# Beckford's pencilfish, male's display is really intense !



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I just got six of these little guys, I've been interested in them for awhile and BA's had them on special. I was fortunate that I ended up with two males and four females, which I've read is a good ratio for them. They were quite peaceful in their tank at the store.. just swimming around, not doing anything especially exciting.

So I was very surprised to see that within moments of them being let loose in my Q tank, two of them started some very intense display behaviour. It was obvious they were male, their colouration went from being a bit darker on top with redder fins than the females to being a LOT darker and the red started to just glow.. like neon lights from within. They started swimming side by side, quivering their fins so fast, it was like watching hummingbirds wings, and they wriggle, dart their heads at each other, then they circle around and start the whole show over again. The intensity of the red in the fins and on their bellies is just unreal.

So far they don't appear to be harming each other. But the QT is only 5G and I wonder if it's just too small for two males. It has a fair number of plants, mainly cuttings, a good size chunk of driftwood and a couple of decent size rocks. Right now, it houses my six new Pencilfish and four new, very small Glowlight danios. 

I got a couple of videos of the two males doing their display. I'm just wondering how long they're going to keep it up. They've been at it now for the best part of an hour, so I was wondering if anyone can tell me if they are likely to go beyond this display to actual aggression ? I'm a bit concerned about their stress levels.

Previous research indicated they were peaceful, good community fish, a bit sensitive, needing very clean, high quality water, and made fairly good tank mates for a number of other fish, so long as the other fish aren't big enough to eat them. The displays between males were mentioned, but seeing it, woohoo.. it's something to see.

So do I need to worry about these guys harming one another ? Should I get another female ? Just wondering if uneven numbers would help settle the males a bit.. or maybe two more females ? So far as I know they don't keep a mate, unlike the danios, who do get attached to one female. 

I am setting up a ten G, but it won't be ready to use for a couple of weeks and it was intended to be a brackish tank, for hatching Amano shrimplets.. but if the Pencilfish need more space to stake out territories, I can always try to get another ten G tank going as a QT. They will eventually go into one of the 30 G once the quarantine is over. Not sure where I'd put another ten G though .

None of the research I did said anything about these fish being aggressive, but they're so intense at this, I'm a bit concerned that they may stress themselves too much. None of the fish I've kept in the past have had anything like this kind of behaviour between males.. so I've no experience with it. It kind of reminds me of a pair of male Bettas, but the Pencilfish do not appear to be fighting. They're just showing off, near as I can tell.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

I'd like to see the video. My headstanders (related to pencilfish) do a mating dance type thing and I'm curious if it's similar.
These guys have been doing it for years & have not come to any harm by it.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

oohh you are so lucky! I ended up with all males :/ They are in a 90 but still... would have been cool to see that.


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## Bantario (Apr 10, 2011)

My Pencils doing the dance 

http://s1204.photobucket.com/albums...F-8AF0-6BE1FF51D559-3520-0000037FF45DEE90.mp4


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Practically the same as the headstander dance! Do they also open their mouths all the way and send pressure waves at each other, too? (Headstanders do that).


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I think they're too close together for pressure waves.. they're virtually touching most of the time, quivering the entire body and the tips of their fins have some white on them, they are what reminded me of hummingbird's wings, they way they were fluttering. They don't seem to open the mouths much, more of a head darting motion, but not a huge one.. I got five or so minutes of this dance, pretty cool. Needless to say, they don't keep it up forever, so I'm not so worried about their stress levels. 

If I can ever get a computer to cooperate, I'll post my video too. Super neat to watch and they don't do it all the time.. maybe they were just making a statement upon finding themselves in a new tank ?


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## malajulinka (Mar 29, 2008)

Resurrecting this zombie thread to say that I saw my pencilfish dancing for the first time just yesterday! I sat mesmerized the whole time. They've been in there for over a year and this is the first time I've witnessed it!


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

Pencilfish are cool. My purple pencilfish used to do the "dance" (they call it sparring) when I first got them, then they stopped after 2 of them jumped out of the tank and died. I think the ones that jumped out were the females. I am am guessing they mainly do this in competition for females, probably why they stopped. It is cool to watch their colors light up and see them go around and around in tight circles.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Pretty cool to watch, isn't it ? I have a video, somewhere, with between five and ten minutes of my two new males sparring madly shortly after being introduced to their new tank. I'll have to try and find it when I have time.


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