By Wang Zhongjing Flair Wang (Taiwan)
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When I first started to contact freshwater ornamental fish when I was a child, I once passed by an aquarium and saw that in the display tank on the façade, there were two pencil fish with bright red abdomens pushing and shoving each other shoulder to shoulder, and I realized, Wow! It turns out that this common and affordable red-bellied pencil fish can also have such an amazing color! Since then, I have been impressed by this fish...
The red-bellied pencil fish is arguably the most common and affordable species in the small pencil fish genus (Small-tongued carp; Nannostomus). Although they are a small South American fish of the Family Ofidae (Galacine), they do not possess the characteristics of adipose fins, and are mainly distributed in Suriname, Gaiana, and French Guiana in northeastern South America, and also extend to some river basins in Brazil.
Since there are few exporters in the three northeastern countries of South America export wild ornamental fish, and most of the freshwater ornamental fish produced here can only be exported to the rest of the world through third countries (such as Germany), the visibility is quite low, so the most of the low-cost red-bellied pencils we see on the market are artificial individuals bred in Southeast Asian fishing sites, rather than local wild fish in South America.
The Red-bellied Pencil is commonly known in English as "Golden Pencilfish", although it does not match our impression of what it looks like, but it may be related to the golden-brown body color they usually display; as for the species name beckfordi, it is named after F. J.B. Beckford, who first collected the fish and gave it to the British Museum.
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Latin scientific name: Nannostomus beckfordi Günther, 1872
Common english name: Golden Pencilfish
Chinese common names: red-bellied pencil, Bain's pencil fish
Order: Actinopterygii
Order: Characiformes
Suborder: Characoidei
Family: Medakaliaceae Lebiasinidae
Genus: Pencil fish genus Nannostomus
Origin: South America Brazil, Suriname, Gaiana, French Guiana
Maximum body length: 4 cm
In the early stage of breeding, the body color of the red belly pencil is actually not outstanding, in addition to a thick black band across the center of the body to the tail handle, the yellow-brown background color on its body is actually not eye-catching, but after a period of breeding, the red color of the abdomen of the mature male fish will be more intense, the range will be more and more expanded, and even extend to the upper side of the belt, and the male fish in the competition for territory, when the mood is excited, the bottom color of the body will also turn pink, and the black longitudinal band on the side of the body will become more coarse and black; and the body color of the mother fish will not change much. However, when the nutrition is sufficient, the abdomen will be fuller.
At the beginning of breeding, the body color of the red-bellied pencil appears to be lighter ↓↓↓
For emotional male fish, the black longitudinal band of the body axis will become thicker and darker ↓↓↓
Feeding environment
This species usually inhabits small streams or swamps with gentle water flow, and the water is densely scattered with branches and leaves, and the habitat water quality is weak acid to weak alkaline (pH 6.0 to 8.0), medium hardness (dH 5 to 19), and water temperature between 24 and 26 °C. Like group activities, the strong male fish will dominate and will occupy their own territory. It mainly feeds on worms, crustaceans and small insects in the water, but it is also found to have the habit of removing three-dimensional algae in the tank in the artificial feeding environment, so it can also be said to be a good helper for algae removal.
Red-bellied pencil male fish, the body size is more slender, the body color is also more red ↓↓↓
Literature shows that its standard body length can reach 6.5cm, but in fact, the author has never seen such a large individual, red-bellied pencil is about the same size as the general small pencil fish, the body length is not more than 4cm, so the size of the suitable feeding tank needs to be at least 45 or 60cm long. And because they have the habit of living in groups, it is best to buy 5 or more individuals at a time when breeding, which can not only give them a sufficient sense of security, but also see the beautiful body color and rich body language released when they fight or courtship.
The individual enters the mature stage, and the male fish will begin to pursue the female fish ↓↓↓
The red-bellied pencil belongs to the upper middle aquifer fish and does not need too strong water flow, so pneumatic is a biochemical cotton filter or external filter is a better choice. The red-bellied pencils, which have a bright body color and can adapt to a wide range of water quality conditions, are also the best companions in the green aquatic plant landscape tank, and many people like to raise them in the aquarium where aquatic plants are planted, and their bright red body color contrasts and matches the emerald green aquatic plants.
