Pencil fish

[Irishlad123]

Hi everyone a shop near me just got in these lovely red beckfordi pencilfish does any one know if you could put these in the same tank as angels. The angels are only juvenile at the moment.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I've never kept pencilfish, but I've always wanted to. Here's some good info on the species. Since they only seem to get about an inch and a half long, I'd say they're a "maybe" with angels. I've kept neons with angels before and they did OK; they all grew up together so then angels seemed to consider them part of the scenery rather than prey.

If your tank is fairly large and has lots of cover (plants, driftwood) it might be worth the risk. (angels really need a 29g tank at the absolute minimum; 55 is better) But if you get an angel that's particularly predatory, you might end up with costly feeder fish.

 

[Barry Tetra]

You shouldn’t add other fish in the angelfishes tank even though they are young they are an “evil in the body of an angel”

You cant believe how many fished have been killed by my young angelfish....what a nightmare.

 

[Byron]

No, this is not going to work, guaranteed. I have kept eight or nine species of pencilfish over all of my 30 years in this hobby, and none are suited to angelfish.

Nannostomus beckfordi is the worst of the bunch, unfortunately, because it is a very attractive fish (males) and the constant "sparring" of two, sometimes three, males is fascinating. But it is a real nipper if anything enters its territory, and this species considers the upper third of the water as its off-limits area. I have had a male nip the fins of otos every time the otos landed on a leaf near the surface, and fish including cories that venture close to the surface are attacked.

Aside from the probable issue of the beckfords nipping the angelfish fins, in reverse pencilfish are linear and full grown angelfish will easily consider them food.

 

[Irishlad123]

Ok thanks a million for the info guys are colombians or congos suited i keep getting mixed reviews

 

[Byron]

Ok thanks a million for the info guys are colombians or congos suited i keep getting mixed reviews

Assuming this is stillin with angelfish...no on the Colombian Tetra (Hyphessobrycon colombianus). Generally peaceful, though some report it may nip fins. It should not be kept with sedate species such as angels, discus or gourami due to its boisterous activity and aggressive feeding habits.

The Congo Tetra might work, but this is rather like setting up a "counter," in the sense that Congos are more "centrepiece" and this competes with the angelfish. Better choices for the angelfish would be the peaceful and quiet (non-active swimming) disk-shaped tetras like the Rosy, Bentosi, etc. Being sedate themselves, they are unlikely to nip angelfish fins, and being disk-shaped the angelfish are unlikely to see them as food.

 

[mbsqw1d]

I once kept Colombian Tetra in a community tank with dwarf gourami. I found that they (tetra) kept themselves to themselves. I had 6 at the time, and I expect this is probably less than the advised minimum stocking. They were relatively sedate although voracious eaters.