🐟 Golden Pencil Tetra (Nannostomus beckfordi)
A Slender, Golden-Yellow Body With Contrasting Dark Lateral Stripes • A Naming Note: A Pencilfish, Not a True Tetra • Widely Considered the Hardiest Species in Its Family
 
A note on naming: the Golden Pencil Tetra, also known as the Golden Pencilfish or Beckford's Pencilfish, is actually a pencilfish rather than a true tetra, belonging to the family Lebiasinidae rather than Characidae, despite the common trade name. It's also the type species of the entire Nannostomus genus.
 
📋 The Golden Pencil Tetra has a slender, elongated body in shimmering golden-yellow to olive-green tones, with contrasting dark lateral stripes running the length of the body, a classic pencil-like silhouette.
It comes from a wide range across northern South America, from Guyana and Suriname through French Guiana to the lower Amazon and Negro River basins in Brazil. Every Golden Pencil Tetra we ship is feeding well.
This is widely considered the hardiest and easiest of all the pencilfish species, a genuinely good starting point for anyone new to keeping this family. It's peaceful and social, though males can show mild "jousting" territoriality toward each other, a ritual display rather than real aggression. It schools best in a group of 6 or more in a well-planted aquarium. It reaches up to 6cm, so a 40L tank suits a school well.
 
💡 Highlights
🟡 Golden-Yellow Body: With contrasting dark lateral stripes
🔍 A Naming Note Worth Knowing: A pencilfish, not a true tetra
💪 The Hardiest Pencilfish: A genuinely good starting point for this family
👥 Social Schooling Fish: Best kept in groups of 6 or more
⚔️ Mild Male Jousting: A ritual display, not real aggression