[mnsnowdaboy]

How come some white clouds I see are so much better looking and some i see at the LFS are so plain looking. I don't think it's a female vs Male thing since only one LFS has the nice looking ones and it's hard to believe they got all same sex?

Here's some pics, anyone knows more about this fish.

Nice

Just ok

 

[Color Me Blue]

Genetics most likely. Home grown vs. wild caught. Then of course the conditions they are/were raised in.

 

[sandiegoryu]

I saw some VERY pretty white clouds in Japan, and I've also heard that because they have been farmed so much that their colors have gone worse and worse over the years. This is according to wikipedia.

Male/Female has no difference in coloring, and horny males are very colorful.

 

[Lupin]

'Tis disappointing when you see fish with poor coloration brought by mass production and inbreeding.

I used to have white clouds. They're great.roud: I might as well order a new batch again for my pond.:biggrin: My pond needs more than just platies.:hihi:

 

[joejoeg]

ahh the good old white cloud. i have a dozen of them and half a dozen of gold white clouds. my commons started off pretty ugly with no coloration, now there little beautys , almost green in body colour, neon stripe and bright red fins. i have been feeding color bits which i guess has helped unless they have just matured. For a cold water species they sure dont mind my 80 degrees :biggrin:

 

[Lupin]

:eek5: 80 for white clouds?:eek5: Surely my 86 won't hurt.:hihi: If it works, then that would be great.:angel: Although I doubt it but worth a try.:icon_wink If it doesn't, then I'm stuck to my good ol' pond.:biggrin:

 

[joejoeg]

86 ? why so high ?they still should be fine but they do originate from cold water mountains.

 

[Lupin]

86 ? why so high ?they still should be fine but they do originate from cold water mountains.

Nah! I keep discus so this is the reason why. Anything lower than that and the discus and rams clamped their fins and virtually will skulk to the bottom.

 

[Burks]

Can't help you with sexing them.

It's pretty hard to find quality White Clouds. Most of the ones in the stores are poorly colored. Luckily mine were purchased from a good shipment that had a lot of quality fish. Bought some more later on thinking they would color up, it never happened.

 

[mnsnowdaboy]

ok so is the poor color white cloud I see at LFS a product of some bad breed? Or will they color up if given better living condition?

 

[LS6 Tommy]

ok so is the poor color white cloud I see at LFS a product of some bad breed? Or will they color up if given better living condition?

Mine were very plain when I got them and they came from a relatively good store. 8 years later the one I have left is beautiful. I may get some more someday.

Tommy

 

[Lupin]

ok so is the poor color white cloud I see at LFS a product of some bad breed? Or will they color up if given better living condition?

You can always find fish in lfs tanks with faded colors. But if given good water conditions and food, they will show their bright coloration. As long as nothing will stress them, they will thrive well in your tank.

 

[joejoeg]

exactly my point , mine where pretty ugly when i bought them but they coloured up ! there not bad stock.

 

[mnsnowdaboy]

well I got some but they are not that great in color. Been a week now and they are looking a little better but not as dark I want would like them to be. Well see in a month. What brand of food can enhance their colors or anything else for that matter.

 

[Jubs]

I agree with what was said above about food and coloration. I don't think a lot of people understand how much a good diet can effect a fish's health and coloration.

As for sexing its not that hard just look for plumper more rounded in the mid section and those are your females. The skinny almost completely straight bodied ones are the males.

Here is some of my old ones, the female is the one at the top and the male is below on the left.

 

[frostby]

I read a book about white cloud coloring.....

WARM WATER=LESS COLOR.

COOL WATER=MORE COLOR.

Says water from mid 70's to high 70's will cause their colors to fade. This is also a long term effect.

-Thanks barnes+noble for the comfy chair!

 

[mnsnowdaboy]

wow great info, maybe I'll try them in a cooler tank and see how it goes. Just can't now since they are with my neons.

 

[joejoeg]

not true. my clouds have always been in 80+ with amazing colours.

 

[Rion]

the flowing fins in the top pictures are also known as meteor minnows, same fish just bred to have those nice fins (kinda like fancy guppies). from what I've heard the meteor variety is hard to come by and usually costs more since it doesn't seem that they are breeding them as much as they were (apparently people lost interest in the fish). also note that the differentiations are not due to captive bred vs wild caught because this fish is extinct in the wild. with the regular white clouds a good diet and water conditions will do wonders for them in terms of color and fins as with all fish. also note that these are very hardy fish despite extensive captive breeding (usually leads to small genetic diversity which leads to weak fish). sexing them as said is done by belly size, with females plumper and males skinnier. also be known that these fish have a reputation rivaling that of rabbits and they tend to avoid eating baby fry so you might be stuck with more fish than you bargained for eventually. to put this in perspective someone said that to breed them all you had to do was "just add water". also there is a minimum amount of 5-6 of these fish per tank since they like the company (schooling fish). I think that's about it oh, some people argue that white cloud minnows are a fast moving fish but I usually notice that they are only about the same speed as a platy, if this is fast it's more due to personal perception. Basically a search on Google will bring up a lot of scientific and observational info for you to fill in the blanks I might have left. I've recently fell in love with these fish and am excited to get my own after my baby platys grow up and they get moved to the big tank.

 

[mistergreen]

yeah, as jubs mentioned. The health of a fish contributes to its colors too.
I bought some drab cherry barbs from the lfs and raised them for 1 month at home and their colors came out like i remembered. I feed them a varied diet.