# grabbed some dwarf purple pencilfish/nannostomus rubrocaudatus!



## dthb4438 (Nov 12, 2007)

any pics, I dont know what they are.


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## pandamonium (May 14, 2012)

Not from my tank, this is from online. But mine look like this, not as plump but same patterns. They are different from the N. mortenthaleri due to the prominence of that streak.


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## gh0zt (May 1, 2007)

Saw them at my lfs for $15 a piece I believe. Very nice looking fish! I'd much prefer a bunch of them over cards as dither fish for my apistos even though they do not school in the traditional sense.


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

That's funny I was just researching these when I saw your post. How's their activity level? Do they usually just float around or are they active


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

i have, and am breeding, the mortenthaleri. they are not that challenign, lots of floating plants and a good diet.


For comparison, this is the coral red pencil that I have:


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## pandamonium (May 14, 2012)

gh0zt said:


> Saw them at my lfs for $15 a piece I believe. Very nice looking fish! I'd much prefer a bunch of them over cards as dither fish for my apistos even though they do not school in the traditional sense.


Yeah I picked them up for 11.99 a piece. Grabbed 4 females and 4 males. Not the ideal ratio, but it should work  I went with these guys because they look really nice and are a great alternative to tetras. I have had tetras for so long and I wanted a different one. Though its hard to beat the shoaling effect of cardinals but these guys just look very different  They school and split randomly so far (been 1.5 days so far) so its different in my Amazon tank. You are in San Jose so did you see them at Neptunes?



fusiongt said:


> That's funny I was just researching these when I saw your post. How's their activity level? Do they usually just float around or are they active


I did a lot of research on these guys before getting them. They are semi active, I rarely see them go to the bottom. Most of the time they are hanging out in the top underneath my floating plants roots or the upper reaches of my stem plants. They seem to float more but then again they are new to my tank so the behavior might change? At AFA, they were swimming a bit more than they are now.


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## pandamonium (May 14, 2012)

Here are some pictures of mine hanging out near the surface. They seem to like it up there. Apologies for the GSA, gotta get my scrubber in there


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## gh0zt (May 1, 2007)

pandamonium said:


> Yeah I picked them up for 11.99 a piece. Grabbed 4 females and 4 males. Not the ideal ratio, but it should work  I went with these guys because they look really nice and are a great alternative to tetras. I have had tetras for so long and I wanted a different one. Though its hard to beat the shoaling effect of cardinals but these guys just look very different  They school and split randomly so far (been 1.5 days so far) so its different in my Amazon tank. You are in San Jose so did you see them at Neptunes?


Yep, saw them at Neptunes when I was picking out my apisto pair. I only had 5 out of 20 cards survive so I might eventually end up going with some of these guys.


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## hydrosparky (May 1, 2012)

Nice fish! I would get these if they were less expensive... I heard they like to die on people for no apparent reason. That and the cost has made me stay away from these otherwise beautiful fish. Hope they go well for you!


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Wow them are some beautiful fish!


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## pandamonium (May 14, 2012)

gh0zt said:


> Yep, saw them at Neptunes when I was picking out my apisto pair. I only had 5 out of 20 cards survive so I might eventually end up going with some of these guys.


Cardinals are pretty wimpy sometimes. I guess you have to find the right source. There was a craigslist ad for cardinals which is where I got 20 of them for $30. Only 1 died so far. And the others I got from Ocean Aquarium in downtown. Been about 3 weeks and no deaths. I like the pencilfish because they look different and also act differently. A welcome change from tetras!



hydrosparky said:


> Nice fish! I would get these if they were less expensive... I heard they like to die on people for no apparent reason. That and the cost has made me stay away from these otherwise beautiful fish. Hope they go well for you!


Thanks!  Yeah at AFA they told me that the fish were there for almost 2 months because no one bought them. Over time though they got bigger and I swooped in on them at a good point. Just maturing and starting to flash to each other in the morning at lights on  They are jumpers so you would need a hood. I wanted to find a group buy or something to get a boatload of these for cheap but no one jumped in and I couldn't find a supplier (I'm not pro enough haha). The fish are rare and often hard to find as they apparently only live in Peru in certain areas, making their price go way up. I'm hoping mine will breed and then I can share them in the hobby? If I can of course haha



GMYukonon24s said:


> Wow them are some beautiful fish!


They really are!


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## hydrosparky (May 1, 2012)

Floaters, such as the Amazon frogbits will make them comfortable.  You should try Indian almond leaves to get the water conditioned. Your F-1 rams should enjoy it too. If you get these pencilfish to breed, tell me! I'm currently trying to get a pair or harem of Apistogramma agassizis or caucatoides, and some Checkerboard cichlids. We could work out a deal...


