White clouds not eating?

A

ajehly

AC Members
Feb 20, 2006
15
0
0
Newbie here...

Okay, here's the setup. I have 5 white cloud mountain minnows (not full grown) in a 5 gallon tank. Just put them in the tank with Bio-Spira on Tuesday afternoon, and just did the first water change today (about 25%).

They are active and appear healthy, but It doesn't seem like they are eating much. I am feeding them the food the lfs gave me -- omega one flakes.

The food comes in gigantic flakes (just about as big as them!) -- I'm trying to crumble it up as small as I can, but will that make a big difference in whether they eat it or not?

Or should I just try feeding them a different kind of food? From what I hear, white clouds like everything, but maybe mine are pickier.

They do seem to get excited and chase around a lot when I put the food in -- is it possible they are eating tiny bits of the food I can't see?

Sorry for all the questions -- I'm just worried because I just don't want them to starve, obviously -- I'm not even sure what a fish starving would look like...

Here are the latest tank stats (Don't know what is pertinent):
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Didn't test nitrate (don't have the test yet)
pH: Around 7.5
Water temp: 75 degrees (I know that's a little toasty for them, but I don't have much control over the heat in here)

Thanks for your knowledgeable input!

Andrea
 
If you just put them in on Tuesday, they might just need a couple days to get used to the tank, your routine and where the food comes from now. I crunch food up for my white clouds. They won't starve even if they don't eat for a few days, but feed them sparingly as you are showing some ammonia.
 
Thanks -- they loved the Micro Pellets! :)

As far as the heat, unfortunately it is out of my control -- unheated tank in my office and lately they've been letting it get pretty warm in here. They're fixing the problem, so the tank is at least down to 75 today... Hopefully they're still getting enough oxygen.
 
Um, just a concern, you mention you have ammonia and haven't tested nitrate...is your tank brand new and not cycled yet? If that's the case, that would obviously be a problem. Check out the cycling sticky if so.

With the food, does it disappear or is it all on the bottom of the tank? If it's disappearing... :thud:
 
A filter is needed in the tank.

Any food will work fine with White Clouds. I have a school of 9 and have had them for a long time. Even if the flakes are huge they will break pieces off. Crushing is a good idea. I have never seen a baby fish not be able ot eat any large flake.

Cooler temps is best for white clouds, no need to worry about a heater as long as the temp is stable and doesn't drop below 65F.
 
There is a filter -- I was just worried that there might be less oxygen with the higher temps.

And there is no heater, but I have no control over the room temp, so the tank is a bit warmer than I'd like.

I must just have picky white clouds -- well, they are pretty small yet -- and they seem to love the little micro pellets, so I'm sticking with those.

Andrea
 
If they are eating that is great. Try the flakes in a few days. Variety is a good thing. Hotter water does hold less oxygen than cooler water, that is true. But as long as there is surface agitation you should be fine. White clouds are pretty tolerant fish. Freshwater is the best thing for them.

I ahve kept them at lower temps (68F) and now at around 72-74F (room temp). They are happy fish in both worlds, with stablity and freshwater being the key.
 
Thanks for the help, TKOS.

They seem happy and energetic today. They seem to especially love chasing after the food that gets pushed down by the current from the filter -- it's hilarious! :)

Andrea
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom