White Mountain Minnows With Livebearers?

[nofishinginmytank]

I currently have 5 male guppies and two platies in a 40 litre tank. It is well planted and has lot's of hiding places. My cory catfish has been moved into a 80 litre tank with 4 others so he is alot happier. I was just wondering has anyone kept or can anyone give me any advice maybe adding 2 or 3 white mountain minnows into my guppy and platy tank? I have also loved the white mountain minnows and my friend has got a beautiful shoal of 10 which she keeps with her mollies and tetras, I really do love them but I am wondering whether they will be compatible, they seem fine with my friends mollies thanks in advance x

 

[Ch4rlie]

White Cloud Mountian Minnows are temperate fish really, meaning they do best in temps under 24C / 75F which most tropical fish likes.
 
14 - 22C / 57 - 72F is the desired temperature range for WCMM.
 
 
So WCMM is not really one to add to a tropical community set up in my honest opinion. A lot of people do this and having WCMM in these temperatures does damage internal organ and resulting in more illnesses or short life span to WCMM.
 
"Permanent exposure to warmer conditions is likely to result in a shortened lifespan and in many countries or well-insulated homes it’s best-maintained without artificial heating year-round."
 
Quoted from Seriously Fish - 
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/tanichthys-albonubes/

 

[Byron]

I concur.  You could lower the temperature for the platy and guppy of course (around 70F is given on SF) but your tank is not capable of more fish regardless of temperature.  A 40 liter is 10 gallons, and two platy (which should attain 2 inches for males and 3 inches for females) and five guppies are pushing this as it is.  And the White Cloud is a shoaling fish and should be in a group of maybe five or six minimum and there is no space for these as well as the livebearers.
 
Byron.

 

[nofishinginmytank]

OK thank you my heater is set on 20 degrees and has never gone warmer than 22 degrees so I think that the temperarure is alright but the space I was told that the 40 litre could take up to about 10 small fish but do you think that two mountain minnows isn't enough? thank you

 

[Byron]

OK thank you

my heater is set on 20 degrees and has never gone warmer than 22 degrees so I think that the temperarure is alright but the space

I was told that the 40 litre could take up to about 10 small fish but do you think that two mountain minnows isn't enough?

thank you

Whoever told you that this tank could take up to ten small fish didn't explain things.  What exactly is "10 small fish?"  A hypothetical question, but the point is that this phrase can mean something very different to different people.  Ten Ember tetra (a dwarf species of tetra that attains less than 2 cm) would be fine, and you could have 12-15 easily in this tank.  But platy are not "small" fish in the same sense, and they should be in at least a 20 gallon (80 litre) tank to start with.  As you have two of them in this tank, plus five guppies, I say you are at the max.  Be vigilant with regular water changes of half the tank volume every week, rinsing the filter too and vacuuming the substrate.  Live plants, even just floating ones, would also help.
 
To the whiteclouds, they are shoaling fish and must have a group to be at their best.  This applies to all shoaling fish species, which includes the tetras, rasborta, danios, barbs, cory catfish, and so forth.  Just so you know when you get the next tank...this hobby has what we term "MTS" which stands for multiple tank syndrome; most of us soon get another tank after the first one that we bought thinking this would be nice as our sole aquarium.

 
Byron.

 

[nofishinginmytank]

The manager at my local fish shop said that the ten small fish would be fine but then i see what you mean by the what do you class as small I do clean my tank out weekly i wipe the glass, change half the water using a gravel cleaning and cleaning the gravel, I rinse out the filter and scrub it out if any of it looks dirty with an old toothbrush and I also scub and rinse the ornaments with the old toothbrush, I have two live plants which have got roots and are growing in my tank aswell as one floating plant on the top, so I am doing everything you mentioned for the guppies and platies, they all seem very happy and healthy, i also give them treats once every 2 weeks of either a slice of cucumber or some de-shelled peas, I also give the peas to my cories and they love them. Is there no way unless i buy a larger tank that i could get a few minnows? I really dont have the money right now and after my parents bought my first tank only 6 months ago for a couple of hundred i would feel like i was insulting them by buying a new one, as if saying theres isnt good enough if i cant have the minnows are there any other fish that i could have in my 40 litre with the guppies and platies? thank you so much for your help

 

[Byron]

Your maintenance routine and feeding sounds excellent; keep up that very good work and your fish will be healthy and happy.
 
Some substrate fish would be the only addition I would consider.  Space is the limiting factor here.  Let's see what others suggest.
 
Byron.

 

[nofishinginmytank]

OK thank you for your help anyway hopefully someone will be able to recommended some fish that I could have

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Personally I would re-home the two Platies as they're not really suitable for a tank that size. You can then replace them with a 2-3 more Guppies.

Other fish that you could keep are things like Endlers, Chilli Rasboras, CPDs or a Betta but as this is quite a small tank you can't really have much more than a small shoal of one type before it's full.

You could add a few shrimps (probably best not to if you have a Betta though) or maybe some snails for something extra but you can't really add many more fish I'm afraid.