Care
A captive-bred form of the Fathead minnow, the Rosy minnow isn't found in the wild but the ancestral form is found in a range of habitats in still and moving water. Ranging from Canada down to Mexico, they're an incredibly hardy fish.
The aquarium should be spacious, mature, and well filtered. Be sure to provide the fish with plenty of hiding places (rocks, bogwood, robust planting) as well as open water areas. Unusually for a cyprinid, males are larger than females and develop a distinctive shape when ready to breed - earning the name Fathead thanks to this dorsal pad, which plays a part in his care of the eggs. Their hardy nature and modest size make them a perfect alternative to goldfish for small, filtered aquaria. Although capable of thriving over a wide range of temperatures, current legislation prevents the keeping of these fish outdoors due to the risk of them becoming a threat to native species. Males will defend their nests but this fish is otherwise unaggressive and can be mixed with a wide range of temperate tankmates.
Occasionally, wild type brown throwbacks can be seen in batches of these fish. These are then known as Fathead minnows.
Feeding
Flake, micro granules, small frozen foods such as mosquito larvae, daphnia, and vitamin-enriched brineshrimp.
Breeding
As mentioned above, males are responsible for brood care and will court multiple females into depositing eggs on the ceiling of their preferred cave. Spawning occurs at temperatures of 16°C and above, with males guarding nests for several weeks as visiting females deposit clutches of up to 400 eggs. These hatch after around 5 days and the fry leave the nest to fend for themselves. Both sexes favour nests with the largest number of eggs and males will sometimes be displaced by rivals, who will continue to care for any eggs that the nest contains. Young fish will quickly graduate from infusoria to newly hatched brine shrimp, microworms and daphnia, before taking powdered/crumbled flake foods. They grow rapidly and can be sexually mature in 4-5 months.
