Shining pencilfish

Care at a glance

Overview

A small, glinting pencilfish that schools in the midwater, feeding from the upper layers with its slightly upturned mouth. Keep it in a group of six or more so it schools and displays; kept singly it hides and loses colour. It is peaceful and undemanding of tankmates, suiting a calm soft-water community of small tetras, rasboras and dwarf cichlids. Feed fine foods it can take near the surface and in open water: crushed flake, micro pellets, small frozen foods and baby brine shrimp. Give the school a planted, softly lit tank of around 54 liters with gentle flow and steady, soft, acidic water.

In the wild

The shining pencilfish comes from the shaded, slow-moving tributaries and swampy margins of the lower Amazon in Para, Brazil, where the water is soft and stained. Recreate that with warm water, about 24 to 28 C, and soft, acidic conditions around pH 5.0 to 6.8. A mature tank with dark substrate, driftwood, leaf litter and dense planting, dimly lit and gently filtered, brings out the gold gleam that gives it its name.

Good to know

Nannostomus nitidus is a pencilfish of the family Lebiasinidae, reaching about 4 centimeters. Its name means shining, for the bright gold band that runs the length of the body above a darker stripe. It is a shoaling micro-predator taking small invertebrates. Spawning is little documented for this species in aquaria. It is one of many small pencilfishes from the shaded creeks of lowland Amazonia.

Did you know

Like other pencilfish it changes clothes at night. Once the lights go out its long horizontal stripe breaks up into a set of slanted bars, and the daytime pattern returns by morning.

Tank mates

Shining pencilfish is a peaceful, schooling species that keeps to the middle. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.

• 

  Scherer's hatchetfish

  Carnegiella schereri

  Freshwater

  1 in (2.6 cm)14 gal (54 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)

• 

  Black darter tetra

  Poecilocharax weitzmani

  Freshwater

  1.9 in (4.7 cm)14 gal (54 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Twospot dwarf acara

  Nannacara bimaculata

  Freshwater

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)14 gal (54 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Spot-tail curimata

  Curimatopsis evelynae

  Freshwater

  1.6 in (4 cm)14 gal (54 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)

• 

  Drape-fin barb

  Oreichthys crenuchoides

  Freshwater

  1.6 in (4 cm)14 gal (54 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)

• 

  African algae-eating goby

  Parasicydium bandama

  Freshwater

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)14 gal (54 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

Related species

• 

  One-lined Pencilfish

  Nannostomus unifasciatus

  Freshwater

  1.6 in (4 cm)17 gal (65 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
• Elegant pencilfish

  Nannostomus limatus

  Freshwater

  1.6 in (4 cm)14 gal (54 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Hockeystick pencilfish

  Nannostomus eques

  Freshwater

  1.4 in (3.5 cm)15 gal (55 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Twostripe pencilfish

  Nannostomus digrammus

  Freshwater

  1.4 in (3.5 cm)12 gal (45 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Three-lined pencilfish

  Nannostomus trifasciatus

  Freshwater

  1.3 in (3.3 cm)15 gal (55 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)

• 

  Marilyn's pencilfish

  Nannostomus marilynae

  Freshwater

  2 in (5 cm)14 gal (54 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)