Golden Pencilfish

COMMON NAME: Golden Pencilfish

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Nannostomus beckfordi,

SYNONYM: Nannobrycon beckfordi

DESIGNATION: Tropical

Geographucal Distribution: South America, from Guyana to the Rio Negro.

SIZE: About 5 cm (2 in.)

WATER PREFERENCES: Soft, acid water between 24-28 (75-82)

Duet: Most small foods, but live foods preferred.

BREEDING: Eggs are laid among fine-leaved vegetation. There is no parental care.

DESCRIPTION: Pencilfishes should not be kept with boisterous tank-mates. Some species show marked differences between day and night coloration. Several species are regularly available in addition to N. beckfordi:

One-lined Pencilfish - N. unifasciatus Three-lined (Banded) Pencilfish - N.trifasciatus

Tube-mouthed Pencilfish - N eques Barred or Comma Pencilfish - N. espeiHarrison's Pencilfish - N. harrisoni. Golden Pencilfish Information

• Originally the fish is found in the waters of the Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname and northern part of Brazil. The fish is also commercially bred in large fish firms in the countries of the eastern part of Europe.
• The fish commonly found in the sluggish tributaries, small sized rivers and swampy water bodies.
• If the fish is well kept with ideal water and temperature conditions the fish can grow up to the size of 2.4 inches or 6.5cm. It is primarily a shoaling fish and ideally at least a dozen fish should be ideally bred in a single tank.
• The tank holding a dozen number of the fish variety should must have measurements of 18" x 12" x 12 inches or 45cm x 30cm x 30cm. The tank must hold 425 liters of waters.
• The tank should be dimly illuminated as this would brighten the color of the fish manifold. The base of the tank should preferably be dark. The presence of the fish in the aquarium would bring about a brilliant visual effect if the tank is densely planted with species like the bogwood and twisted roots. The layering of the water surface of the tank would further reduce the lighting of the aquarium.

To bring about the best possible coloration of the fish one should feed the fish with a proper mixture of frozen and dried fish foods. The fish should be ideally fed with the shifting daphnia and brine shrimp nauplii.