Espei Pencilfish

The espei pencilfish, or espei barred pencilfish, ranks up there with the rare ruby red pencilfish as one of the holy grails among pencilfish enthusiasts. Barred pencilfish feature vertical bands on a gold body and only reach the diminutive size of one inch. These pencilfish are even harder to come by than ruby reds, since they must be imported from Guyana. These pencilfish need low pH and small, gentle companions and should be kept in a small school, which is too bad, since they are quite expensive.

Quick Facts

Care Guide

Tank setup: Pencilfish need a mature, densely planted tank with soft, acidic water, floating plants, leaf litter and very gentle filtration. They are shy and do best with other tiny, calm fish.

Feeding: Feed crushed flake or micro pellets once or twice a day. They also enjoy small frozen foods like brine shrimp.

Tankmates: Keep them with other tiny, calm fish like small tetras, rasboras, pygmy corydoras and dwarf shrimp. Avoid fast or boisterous tankmates that outcompete them for food.

Good to know: Pencilfish change their pattern between day and night, often showing bars or dots after dark.