pencilfish fan

**tetroid** · 9th Mar 2009, 13:09

Hello all. I've been consulting this site off and on for a couple of years, and now I've finally decided to register. What I like about this forum is that it contains a lot of information about unusual tetras and pencilfish. I'm a big fan of pencilfish. Right now, I have a 32 gallon tank with nannostomus trifasciatus and n. eques, as well as some farlowellas, siamese algae eaters, and one lonely keyhole cichlid. If I had a bigger tank, I'd get coral red pencilfish and dwarf pencilfish as well. I once had a school of weitzmani tetras (aka black darter tetras), but I couldn't get them to eat and they they all died. :-( I think that's when I discovered this site, as it had some good information on them.

**vinz** · 9th Mar 2009, 13:15

Welcome onboard!

**Czyne** · 13th Mar 2009, 13:43

Welcome to the forum from another pencilfish fan; sounds like you have a decent collection. I've tried to convince my fiance that coral red pencilfish would make great dithers for shyer apistogramma's, but he's not having it. Probably for the better

Hope you find lots of useful advice here, see you around!

**celticfish** · 14th Mar 2009, 02:39

A word of caution for coral reds.
Do give them the tank space or foiliage to break line-of-sight.
They are very aggressive buggers and will not hesitate to hound a fellow fish to death!
I found out the "hard" way....
I'd reckon a minimum of 3ft for a group of fish.
Yes, they are that nasty to one another!

**tetroid** · 15th Mar 2009, 08:16

I actually got my first pencilfish as dithers, since I was planning to get an apistogramma. However, I liked the pencilfish so much that I never got around to getting the apisto.

Thanks for the warning about aggression among coral reds. It sounds like they are even worse than three-lined pencilfish in that regard. I once put a few three-lined pencilfish in a five gallon breeder tank, but had to cancel the whole experiment within hours. It was like Thunderdome in there.

**Wackytpt** · 15th Mar 2009, 17:38

Welcome to AQ!

I also used to put in pencil fishes with my apistogrammas.

Cheers

**Morgan01** · 15th Mar 2009, 20:37

hey tetroid how often does the coral red arrive at your LFS each year and how much does each cost?

**tetroid** · 16th Mar 2009, 12:59

Originally Posted by Morgan01

hey tetroid how often does the coral red arrive at your LFS each year and how much does each cost?

Hey Morgan01. The major LFS in Ottawa gets a shipment containing coral reds about every two months or so during the fall and winter (September to April), but I don't think they receive any in the late spring and summer months. Maybe that's the rainy season in Peru?

The price is typically around $12 to $13 Cdn. per fish. They don't sell fast at that price, so it's not hard to find them if you're willing to spend the money. The last time I visited that LFS was in February, and the only pencilfish they had were n. beckfordi and coral reds. I always stare at the coral reds and think about buying them. One day I'll probably do it.

**tetroid** · 17th Mar 2009, 07:35

Hi Morgan01. My earlier answer didn't go through for some reason, so I'll try to summarize... the big LFS chain in Ottawa gets a shipment containing coral red pencilfish approximately every two months over the September to April period. I'm just a customer, but that's my impression. I'm not sure if they receive any in the spring and summer. They sell the coral reds at about $12 to $13 Cdn per fish. At that price, the fish are often available for weeks. The last time I went to the big LFS they had only two species of pencilfish: beckfordis and coral reds. I always stare at their tank. Maybe someday I'll just go ahead and buy some. Are they hard to find in Singapore?

**Morgan01** · 17th Mar 2009, 11:24

Originally Posted by tetroid

Hi Morgan01. My earlier answer didn't go through for some reason, so I'll try to summarize... the big LFS chain in Ottawa gets a shipment containing coral red pencilfish approximately every two months over the September to April period. I'm just a customer, but that's my impression. I'm not sure if they receive any in the spring and summer. They sell the coral reds at about $12 to $13 Cdn per fish. At that price, the fish are often available for weeks. The last time I went to the big LFS they had only two species of pencilfish: beckfordis and coral reds. I always stare at their tank. Maybe someday I'll just go ahead and buy some. Are they hard to find in Singapore?

there are seasonal here too...coral red being the most expensive around same as what you paid numerically except in SGD.