Rocket Pencil Fish

[griffinkid]

Has anyone had any luck breeding these cute guys?

The web says that the males are more brightly colored than the female... are there any other ways to tell the difference between the two genders?

very appreciate for any replies!

Thanks!

[TyroneGenade]

Very soft water, filter through peat to turn it brown (guess a sea almond leaf would do). pH below 6. Use a fine spawning substrate. Condition the female and introduce the male in the evening. Hope for the best...

This has worked for me with beckfordi but that is an easy species to spawn.

[stormhawk]

Read this link for info:

http://drupal.cdas.org.au/content/na...lfish-rene-jez

On sexing, I think you can only see it from the size of the belly region. Slimmer ones are males, fatter ones are females, if you are referring to Nannostomus eques.

Do remember, they are territorial when kept in small numbers, so to be safe, get a small group. Gives you more chance for both genders to be present, if you are unsure on how to positively sex them.

[tetroid]

Agree with the above. I bought seven of them years ago, but now I'm down to two. They are fairly easy to sex by their bellies alone. My remaining two are a male and a female and actually spawn in my community tank fairly regularly. They will swim almost upside down under a leaf and the male kind of wraps himself around the female. They'll do it over and over. I don't know what triggers them, but it may be a dip in Ph.

During their last spawning session, a three lined pencilfish was following them around and eating the eggs. I guess that's why I never see any young.

Oh, my water is around 30 ppm kh and 40 ppm gh, with a ph around 6.8. I always read that my ph should crash since there is so little buffering, but it never does. Dunno why.

[griffinkid]

oh! thanks!

just a thought, i saw one of the fins of the rocket pencilfish actually has a red dot on it. (only seen when the fish flares) Does the red dot actually indicate the sex or does every rocket pencilfish actually has it?

thanks for your answers! i hope to be able to breed them soon! haha

[tetroid]

oh! thanks!

just a thought, i saw one of the fins of the rocket pencilfish actually has a red dot on it. (only seen when the fish flares) Does the red dot actually indicate the sex or does every rocket pencilfish actually has it?

thanks for your answers! i hope to be able to breed them soon! haha

You know, I just looked at my male eques pencilfish and I didn't see the red dot, but I remember seeing it in the past. It's on the anal fin, isn't it? Maybe it just gets brighter when they are in a spawning mood, or maybe the male just needs another male to flare at.

A more constant indicator is the amount of blue on the tips of the pelvic fins. The more blue you see there, the more likely it is to be male. Of course, sometimes a subdominant male can have the same dull colours as a female, so the best indicator is still the roundness of the belly.

Alternately, you can avoid the whole issue by spawning them in a group of five or more. Just make sure they have lots of cover.

[griffinkid]

yup! i also realize that the red dot is only visible when they flare up!
Tried to breed them but when i put a pair into the breeding tank they seem to be having problem surviving... by night one of them actually was on the verge of dying so i had to net them up and return them back to the main tank. >.<