Golden Pencilfish by enigma--
Photo thanks to Enigma

Name:
Scientific name: Nannostomus beckfordi
Common name: Gold line Pencilfish
AKA: Beckford's pencil fish, Gold pencil fish, Golden pencil fish

Country of origin: South America - Brazil

pH: 5.0 - 8.0
Temperature: 21 - 27c
Hardness: 18 - 268 ppm
Water flow: low - standard
Oxygenation: standard

Maximum size: 3.5cm - mine reached at least 4cm

DSC_0343 by enigma--
Photo with thanks to enigma

Diet: carniverous. Live microfoods, will easily adapt to dry foods.

Breeding: They are an egg scatterer, and if provided with a mop or sufficient moss or plants, they can lay eggs, however they need to be kept from them by a division in the tank, or removal of the eggs or fish. They will also not provide any care, so removal of the parents is still the best plan.

Tank companions: They hunt red cherry shrimps as adults.They would try for crystal red adult shrimps, but ay not be able to kill them unless working together. They would certianly take shrimplets until near adult size. They are OK with Caradina typus, which are much larger. I removed the Gold line pencilfish from my shrimp tank.

Other microfish are suitable tankmates. I have kept them with bororas; danios; chocolate, liquorice & sparkling gouramis; green neon & ember tetras; male endlers and royal whiptails.

They will intimidate smaller tankmates, such as the bororas, who will become very shy in their presence. The others are fine.

Confused with:
There are 19 species in the genus:

Nannostomus anduzei
Nannostomus beckfordi - Gold line/ Beckford's/ Golden/Brown pencilfish
Nannostomus bifasciatus - Two-lined/whiteside pencilfish
Nannostomus britskii - Spotstripe pencilfish
Nannostomus digrammus - Twostripe pencilfish
Nannostomus eques - Honeystick/Brown/Rocket/Brown-tailed/Diptail/Tubemouth pencilfish
Nannostomus espei - Espe's/Barred pencilfish
Nannostomus grandis
Nannostomus harrisoni - Harrison's/blackstripe pencilfish
Nannostomus limatus - Elegant pencilfish
Nannostomus marginatus - Dwarf pencilfish
Nannostomus marilynae - Marilyn's/greenstripe pencilfish
Nannostomus minimus - Least pencilfish
Nannostomus mortenthaleri - Coral-red pencilfish
Nannostomus nigrotaeniatus
Nannostomus nitidus - Shining pencilfish
Nannostomus rubrocaudatus - Purple pencilfish
Nannostomus trifasciatus - Threestripe/Three-lined pencilfish
Nannostomus unifasciatus - Oneline pencilfish


All Nannostomus spp. are legal imports to Australia as of 20/10/2013:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiv...mport-list.pdf

The IUCN Red List reports Nannostomus beckfordi as a species which has not yet been assessed at 20/10/2013:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/search

It is very important not to release any aquarium specimens into our waterways. Any that are not sold or re-homed/ given away, can often be re-sold to aquarium stores. If they are homed in ponds, care should be taken that they cannot escape in run-off into our waterways. Even if fish are native & local they should not be moved from one waterway to another, as this can transfer disease. If they are not local fish, they can both spread disease and either out-compete or eat local fish, shrimp & plants, causing their demise.

They are a good fish for beginners.


Photo thanks to Odontodactylus

Relevant threads:
Breeding:
http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showt...ht=nannostomus