# White cloud mountain minnows...



## BulletToothBoris (Jan 8, 2013)

Anyone have any experience with them? I read that they are great with bettas and are very hardy. I'm thinking about adding a small school to my 10g. I currently have a very docile male CT betta housed in the tank with some snails.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

First off, I moved your post out of characins and into the general Tropical and Freshwater Fish section. While many stores do list White Cloud Mountain Minnow as a "tetra" they are not, they are a cyprinid. But considering the reason for your question, as other fish will likely be named, I moved the thread into the general category rather than cyprinids.

Now to your question. This is not a good fish with Betta, for a couple of reasons. First, temperature. WCMM require cooler temperatures than many of the "tropicals" and room temperature is as high as it should ever be. Betta by contrast are true tropicals, and warmth is best. Aside from this, WCMM are active fish, swimming-wise, and this is not what you want to put in with sedate fish like Betta. You will notice the fish name shaded, so you can click that for the profile with more detail.

I am with the majority of aquarists who consider Betta as non-community fish and they are best on their own. Some substrate fish can work. The issue here is two-fold. Your Betta may be docile, or may seem so now, but combine him with some species of fish and I can promise this would end. But even moreso, the Betta is a likely target for many of the small shoaling fish like tetra. With a Betta around, these otherwise peaceful fish can turn aggressive and nip the Betta's fins which will severely stress out the Betta. A 120g is a fairly small space to a shoaling fish, and this often makes it even worse.

I will assume your Betta is content in his 10g home, and he might well be happy to remain on his own.


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## fish monger (Dec 29, 2011)

I put my seemingly docile betta in my 20g community tank a while back and he relentlessly chased down everything in sight. He's on his own again and doing fine in his private 10g. One interesting that I just noticed, his tank sits next to a community tank and he and the male dwarf gourami in the community often meet on the sides of their tanks to flare and show off to each other.


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## BulletToothBoris (Jan 8, 2013)

Thanks for the advice. I, however do plan to get a community going with my betta. I'll stay away from the minnows due to the temp reasons. I guess I'll just see how neons do.


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## BulletToothBoris (Jan 8, 2013)

What about a school of Ember Tetras?
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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Neon tetra is a very bad choice for Betta. The bright colouration of the neon will annoy the Betta. And neons are fish that take azdvantage of fin nipping. As do Ember Tetra.

I have explained why this doesn't work.


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## BulletToothBoris (Jan 8, 2013)

Well I do trust your info based on your experience level. Maybe I'll just add some cherry shrimp seeing as my betta has ignored my ghost shrimp.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

BulletToothBoris said:


> Well I do trust your info based on your experience level. Maybe I'll just add some cherry shrimp seeing as my betta has ignored my ghost shrimp.


Yes, or some substrate fish can work. They stay out of the Betta's "space."


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