White cloud mountain minnows - gold and regular

[Beastije]

Has anyone kept both strains, the goldens and the regulars, in one tank ? I wonder if they behave as one school or not, as that would affect my decision. I would like to add a splash of color, to break the tank a bit from the goldens, but I am not sure if second schooling species should be kept in this tank
Thus I was wondering, if I added normal white clouds, if they would be accepted as the "same" fish by the golden, or if they would be a new school. If the later, I would not consider them as I would have to get the same number as the gold, to make them even and that sounds like too much bioload on the tank. It is a 130-150 liter, depend on how much you count the stones, and there are 19 adult and 4 fry golden minnows (and 4 panda garra and 3 hillstream loaches).
Otherwise I was initially considering odessa barbs, but WhistlingBadgers experience in the teagarden has put me off them
Thanks

 

[Colin_T]

yes they all hang out together.

 

[connorlindeman]

Is that java moss in the back?

 

[Beastije]

Is that java moss in the back?

In the back, on the sides, all the way from the bottom almost to the surface
Never had a tank where moss is so algae less and in half a year grew from a tennis ball size to half a tank size and i cut it twice!!


Thanks for the other replies, I will consider the regular ones

 

[Byron]

The species is Tanichthys albonubes and there are several strains but all are the same species, so the strains will consider themselves one species, so to speak. So the total number is what counts for having sufficient of a shoaling fish.

 

[ClownLurch]

I love normal WCMMs. Cheap, small, no heater reqd, hard water suitable. I’ve seven in a patio pond outside atm but rarely see them. I’ll bring em in when the weather changes. Don’t think there’s been any breeding action as they were young when they went out in Easter.
Hate golden ones though.

 

[emeraldking]

I prefer the wild color of WCMMs. The gold version doesn't appeal to me at all, tbh. But that's just my preference, of course...

 

[Beastije]

The natural strain is lovely, different colorations of the finage and they fit in with the others well

 

[Beastije]

 

[Beastije]

Since I have the topic here anyway, let me ask: breeding
I target bred the minnows in another tank and the fry joined the parents. I would still like to attempt to breed the minnows in this tank however. I did some redesign and the whole back of the tank is moss. Like 20 cm high 5 cm thick moss from the ground to the middle of the tank. The tank has surface plants ( salvinia). There are over 30 minnows and 7 panda garras, who I doubt would eat the fry (though ofcourse would eat the eggs). The minnows breed nonstop.

I could periodically take out sections of the moss and try to see if some eggs hatch from it, but is there any way how to create an environment where the fry would survive and have enough food? The minnows are super fat so I would ideally like to cut back on the feeding, I feed daily with a one or two day break. I could try what I am attempting with luminatus, sprinkle some hikari first bite on the surface of the tank every day.

Any other tip? If the fry just hid in the moss they should be able to find food there, but if they go to surface, there is a strong flow. Should I direct the flow away from the moss and the surface? Move it to the front of the tank, try to achieve still surface instead of a flow?

Thank you

Will post a picture in the evening, I added some new java ferns and moved all the moss clumps to the back