Pencilfish Golden

Temperature: 21 – 27 °C

pH: 5.0 – 8.0, though wild fish may do best towards the lower end of this range.

Hardness: 18 – 268 ppm; notes for wild fish as per pH.

Diet

A micropredator feeding on tiny invertebrates and other zooplankton in nature.In the aquarium it will accept dried foods of a suitable size but should also be offered daily meals of small live and frozen fare such as Artemia nauplii, Moina, grindal worm, etc.Relatively peaceful and will not  compete well with very boisterous or much larger tankmates.In a community it’s best kept with similarly-sized, peaceful characids and smaller callichthyid or loricariid catfishes but sedate surface-dwellers such as hatchetfishes are best omitted, especially in smaller aquaria.It also makes an ideal dither fish for Apistogramma spp. and other dwarf cichlids since  it tends to inhabit the middle-to-upper regions of the tank, and does not often predate fry.In a more general community set-up it can be combined with smaller rasboras, barbs, anabantoids, etc.Buy as many as possible, ideally 10 or more, as when kept in larger groups any aggression is spread between individuals plus the fish are bolder and exhibit more natural behaviour.