Barbel Growth ?

[depthC]

I have 3 corys and 1 in particular that has absolutely no barbels. He was in my 45g with some not so cory friendly gravel. One of my newbie mistakes. Well now i put him in a 10g with small round gravel. I was hoping that just a change in the gravel would make him happy and therefore barbel growth. Well i guess not. What are some factors of no barbels and what are some ways i can encourage them grow back.
Thanks.

- depthC

 

[revfred]

Good question . . . I don't know if barbels will regenerate themselves. My guess is that they may. Maybe someone else has a more definite answer.

 

[catfishmike]

i have a more definitive anwser. yes they do,but never as long and full as if they had never eroded at all.barbel erosion is caused by either sharp gravel or undesierable bacteria living in your gravel(or cheesey castels with air pump driven drawbridges,my pepperd cory got is barbs stuck inbetween the drawbridge once and it tore the barbels righ off!)it goes without saying just clean that gravel and they should start to heal.rarely ever do i think it's sharp gravel,most of us use fine pea gravel coated with epoxy which makes it farily smooth.

 

[depthC]

Well then assuming that it is bacteria, how do i lower the count to make the conditions more desireable. The tank is stocked with 8 zebra danios and 3 Corys. So could it be that the tank is somewhat overstocked?

- depthC

 

[Igor The Cat]

srry to hear that but barbels cant grow back

 

[catfishmike]

what do you mean igor,i have had barbel regrowth on cory cats before.and from stumps too boot

 

[Igor The Cat]

i mabe a mistake my upside bown cats it takes 5yers to grow back fully*celebrate

 

[smalltank99]

dude learn to type for all of our sakes!! geez

 

[catfishmike]

it's cool igor,that sounds about right for a syno they have real fine delicate barbels.hey smalltanks be cool man we all make mistakes.