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Encyclopedia / Goldfish & Coldwater / Vietnamese white cloud
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Variations

1 kinds · tap one for a closer look

Vietnamese white cloud

Tanichthys micagemmae · Vietnamese cardinal minnow, Cardinal minnow

Peaceful surface schooler; keep in a group in a cool tank.

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3 cmBody length, without tail ✓
18–23 °CTemperature ✓
6.5–7.5pH ✓
41 LSmallest tank ✓
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Tank mates
Check your own mix →
Not recommended
  • Vietnamese white cloud needs cool water and makes a lot of waste, while Cardinal tetra is tropical.
  • Only a narrow temperature range suits both: exactly 23 °C.
Not recommended
  • Vietnamese white cloud needs cool water and makes a lot of waste, while Serpae tetra is tropical.
  • Only a narrow temperature range suits both: 22–23 °C.
Not recommended
  • Vietnamese white cloud needs cool water and makes a lot of waste, while X-ray tetra is tropical.
  • They need different temperatures (18–23 °C vs 24–28 °C). No setting suits both.
With conditions
  • Only a narrow pH range suits both: 6.5–6.8.
With conditions
  • Only a narrow temperature range suits both: exactly 23 °C.
Compatible
Compatible
Compatible
Compatible
Compatible

141 species in our list are a good match.

Facts checked against sources on 16 Oct 2026. ✓ means a source backs it; ? means no reliable source yet. See sources

Care and water

Hardness ✓2–8 dGH
Group size ✓10 or more
Temperament ✓Peaceful
Swims at ?Top
Care level ✓Easy
Diet Omnivore
Lifespan ?Unknown
Size in shops 2–3.5 cm
Growth Medium

Behavior

Peaceful surface schooler; keep in a group in a cool tank.

  • cool

Food

Flake and micro pellets.

Tap a food to see what it is.

Male or female

Mature females are rounder-bellied and often a little larger; males colour up when spawning or sparring and may grow longer dorsal and anal fins with age. Young fish are hard to sex.

Health

Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.

Breeding

Egg-scatterer · Easy

An egg-scattering, continuous spawner with no parental care. In a mature, densely planted tank fry appear on their own; for more fry, spawn pairs or a group over mesh, marbles or fine-leaved plants such as moss, and remove the adults after 2-3 days as they eat eggs.

Pairing

Group.

Setup

Planted tank with moss.

What starts it

Warm water changes.

Eggs

Eggs hatch in 48-72 hours; fry first need Paramecium or other microscopic food, then Artemia nauplii. No sourced clutch size.

Raising the fry

Fry take infusoria.

Common mistakes
  • Overcrowding
Full breeding guide, day-by-day plan and simulator →

Where it lives in the wild

RegionCentral Vietnam
Rivers and lakesCoastal hill streams of central Vietnam
HabitatClear, shaded streams with moderate flow
Native rangeAbout 100 km across
See it on the world map

The story of the vietnamese white cloud

A tiny relative of the white cloud mountain minnow, described in 2001 from the Ben Hai river system of north-central Vietnam. It reached the hobby in the early 2000s and is now popular and usually cheap, sold under names such as 'Vietnamese minnow', 'cardinal minnow' and 'royal white cloud'. It is listed as Data Deficient by IUCN.

Jörg Freyhof and Fabian Herder described this little minnow in 2001 from central Vietnam. It is a close cousin of the well-known white cloud mountain minnow from China, and both belong to the small genus Tanichthys. It reached the hobby soon after its description and is kept by fans of cool-water nano tanks.

First described by Jörg Freyhof & Fabian Herder in 2001.

  • It is one of only a few species in the genus Tanichthys.
  • Like its cousin the white cloud, it does well in unheated tanks.
  • It grows to only about 3 cm.

Sources

15 facts checked with sources