Due to white cloud minnows being such a beginner friendly fish to care for, there has been a correlating spike in the number of people reaching out with questions about keeping white cloud minnows with the spike in beginners getting involved in fish keeping recently.
White cloud minnows are one of our top recommended fish for beginners to keep due to how easy they are to care for so we are always up for answering questions on them.
One of the more common questions that we have seen people asking about is “how many white cloud minnows can you keep in a 10 gallon tank?“.
This makes sense due to the 10 gallon tank being the most popular beginner fish keeper tank size by far and the white cloud minnow being one of the most popular entry level fish to keep.
Due to seeing so many people asking about keeping white cloud minnows in a 10 gallon tank, we wanted to publish our own article going over the topic.
This is partly due to there being a large amount of misinformation on social media about keeping white cloud minnows in smaller tanks that will lead to overstocking as well as trying to help as many of our readers correctly stock their tanks as possible.
Can White Cloud Minnows Live In A 10 Gallon Tank?
White cloud minnows can live in a 10 gallon tank quite comfortably and a school of five white cloud minnows is generally recommended for a 10 gallon tank.
Although you are able to go as high as six white cloud minnows in the tank, it is usually discouraged due to its small size.
If you are dead set on keeping six white cloud minnows in your tank then you really do have to go with a decent 10 gallon long aquarium rather than a 10 gallon tall aquarium.
The white cloud minnow needs the length of a long aquarium to comfortably swim in heavily stocked tanks and a tall aquarium prevents this from happening and can cause stress and anxiety in your fish.
If possible, you should really be trying to go for a cheap 20 gallon aquarium for your white cloud minnows though.
It allows you to have as many as 13 white cloud minnows in it offers a better schooling size for the fish to ensure that stress and anxiety is kept to a minimum.
How Many White Cloud Minnows In A 10 Gallon Tank?
We would usually recommend that you only keep five white cloud minnows in a 10 gallon tank if possible.
They should be the only fish species in the tank due to it being so small and the tank should have plenty of cover to keep the fish calm too with live plants being a great option for cover.
The general rule of thumb for stocking white cloud minnows is to add one inch of fish per gallon of your aquarium.
As an adult white cloud minnow will grow to a maximum length of around 1.5 inches, you take the 1.5 and divide by 10 for the maximum gallon volume of the aquarium.
Although this gives us a count of 6.66, we would usually knock this down to five as most ten gallon tanks are usually standard rather than long and will not offer the available length for swimming for six fish.
If you do go with a long 10 gallon aquarium then you are able to add as many as six white cloud minnows.
Some of our readers may think that due to the count coming in at 6.66, they can sneak an additional white cloud minnow into their tank due to it being so close to seven but we really wouldn’t recommend it.
Not only does this increase the waste produced in the tank but most 10 gallon tanks really aren’t suitable for more than five white cloud minnows as the males will become aggressive and territorial during the mating season.
How Many White Cloud Minnows Should Be Together?
White cloud minnows are a clouding fish and we would usually recommend that you try to keep a minimum of five white cloud minnows in your tank.
Five is usually the lowest number recommended for any schooling fish and it allows them to school in numbers and feel safer in the tank.
This is why you should only keep white cloud minnows in a 10 gallon tank as the minimum recommendation of five fish takes up the full stocking allocation of the tank.
This leaves no real room for other fish but you may be able to get away with adding some shrimp or snails if you really want to.
In our opinion, you really should be trying to go for a cheap 20 gallon aquarium if possible though.
It will allow you to add other fish to your tank in addition to your white cloud minnows or just keep a large school of white cloud minnows in the tank.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how many white cloud minnows you should keep in a 10 gallon tank to an end. We hope that you have found our article helpful and that you have been able to get a better idea of your stocking options for white cloud minnows in a 10 gallon tank. It really is a solid beginner set up if you are brand new to fish keeping and a school of five white cloud minnows in a 10 gallon tank can offer some excellent experience in keeping fish to allow you to quickly progress to larger tanks and other fish species quickly too.
