Tanichthys albonubes, commonly called White Cloud Mountain Minnow. This fish, only averaging 1 1/2 inches in length, is regularly overlooked by many aquarists today. It is a common fish in the hobby (where legal) but not highly regarded, but rather relegated to that greater category of just another “bread and butter” fish. Well it ain’t so!
I purchased my first Mountain Minnows since childhood almost three years ago. I had just set up a bathtub near my summer kitchen (also my first attempt at water gardening) and was looking for an inexpensive fish that could withstand a wide range of water conditions- and that’s Tanichthys albonubes. Anyway, wouldn’t you know it, the moment you want something nobody has it! Well after numerous phone calls to a number of aquarium stores I managed to locate some, and close by – only 40 miles one way and a toll to boot! Well, off I went to purchase my fish, twelve full-grown White Clouds, that looked pale gray with some rose, and washed out, as do many fish you may buy that have not been fully acclimated to water conditions in the store and are still under stress.
I took my prizes and immediately introduced them to their new living quarters, roughly 80 gallons of water, in a bathtub, under some oak trees, next to my summer kitchen, and beneath a downspout from a roof gutter. Well ain’t that elaborate, high tech to boot!
To my surprise these fish not only survived, but thrived and reproduced. The original adults became full- bodied individuals that pranced around their new home always eager to take food and show off. This is a very active fish, males are constantly challenging each other with fins out so stiff you would think they were stuck in place. And the color! Now this is your standard, no frills, “bread and butter” White Cloud that we see regularly. Well how about a fish that has a dark chocolate brown body, a creamy white strip down the middle of that body with that same creamy white on its fin tips and this bright red color in its fins that contrasts both the chocolate body color and the white. And this fish is bouncing around all the time showing every square inch of itself. Man you can’t beat that!
By the end of the summer, now I am talking mid-October mind you, I had to remove my fish and bring them indoors. This is after some of my daughter’s friends had already netted out some to take home. I estimate that we took three hundred fish from fry, to juvenile, to adults out of that tub. Many more were given away and the rest were kept in plastic containers in my cellar greenhouse (that’s another story- just ask my wife) along with my aquatic plants until the next season. These fish even breed in the containers and to this day I still have offspring from that original group in those same plastic containers in the cellar.
The point of this article is that Tanichthys albonubes is a great fish and worth keeping. It is exciting to watch and beautifully colored. If you have the opportunity and it is legal to have this fish in your state, you should consider trying them. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. Till next time good fishing!
Source: Aquarticles.com (no longer available)
First Publication: 1999 “The Daphnian”, Boston Aquarium Society
