tiny protein packed microorganisms such as infusoria, and tiny crustaceans such as brine shrimp, is something worth considering.
Specialist food that’s designed for fry is available in Pet Stores, Aquatic Dealers and also online. And there’s always the option of making your own cultures too.
If your fry are in a tank with adult fish you’re likely to find that the babies do their very best to eat without being eaten themselves. It’s natural for tiny White Cloud fry to feed discreetly under the cover of safety. So whatever you choose to feed your fry don’t be surprised if they wait until the food has sunk nearer to the bottom of the tank before they start eating.