Photo thanks to forocious


Photo thanks to briztoon

Name:
Scientific name: Nannostomus eques
Common name: Hockeystick Pencilfish
AKA: Brown/Rocket/Brown-tailed/Diptail/Tubemouth pencilfish/ Poeciliobrycon eques/ Poeciliobrycon auratus/ Nannobrycon

Country of origin: South America - Peru, Brazil, Columbia, Guyana

pH: 4.5 - 7.5
Temperature: 22 - 28c
Hardness: 18 - 179 ppm
Water flow: low - standard
Oxygenation: standard

Maximum size: 3.5cm


Diet: Live, frozen, flake & pellet food of a siutable (very small) size - they are micropredators.

Breeding:
Males: more colourful & slimmer

They lay eggs on the underside of plant leaves. They will predate on their own eggs and fry, so either the fish or eggs should be removed to a seperate tank.

Tank companions: They hunt red cherry shrimps as adults.They would try for crystal red adult shrimps, but they 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.

Other microfish are suitable tankmates, such as bororas; danios; chocolate, liquorice & sparkling gouramis; green neon & ember tetras; male endlers and royal whiptails, although they are very shy, so a species only tank is preferable. They live in their natural habitat with apistogramma species. Despite their continual non-stop hunting of shrimplets, I have never observed them to display any aggression toward or interest in other fish as prey.

They should be kept in a group of 10+, which will help to spread aggression, although they rarely hurt each other.

They swim at the middle to top of the tank.

Tank:
Mimimum tank size is 3ft for a small group.

They prefer a dark substrate, heavily planted, with blackwater from decaying leaves (Indian Almond Leaves are ideal) and floating plants.

They require a mature tank - do not add them immediately after setting up a new tank.

They swim at an angle, with their heads up - which is why they are called eques - for horse or rider.

Their colour will probably fade when the lights are off, and return gradually as the lights come on. They can have a vertical bar pettern after lights off.


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 mortenthaleri as a species which has not yet been assessed at 21/10/2013:
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 people with some experience (beginners +1).

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

Video, keeping/treating with tea-tree & other advice:
http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showt...ht=nannostomus

Video of males sparring, keeping with shrimp:
http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showt...ht=nannostomus

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