Getting the Lead Out of Your Pencils

By Tom Wojtech, MAS
Fi205sh@AOL.Com

I have a reputation to uphold of liking dull fish so don’t come over and look at the subject of this article, Nannostomus beckfordi. Most hobbyists are familiar with pencilfish from seeing them in a dealer’s tank and they do look pretty much the same; small thin fish with a dark stripe or two some of whom float in the water in a head down position. The head down angle was the first thing that attracted me to this group of tetras years ago but after keeping six species it’s not even a factor anymore.

Pencilfish are native to South America and come from Brazil, Columbia, Guyana, Surinam and even Venezuela. They can range in size from one inch to nearly three inches. They would all prefer soft acid water but the most common species; N. eques, N. beckfordi, N. trifasciatus and N. marginatus will accept Milwaukee tap water. This is the way I have kept Pencilfish for years just to enjoy their beauty without a thought of trying to propagate any species. Even in tap water I have observed spawning behavior and have seen eggs a few times and even had a fry or two show up but it has always been a surprise.

I like to include pencilfish in tanks of dwarf cichlids as a dither fish for which they are perfectly suited. This is the reason for my current success. I had a tank set up for spawning Rams with a planting of Water Sprite and a couple coconut shell caves and a piece of driftwood. I filled the tank with an 80/20% mix of RO water to tap water which gave me a hardness of 70ppm and a pH of 6.0. This was perfect for many dwarf cichlids. After the Rams spawned, I tried another Dwarf. Since I have always been a breed and dump sort of guy, the fate of the next dwarf was the same. I had an empty tank.

I ran across some Corydoras ehrhardti, which were dumped in the empty tank. I also had one Firemouth I missed when I emptied their tank and tossed him in the 20 for lack of a better place. I even bought a few Killies at the last WAKO show and introduced them to the same 20. I figured the Firemouth would not be happy in this soft acid water but it thrived. I then saw some new Beckford’s Pencilfish for sale and couldn’t pass them by. I did have some of the same species in another tank but these were different. I have never seen Beckfords with so much color. The males had the typical dark brown stripe but above and below the stripe was an intense red. Males usually just have a little red in the anal fin but these were spectacular. I added them to the 20.

After a couple days feeding of live baby brine shrimp, the reds intensified. The males would grab a territory and keep all comers away except the females. It is a joy to watch a 2" pencilfish chase away a 2.5" Firemouth. The males would spar by stretching their fins to the fullest and swimming side by side in what appears to be a spawning run, until one male gives up and runs off to hide. I have to tell you that by this time the Water Sprite had grown to the top and spread across the surface making the bottom of the tank very dark. I kept the front couple inches of the surface clear for feeding but the back was solid Sprite. The Beckfordi would also chase the pair of killies into the Sprite whenever they came out to feed. This was fine with the Rivulus who will sit on top of the Sprite with their backs out of the water for hours by choice.

Within a week, I saw real spawning runs where the male would dart back and forth in front of a female trying to get her to follow him into the weeds. If she wasn’t ready, she would dart the other way. I stood and watched these runs on a Saturday morning until I saw an egg laid. This took a while since the females were very particular about the best display and which male would win her affections. I have seen all this before but it is always a thrill to watch. (I really need to get a life.)

I had no hope that I would see fry with the Firemouth patrolling the open areas and the Rivulus snaking through the Sprite but I enjoyed the action. I continued feeding baby brine daily along with Total Tropical Flake food and frozen brine. The Rivulus had been in the tank for a couple months and in spite of the other fish had produced a few fry, which were approaching an inch. The first fry were badly deformed with accordion spines from what I figured was the too soft water.

One night while feeding, I noticed a flash of a fry in the dark reaches of the tank. I thought it must be another Rivulus but it was not at the surface. The next day I was doing their weekly 50% water change when a fry spooked out and zipped across the front of the tank. It was a Rivulus fry. That night at feeding time I scanned the surface to see if there were more fry. I peered along the surface from every angle looking between the mass of Sprite and spotted a couple more Rivulus fry about the size of a baby guppy. In the dark reaches of the tank I saw another fry which I thought must be another Rivulus. It stayed in one place too long and didn’t swim right. I took the flashlight to get a better look. It was about 3/8" long and looked like a piece of blackworm with an eye. I found a baby Beckfordi! I searched for more and spotted a second fry in the back near a plastic Cabomba. An adult Beckfordi came by and the fry didn’t move. I figured it would be lunch. The adult lunged at the fry and stopped short. The fry dashed off into the weeds. Were they training the fry to look out for predators? I don’t know but I have seen this behavior for weeks with all the small fry.

As soon as I noticed the fry, the Firemouth had to come out. He was unceremoniously dumped into a 40 with soft water and larger fish. Every night at feeding time I watched the tank for fry. I could see fry showing up in various sizes as time went by. I wanted to be very careful when changing water to create as little disturbance as possible so I wouldn’t chase out a fry into the mouths of the tankmates. The smallest fry I have seen was less than ¼" and was just showing a dull stripe. As anal as I am, every night I see how many fry I can count at one time. So far the record is 11 and I figure there must be at least 15. I almost hate to bring them in for BAP but maybe I will be able to get a real count when I catch the Beckfordi and the Rivulus.

It would be nice to set the adults in their own tank for breeding but then I may get bored with them when I have too many to keep and end up dumping the Pencils. I like them too much to let that happen and I will be satisfied to get a few fry as long as I don’t need the tank for the next dwarf cichlid. I will continue to enjoy the fish without babies.