Re: pencil fish

[BigJohnW@webtv.net (John Wubbolt)]

Hello Steve

You shouldn't have any problem locating pencilfish.   I use Nanostomus
beckfordi in one of my larger tanks as a so called "dither".   Truth is
i just really like the fish and have no available tank space to dedicate
to just them.  

Sexing the Beckfordi is really easy too.   Look for a brightly colored
red anal fin in an adult specimen.   These are the males, females have a
lighter almost clear anal fin, void of red.   Plus females are larger
girth wise as males are more stream lined. 

Spawning them as really quite easy too.   Feed all your pencil fish very
heavy for a few day with lots of live foods., white worms, bbs, daphnia,
what ever you have.   Set up a 5 gallon tank with soft slightly acidic
water.   Set a temperature of around 78F, put a massive clump of java
moss in the tank ( im not sure if  tons of killie mops would work or not
).   Put the pair in the tank around dinner time.   Leave them in the
tank until the morning, remove the pair from the tank in the morning.
Cover the tank with a towel, to keep it dark.   Wait 2 days, uncover the
tank, look for fry!!   The fry are very small at first, for a few days
they can eat micro organisms off of the java moss, then about the third
day after hatching start mixing some newly hatched brine shrimp along
with microworms. 
Then just watch them grow!!!   These were one of the easier tetra type
fish for me to spawn.

Good luck with them once you get them

John



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