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After purchasing a beautiful pair of lyretaill mollies and commuting them home I found a surprise hitchhiker. A single small pencilfish had been included in my floating bag and I have no idea how to care for this particular species. If anyone could provide any general care information I would be very appreciative. Thanx in advance.

Wow nice that you could get a free fish. As most tetras pencilfish like to be in schools so i would get more friends for that guys or try to sell him back to the lfs. THe eat the normal flakes and frozen food. ANd you should have no trouble caring for him once you get him a school.

He's not likely to enjoy the same water conditions as the mollies, who will definitely prefer a modest amount of either salt or calcium in their water (and in fact will be seriously vulnerable to Ich without it). Pencilfish, like most South American tropicals, prefer soft, somewhat acidic water. If he's a Beckford's pencilfish, he should be pretty easy to take care of otherwise, but most of the other species are somewhat delicate and definitely prefer clean water. If you don't have a way to keep him separate from the mollies, it might be best to take him back to the store.

Not true. Mollies are not found primarily in brackish water settings. In fact, the largest populations of brackish water livebearers make their presence noted in the areas where they are introduced (costal North Carolina and Texas). The streams in which they thrive in their natural habitat of the Yucatan are often flooded over with estuary backwash, but do not always dwell in the estuary salt marshes themselves—miniature livebearers including variatus and smaller poecs prefer the calm, vegetation choked waters of these estuaries. The fact that there are viable, breeding populations of sailfins in the Colorado river and the inland waterways of Florida shows that salt is nowhere near necessary for these fish to survive. On another note, pH and hardness makes a negligible difference to these hardy fish (and to most fish in general).
Pencils and related characins are thought to be rather sensitive to very fast temperature changes and are quite suceptible to bacterial, fungal, and other infections during the transport process as a result of the well known maltreatment of charcs in general. You should have few problems if your LFS is reputable.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 01-Jan-2005 13:55

I've read -- over and over again -- that Mollies are extremely susceptible to various skin infections, especially Ich, unless they have either a modest amount of salt or (to quote a detailed article a few months ago in "Aquarium Fish Hobbyist" calcium in their water. For just this reason, many books recommend that strict beginners not try keeping them. (I've also seen photos of the consequences of inadequate dissolved minerals for Mollies.)

As stated, the widespread range of these fish seems to argue otherwise. While they do indeed (I don't recall reading that article, but I'll look through the last few TFHs) prefer harder water, it by no means has a significant bodily effect on the fish itself. Cryptocaryon and Oodinium are reportedly even more tenacious than their freshwater counterparts, so I personally fail to see the effectiveness of brackish water in aiding molly disease prevention. I have, too, heard stories of ich being more commonplace in FW among these fish, but IME with mollies, this is anything but true (and yes, I've had them in both FW and brackish envoirnments).

I would hazard a guess that the susceptibility of Mollies to environmentally related disease outbreaks is related to provenance (i.e., where the original wild adults were collected from). Adults collected from true freshwater habitats are probably likely to produce offspring that are more adaptable to the 'typical' aquarium than brackish inhabitants. This applies principally to latipinna and velifera Mollies, as opposed to the aquarium bred hybrids.

Then, of course, you have to take into account the fact that Mollies have been domesticated like mad for years, and that some strains are seriously inbred. Therefore, weak. Especially those strains with artificially enhanced fancy finnage such as lyretailed Mollies, which need LOTS of TLC, some of them practically need their own intensive care unit!

If your Mollies are hybrid sphenops/latipinna crosses with enhanced finnage, then they could be delicate regardless of what water conditions you keep them in. Especially if they're an inbred strain.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Just a quick comment on the mollies, I keep a nice adult pair of sailfin mollies in my 90g community tank, which has, in these fishes' lifetimes never once had a single grain of salt added. They were born in freshwater, raised in freshwater, and they live in my tank with NO salt. They are vibrant, active, colorful, have never been susceptible to any diseases I have noticed, and have very bright shiny eyes. They are in great health, 2 of my healthiest fish in fact.
Livebearers that are bred in captivity are often never exposed to salt at any stage in their life. Why force them to live in water they can adapt to, but werent born into?
I keep platys, guppies, and mollies, and never add salt to the water. No need in my opinion. They truly are "freshwater" fish these days.

As to the care of pencilfish- try to at least keep them in a pair, a small to large group always better. They dont get very big, and always have tiny mouths so be sure to feed small enough food for them or they will starve. They are peaceful, and exhibit wonderfully amazing breeding patterns and behaviours, and amazing color shifts as well. Wonderful fish! Great find!

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I've had Beckford's Pencils now for over a year. They may have small mouths, but watch them dismantle full sized adult Brine Shrimps and Bloodworm! Mine are like sharks when the live food hits the water!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002