Can anyone suggest a bottom feeder W/O barbles?

MikefromNH

MikefromNH

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Nov 21, 2004
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I had to move my Shark Catfish (Colombian catfish) to another tank with regular gravel. My Tahitian Moon sand is trashing the cats barbles :eek: I'm disappointed because they were in the tank people see the most. I gotta' look out for the fishes health first, though. I guess the Shark cats really like to dig and with their long "whiskers" the TM sand is a problem.

Are there any cool looking/acting bottom feeders W/O barbles (or just very short ones) anyone can recommend? Nothing too exotic, please. I need to be able to find them at a fairly "average" FS as there aren't any specialty FS's in my neck of the woods. If my only choice is more of an exotic one, there is a decent FS in Salem, NH (at least it was decent 10 years ago), but thats kind of a haul.

Thanks
 
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Khuli Loaches is the only thing I can think of right now. Almost all other bottom feeders are loaches or catfish, and all have barbels of one type or another. It's just how bottom feeders find food. Khuli's should have real short barbels though. <I Think>
 
Something more robust, maybe? Is there a type of bottomfeeder that is "tougher" than another? The sand can't be that bad. I assume the shark cats are on the delicate side, at least mine looked that way at only 3" and probably pretty young.
 
Expect all bottom feeders to have some sort of barbels. Thats how they find their food.
ONLY thing i can think would maybe some ghost shrimp.
 
Haggisman said:
Thats odd the sand shouldnt cause barbel problems, you sure its not something else.
Click to expand...

My water conditions seem fine and I'm doing partial water changes (30-50%) each week. I do have a bad algae problem but I don't know if that would have anything to do with it.

The Tahitian Moon sand is VERY sharp compared to something like play sand, so I suspect that's the problem, but who knows?
 
I just got tahitian moon because folks at another site said their corydoras and botias did really well in it. The botias are diggers, so I really hope it's not the sand. It's a lot of work to rinse it and I got it for them plus the reclusive fish that come out more on a dark substrate.
 
I hope I'm not doing anything wrong by posting this but......

This is from the FAQ at planetcatfish.com

Q-Why do Corys lose their barbels?

A-There are several reasons why Corys lose their barbels, the first being the type of substrate they are kept on. Sharp sand of gritty gravel particles are very abrasive and can cause inflammation to delicate barbels. The substrate should be smooth grained and small, for example well-washed river sand or fine silica gravel, these have grains that are rounded like beach pebbles. The next area for consideration is the depth of the substrate, which should be no deeper than the depth that the Corys kept over it can penetrate, enabling them to reach the base of the aquarium. This will ensure all food particles can be found and eaten. Once barbels have become damaged they are susceptible to secondary bacterial infection that can develop into serious mouth fungus, which is usually fatal. Quite often the first signs that something is not right is when the barbels start to loose their length and this is the time to check the cause or causes not when they have been reduced to little bumps at the side of the mouth. Very rarely will severely worn barbels regenerate fully.


I'm not saying the TM sand is not good for bottomdwellers. IMO the damage to my cats barbles was probably caused by the sand, that's all. Maybe I got a bad batch of sand but I'm telling you it is sharp and jagged. Not like play sand at all.

aquak, how did the TM sand seem to you when you were rinsing it?
 
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