In addition, the mild-mannered ones can also be kept in small and medium-sized aquariums in groups, using driftwood landscaping or laying leaves on the bottom of the tank to create a community habitat feeding tank that belongs to them, and can also be polycultured with other small fish such as small lightfish, bream, small loach or ratfish that prefer to inhabit the middle and lower water layers.
Feeding methods
Compared with other types of small pencil fish, the rearing of red-bellied pencils is relatively easy, on the one hand, they are mostly artificial breeding individuals, and the tolerance for water quality is higher, on the other hand, they are not picky about the water quality environment, so they are acceptable to weak acid to weak alkaline water quality conditions, but if you want them to play a better body color or want to breed them, it is recommended to raise them with weakly acidic soft water.
They are very receptive to a variety of foods, whether it is granular or flake feed, frozen red worms or harvest shrimp, they are very receptive. Although their mouths are small in size and are more suitable for feeding their small size bait, they can also pout with their mouths before slowly swallowing them when they encounter slightly larger particles.
disease
In terms of diseases, although the red-bellied pencils are stronger than other types, they can still suffer from diseases if they are in an urgent environment of unclean water quality, turbulent water temperature or bullying for a long time.
More common diseases include white spot disease, or bacterial infection caused by body surface mucosal hyperplasia and eye whiteness, etc., when these phenomena are found, you should quickly check whether the water has not been changed for too long or the filter media of the filter has not been clear for a long time, and it is also necessary to check whether the water temperature is too low, etc., and immediately improve. The symptoms are then given the appropriate drugs, which usually improve after a few days. However, before applying the drug, you need to remember to take out the activated carbon in the filter material or the Shen wood in the cylinder that will adsorb the drug first, so as not to reduce the efficacy.
Individuals with early white spot disease ↓↓↓
reproduction
Males are more slender, with more obvious red patches at the base of the fin and at the tail stalk; the female is obviously more plump, and the abdomen will be more full and rounded during maturity, but the red spots on the body are lighter in color, and the distribution range is not as wide as that of male fish, and the gender is relatively easy to identify. When males are more than 3 cm long and show a bright red body color, while the female fish have a large belly and are in an egg-hugging state, it usually means that they are mature and ready to enter the breeding stage!
The red-bellied pencil female, with a plump body, appears only in the base of the and caudal fins ↓↓↓↓
The red-bellied pencil belongs to the egg-scattering breeding mode, in a dimly lit environment, the male in heat will begin to passionately pursue the female, after a bout of pushing and winding between the two sides, the female will scatter the eggs laid at the bottom of the tank.
Male fish in courtship ↓↓↓
In order to avoid broodstock eating eggs and improving the success rate of reproduction, special methods can be used, such as laying a layer of yarn net on the bottom of the tank, the appropriate mesh size is enough to allow the fallen fish eggs to enter, but it can block the adult fish to eat the eggs; you can also place many moss aquatic grasses or egg medaka commonly used in the tank to make the eggs stick to it; more cleverly, some people will spread glass marbles on the bottom of the tank, so that the eggs fall in the gap between the marbles without being discovered by the broodstock.
When the mother fish spawning is completed, you can fish out the broodstock to the other tank, so that the eggs hatch in the original tank, at this time should strengthen the ventilation to increase dissolved oxygen, about 3 days or so the juvenile fish will hatch, at this time their caliber is very narrow, only eat the grass and other microorganisms, if at this time there are fallen leaves that have begun to rot in the tank, you can provide some microorganisms for the young fish to feed, about a week later you can feed the newly hatched shrimp knotless larvae!
Although the red-bellied pencil is not as precious as other wild pencil fish, but the low price is not inferior to the beauty of them, is relatively high C / P value of small ornamental fish, quite suitable for beginner small fish lovers to raise, under careful care, I believe they will also use the most beautiful body color to return!
The fight between two male fish pushing and shoving each other shoulder to shoulder can often be seen between pencil fish and splash fish ↓↓↓
After the lights are turned off at night, the black longitudinal band of the red-bellied pencil will turn into three large sloping black spots ↓↓↓
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