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## mubender (Mar 16, 2009)

First off if you dot have a lid then i would recommend it, they jump better than any squirrel ive ever seen. Pretty heartbreaking to see your prize female dried up on the floor when ya get home from work.....ive got rubro's and morts in segregated tanks but ive seen that thier breeding behavior is quite similar if not identical. Some people have luck with leaving the matin pair in the tank after theyve dropped eggs but i havent had such luck. My pairs decimate any free swimming fry that might hatch....given ofcourse that they dont eat the eggs first.
As was said before...floateds with long roots tend to ease thier stress quite a bit. I prefer a floating may of riccia which they love. Theyve tried egging in the riccia on multiple occasions.
As far as parameters im running CO2 and have a ph of 6.5...i dont test tds, kh or gh at all. So im no help there. I can say that the kh/gh are definately high to my crap tap water here.
I have set up two breeding 3 gallon tanks loaded with camouflage yarn. I find my most colored and displaying male and snag his female and throw them into the tank. I leave them for about a week but when they dissappear for a day i pay close attention. When i see them swimming around again, i yank em out and toss em back into the main display tank. Few days later ive got some miniature "glass hugging fry". I'll then give the fry a few days to get a bit bigger and stronger then i'll toss them into the second 3 gallon tank which has close parameters to mu display to let them grow to non-edible size, ill then toss em into my display tank.
My breeding tank consists of a tiny bit of amazonia, lots of yarn and a sponge filter with the same tap as in the main tank. Lit only with some weak leds. And a few IAL in there to help fight off bacteria.
I feed the adults repashy soilent, community, and mosquito larva in the breeder tank.
I feed the fry powdered repashy till they mature.

Hope this helps.

(sorry for spelling trying this on my iphone)


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## Stump26 (Jul 4, 2012)

Those are some really nice fish,wish I could find something like that at my lfs


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## pandamonium (May 14, 2012)

hydrosparky said:


> Floaters, such as the Amazon frogbits will make them comfortable.  You should try Indian almond leaves to get the water conditioned. Your F-1 rams should enjoy it too. If you get these pencilfish to breed, tell me! I'm currently trying to get a pair or harem of Apistogramma agassizis or caucatoides, and some Checkerboard cichlids. We could work out a deal...


You know I have that frogbit  I have seen IAL but locally they are a bit expensive I think. A LFS down south of me sells them for like $20 for 10? or 10 for $20? something like that. If I can find them for cheap I would go for it. Heard it boost immune system and is great for shrimp. I want to get the pencilfish to breed but I don't know how I would do that up at school. My dad is gonna run my tank when I am gone and I don't think he will be too keen on trying to breed them if they require too much effort. Next summer for sure though I will try personally. And if that happens, yeah we can work something out hahaha



mubender said:


> First off if you dot have a lid then i would recommend it, they jump better than any squirrel ive ever seen. Pretty heartbreaking to see your prize female dried up on the floor when ya get home from work.....ive got rubro's and morts in segregated tanks but ive seen that thier breeding behavior is quite similar if not identical. Some people have luck with leaving the matin pair in the tank after theyve dropped eggs but i havent had such luck. My pairs decimate any free swimming fry that might hatch....given ofcourse that they dont eat the eggs first.
> As was said before...floateds with long roots tend to ease thier stress quite a bit. I prefer a floating may of riccia which they love. Theyve tried egging in the riccia on multiple occasions.
> As far as parameters im running CO2 and have a ph of 6.5...i dont test tds, kh or gh at all. So im no help there. I can say that the kh/gh are definately high to my crap tap water here.
> I have set up two breeding 3 gallon tanks loaded with camouflage yarn. I find my most colored and displaying male and snag his female and throw them into the tank. I leave them for about a week but when they dissappear for a day i pay close attention. When i see them swimming around again, i yank em out and toss em back into the main display tank. Few days later ive got some miniature "glass hugging fry". I'll then give the fry a few days to get a bit bigger and stronger then i'll toss them into the second 3 gallon tank which has close parameters to mu display to let them grow to non-edible size, ill then toss em into my display tank.
> ...


Yep I have a lid and it is secure. I have hatchetfish also in this tank so I need a lid. Lots of floaters as well and my pH about matches yours. It was about 6.4-6.6 maybe a bit lower now with pressurized CO2. I will defintely consult this if I can convince my parents to let me have abreeding tnak. 3 gallon doesnt seem like it is too much space. That was really helpful post  I'll look into getting those supplies when i get approval and when I get funds (I'm a college student so money is hard haha)



Stump26 said:


> Those are some really nice fish,wish I could find something like that at my lfs


Yes they are great. Expensive and a little bit more demanding espeically with pH but still awesome fish


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## hydrosparky (May 1, 2012)

IALs for that much! 0.0 That is really expensive! Try AQ Magic over at eBay. They sell the IALs for real cheap. I got mine, and I like them (so do my fish).


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## pandamonium (May 14, 2012)

I'll see if any local sellers have any. I'm sure the hobbyists in my area must have some!


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