Scientific Name: Tanichthys albonubes

Comments
White Clouds are really an excellent fish for a fish bowl, for an aquarium with a heater, and for an aquarium without a heater. White Clouds are pretty, hardy, active, and mild tempered.

It's a cold night in November, and I took my thermometer outside to my small fish pond. Click here to see several pictures of my pond during the day. I measured the temperature of the pond water tonight with a thermometer, and the temperature of the water was 55 degrees F.

My pond has four White Clouds that I could see with my flash light. All four White Clouds were swimming just below the surface of the water. I could see that they looked very healthy, plump, no ich spots, and no clamped fins. The males have bright red naturally pigmented areas in their fins, and the females are very plump and shiny. These White Clouds have done very well in my pond down to a temperature of 55 degrees F.

Now it's a couple of weeks later, and the water temperature has dropped to 50 degrees. The White Clouds have stopped eating. They are still plump and look healthy. But I've decided to catch them out, put them in one of my large 1.5 gallon fish bowls, and bring them inside my house.

My house temperature is about 68. I put the fish bowl in a cool part of my house so the water in the fish bowl won't warm up too fast. The water will warm up to 68 in a few hours. I'd rather warm it up to between 55 and 60 degrees F., but I don't have anywhere that is that temperature.

It's now a few days later, and the White Clouds have just started to eat a few bits freeze dried blood worms, which are actually mosquito larvae. I'm feeding them the freeze dried blood worms because these worms are more digestible and less like to cause digestive problems than flake food. The White Clouds are still plump and look healthy.

Another week has passed. The water in the fish bowl is now 72 degrees. Three of the White Clouds look very good, and are now eating some BettaMin fish food. The fourth White Cloud is a male, and he is being made miserable by the the other slightly larger male White Cloud. I may have to move the smaller male to another bowl.

Another three weeks has passed. My slightly larger male White Cloud stopped bothering the smaller male. I think these White Clouds may have spawned. The two females are definitely slimmer now, and the bigger male is not as active. But I didn't see them spawn, and I never saw any eggs or baby fish. Maybe they spawned and ate their eggs.

Recommended Diet
Floating flake food and freeze dried blood worms, which are actually mosquito larvae. Both of these foods are available in most stores that sell pet fish. White Clouds will relish a few live Black Worms and live or frozen brine shrimp. Click here for more about feeding fish. I feed these White Clouds a few Black Worms every other day. Click here for more about Black Worms.

Compatibility
A few White Clouds will do well in a Fish Bowl with water that is between 55 and about 75 degrees F. White Clouds do best in a group with six or more White Clouds in an aquarium with the water heated to about 75 degrees. In a Warm Water Aquarium good tank mates for White Clouds are Ghost Shrimp, Fancy Guppies, Glass Fish, Small Fish such as Neon Tetras, Glow Light Tetras, Black Phantom Tetras, Harlequin Rasboras, and Corydoras Catfish.
 
Click here to read more about several other groups of compatible fish.

Size and Life Span
White Clouds can live 3 to 5 years and grow to be about 1.5" long. As female White Clouds mature their bellies fill with eggs and become much larger than the bellies of the male White Clouds. As male White Clouds mature they develop bright red areas in their fins and become quite pretty.