PlanetCatfish.com

My little L. longibarbis is piling on the pounds at a tremendous rate. Never seen a little fish grow so fast...

Trouble is, after several encounters with a crayfish, his two longest barbs are now not so long. Will they grow back? It looks as if there is some new growth at the tip of the shortest one, but I could be looking at a portion that is damaged but hasn't dropped off yet.

Are the barbs for sensing things by touch only, or do they taste like tongues as well. I ask because my fish can apparently tell the difference between two types of identically-textured food simply by touching them with his barbs. Maybe I've just been watching him for too long...

One last question: I caught my flatmate giving him some streaky bacon! I instinctively feel that this is a bad idea, although I don't know why. Is it a bad idea? If so, why. The L. longibaris seemed to love it...

Will they grow back?

Yes. Easily, I might add, if you remove the cause (the crayfish).

Are the barbs for sensing things by touch only, or do they taste like tongues as well

Catfish barbels are covered with taste buds. In fact, catfishes can be described as a large collection of taste buds (concentrated mostly in the head region and barbels).

Is it a bad idea?

Yes it is. The fish digestive system is not equipped to cope with mammalian protein (which it would not encounter in the wild).

Thanks Heok Hee,

I've been meaning for a while to put the crayfish back in the local river (from where I collected it a few months ago). I was going to do it last weekend, but it was in the middle of shedding its skin, so it won a one-week respite.

I'm so glad my L. longibarbis barbels will grow back I thought I had crippled him for life by putting him in a tank with a crayfish . Maybe, when he's big enough, I'll catch another crayfish and he can get his own back...