# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Characins >  My Nannostomus eques aka Brown Pencilfish

## iwishweallcouldwin

Got 10 of these guys instead of the coral reds as dither fish for my apistogramma tank. But man, now I can't decide who the centre of attraction is. Enjoy!

Feeding on mysis shrimp just minutes after their release


They love NLS pellets too






One piece with a slight deform?


Always on the lookout for small bugs that land on the surface

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## Dean

Nice photos! Love the way it's presented. Very cute little fishes. Thanks for sharing.  :Smile:

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## doppelbanddwarf

One of my favourite fish! Do watch out though as I've lost a few of these fully grown pencilfish to a very aggressive apisto male before. They might not be able to swim fast enough.

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## iwishweallcouldwin

> One of my favourite fish! Do watch out though as I've lost a few of these fully grown pencilfish to a very aggressive apisto male before. They might not be able to swim fast enough.


Thanks for the warning chongyu! So far they seem to be hanging around the top level, while the apisto pair does not even care about their existence. But I'll continue to monitor. Like I said, now I don not know which fish I am more attracted to :Grin: 

By the way, I love the way they always swim at about 45 degrees!




> Nice photos! Love the way it's presented. Very cute little fishes. Thanks for sharing.


Thanks! Glad you liked them!

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## apistomaster

These are my favorite of all the Pencilfish.
Your specimens are still very thin and will fill out a lot in a few more weeks,
There may be more colorful Nannostomus species but very few are as peaceful and so long lived as N. eques. I have one old female that has been through a lot over the past 6 years but I expect she will go at most any time. They spend the majority of their lives near the surface and at that 45* angle which makes them one of my preferred dither fish in an Apistogramma breeding tank. It depends on the species of Apistogramma and the size of the tank whether or not the Apistogramma will bother them. If you provide enpugh space and some floating plants they almost always do OK.
Their potentially very long lives is something special among the smaller Characins.

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## hyun007

Cute little snack for my Angel. :Blah:

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## barmby

Thanks for sharing. life expectancy of 6 years. prolific

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## aquanatix

Got 10 from clementi last week but already they've dwindled to 5!
I do notice aggression from 2 pieces out of the group and was wondering of this is a common trait?They get pretty violent up to the point of fin nipping and eye pecking!
Not sure if i've lost my 5 this way?Do advise :Sad:

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## apistomaster

The fighting is mostly ritualistic and it is very rare for any serious damage to result. The most likely cause of your losses was probably due to them being in poor condition and not related to ther mock fights.
These fish benefit greatly from a couple weeks in quarantine and feeding small live foods like newly hatched Artemia nauplii, Daphnia and wingless fruitflies. They often arrive in very starved and poor conditions as those fish in the photos posted previously.
Nannostomus eques are among the most peaceful of all Nannostomus spp.

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## aquanatix

Thanks for the your info apistomaster...
Guess they were in pretty bad condition when i got them.Will try to provide ample small live foods to condition them.Mine were pretty small as compared to the wild ones that are available now.I've heard that wild ones grow a lot larger then farm bred ones,not sure if there's any basis in regards to the saying?

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## bettafantastic

Nice Pencilfish you have.
Maybe next time will keep some :Smile:

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## apistomaster

> Thanks for the your info apistomaster...
> Guess they were in pretty bad condition when i got them.Will try to provide ample small live foods to condition them.Mine were pretty small as compared to the wild ones that are available now.I've heard that wild ones grow a lot larger then farm bred ones,not sure if there's any basis in regards to the saying?


I think the small specimens were also wild caught.
Some batches do come in poor physical condition.
Just a week of live newly hatched Artemia can do wonders and I would also consider treating them with an Ich medication for the first 5 days.
The use of a small quarantine tank would solve most of your problems but if larger specimens become available I think you will have better luck with those.
These are actually a fairly hardy species and it is unusual to loose so many.
Once acclimated they live longer than any other species of Nannostomus I have kept although some Nannostomus beckfordi I bred and raised also lived for quite a long time. N. beckfordi is about the only species which is raised commercially. They are easily bred, a bit hard to raise but are quite colorful fish. They tend to be more aggressive, especially among themselves than N. eques but much of their aggression is ritualistic and little real damage is ever done. N. eques is a more interesting species because of the way they school together near the surface at an angle. Not all Pencifish are as surface oriented. Certainly not N. beckfordi. They explore every part of an aquarium.

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## aquanatix

Thanks for the comprehensive info apistomaster!
Will try my luck on my next batch should i get the chance to get my hands on them.They are truly interesting fishes and as mentioned,their schooling behavior near the surface is amazing.Just hope my next batch lasts! :Embarassed:

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## cueball

very interesting fish! any idea where i can get hold on some of these?

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## barmby

You can get them from Wuhu

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## Zenislev

Nice, one of my favorites...but they can really jump man.

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## griffinkid

Nice fish! If well conditioned with a variety of live and flake/frozen food, these fishes display incredible luster on their bodies! Keep us posted!  :Smile:

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## apistomaster

I finally found some N. eques on line. I ordered 25, 25 silver hatchetfish and over 100 Green Neons, P. simulans. These fish are supposed to arrive this week. I set up my 125 US gal tank as a planted display tank stocked with mostly small Characins.
I plan to get some species of rhomboid shaped Tetra bto contrast with the Green Neons.
I am using 25 Otocinclus, 6 Farlowella and 6 Chilodus punctatus to control algae.
I will use some of my F1 L134 as my bottom feeders.
I am excited about finally finding the N. eques. I haven't been able to buy any locally for 5 years.

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## apisto31

Bro, May I know which online store do you get your Characins from? Thanks!

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