Cory catfish

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jredouard25

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Are Cory catfish fish barbs supposed to be long. My Cory’s barbs are way to long and i was wondering if its suppose wear down?


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Their barbels are meant to be reasonably long and not wear down. They use the barbels to feel about for food and sense what is happening around them. If the fish are kept on gravel or hard substrates, the barbels get worn down and this can harm the fish.
 
Their barbels are meant to be reasonably long and not wear down. They use the barbels to feel about for food and sense what is happening around them. If the fish are kept on gravel or hard substrates, the barbels get worn down and this can harm the fish.
Sorry but I disagree with that.
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Sorry but I disagree with that.
You're entitled to, but you probably shouldn't have posted the second pic if you do. The fish on the right looks like it has shorter barbels on the left and longer ones on the right :)

Smooth gravel is not as bad as rough gravel and you have smooth gravel. Happy? :)
 
You're entitled to, but you probably shouldn't have posted the second pic if you do. The fish on the right looks like it has shorter barbels on the left and longer ones on the right :)

Smooth gravel is not as bad as rough gravel and you have smooth gravel. Happy? :)
Dude DD is the corydoras expert. He has bred corydoras for many years. And I think he was disagreeing with the gravel as I have gravel/sand and all 20-30 plus corydoras are fine. Yes, barbels are meant for searching for food, but they usually get slightly worn down to keep the barbels from getting too long in the wild. If your corydoras have no barbels then either you have too rough of gravel, you aren't cleaning the sand enough (hint: debris), or the Cory has a bacterial infection.
 
I agree with others that barbel degeneration (wearing away) can be due to sharp substrate material or bacterial issues or both. The gravel in the photos in post #3 does not appear to be rough, agreed. But it is not the best substrate material for cories.

With one exception that Ian Fuller pointed out to me (and which I cannot now remember), all species of cory live over substrates of either mud or sand. They naturally sift through these mud/sand substrates, in the process of which they take up a mouthful of substrate, extract any bits of food, and expel the sand/mud via the gills. You cannot do that with large gravel.

Another issue with gravel is that bits of food take longer to decompose than in sand, and this can sometimes lead to bacterial issues. I have seen barbel degeneration on cories over pea gravel, and I suspect it is likely the bacterial issue more than the roughness.

I had cories over small gravel for years before Heiko Bleher convinced me that it was not good. Nothing he said is better than sand, and since I changed to sand some five or six years ago, I would certainly agree with him. I can't really explain it, but there was a difference in the cories.
 
I agree with others that barbel degeneration (wearing away) can be due to sharp substrate material or bacterial issues or both. The gravel in the photos in post #3 does not appear to be rough, agreed. But it is not the best substrate material for cories.

With one exception that Ian Fuller pointed out to me (and which I cannot now remember), all species of cory live over substrates of either mud or sand. They naturally sift through these mud/sand substrates, in the process of which they take up a mouthful of substrate, extract any bits of food, and expel the sand/mud via the gills. You cannot do that with large gravel.

Another issue with gravel is that bits of food take longer to decompose than in sand, and this can sometimes lead to bacterial issues. I have seen barbel degeneration on cories over pea gravel, and I suspect it is likely the bacterial issue more than the roughness.

I had cories over small gravel for years before Heiko Bleher convinced me that it was not good. Nothing he said is better than sand, and since I changed to sand some five or six years ago, I would certainly agree with him. I can't really explain it, but there was a difference in the cories.
Thanks for your post Byron.

On the other hand Ian Fuller stated several times that barbelloss is a bacterial or / and ammonia / nitrite issue. So not the damage done by the gravel itself.

And there you go : often these issues occure with big grained gravel (even smooth) in which leftover food can cause both.

Most of my tanks contain PFS (fine and middle sized). I think it is better and they definitely like it, but several of my Corys that have been on gravel for years have longer barbells than the ones on PFS.

I only disagreed with the info that gravel means barbellerosion. There is more to it.


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