Minnow 5 - 7cm

Please note that we do not ship fish by post. All fish must be collected from us in Oberweningen. We will pack your fish professionally and ensure sufficient oxygenation. This means that even longer transports can be handled without problems. Our staff will also be happy to inform you about transport and the correct placement of the fish in your pond.

Origin and Appearance
The minnow, also called Phoxinus or bitter fish, is a native small fish from the carp family. Minnows grow to 6 - 14 cm and live a maximum of 11 years.

The fish are brownish in colour, with brown to black spots or stripes on their sides, and their belly is bright red or whitish. The scales of the minnows are small, their head is rounded, their eyes are large and their mouth is terminal.

Minnows live in schools and are found in cleaner, clear and oxygen-rich water with a gravelly substrate. There they mainly stay near the water surface, but they never lose sight of their hiding places, where they retreat at lightning speed in case of danger.

Care and Feeding
Minnows should always be kept in schools; we recommend a group of at least 5 animals. They feed primarily on microorganisms or fish spawn, rarely on algae. In the garden pond, we feed minnows with sinking mini pellets, which they readily accept.

Minnows can be socialized with other carp-like pond fish. However, it should be noted that minnows have higher demands on good water quality than most other pond fish. Accordingly, the conditions of the pond must be carefully checked in advance for a planned stocking.

The animals reach sexual maturity at two years of age. Their spawning season takes place between April and July. During this time, the fish retreat to shallow, gravelly and oxygen-rich areas of the respective waters. The female lays up to 1000 sticky eggs on the bottom of the water, where they are usually fertilized by several males. After 4 - 8 days, the larvae hatch, which initially feed on plankton.

Minnows are a good indicator of the water quality of a body of water. In the drinking water sector, minnows are often kept in separate tanks connected to the system. The fish are monitored by video. If the fish die or behave unusually, something is wrong with the drinking water.

Good water values are a prerequisite for keeping minnows, therefore a filter system and oxygenation are indispensable for the well-being of the animals.

Water Temperatures and Wintering
Minnows are native cold-water fish and can cope with a wide variety of conditions. They can tolerate temperatures between 4 - 25 °C well. Therefore, overwintering in our domestic garden ponds is not a problem.