Glass/Ghost Catfish barbels

[Derringer]

My wife seen these fish a few months ago and has been bugging me to add some to our aquarium every time we are at the LFS; so tonight I picked up 5 of them; just to shut her up - LOL!

Anyway, when I was acclimating them I discovered that one is missing 90% of its barbels - Id say it has maybe 1/4" on one side and a bit less on the other side - all the others have very long barbels.

Will this fish die or starve without its barbels? Do they regenerate or are they gone forever? Should I add him into the tank with the others or return him?

 

[Lupin]

The barbels should grow back. If he is doing well on his own accord, I see no reason why you should return him or isolate him. He is best kept with his group. Most will pine away unfortunately if isolated.

 

[fishlover88]

yeah i dont see why it would struggle. And they will grow back, my dad just picked up a cat who mas missing a large portion of its barbels, and it is very healthy, and comes out and eats just fine. The weird thing is that in my tank, the cats like to chase and nip at eachother, but the barbels are off limits. On my largest pim blochi the barbels are actuall longer than him. So they will grow back, and the fish hasnt starved to death yet, so i wouldnt be too worried about it