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I have searched the net & can't find an answer to such a simple question? I have an angel fish that has a feeler bitten off about 2/3 of the way up. This happened weeks ago & I see no evidence of it growing back. The culprit has been rehoused to a new home.

yes, it will eventually grow back, if you have good water conditions.

Cool! Thanks "wise one". Sorry.......... but I just can't call you by that other name. I'm sure it's not true............ or you wouldn't even have joined FP!

well, don't know much about angels, haven't kept them in decades. But I did have a dwarf gourami whose feeler did grow back. took a long time tho

Yeah, I imagine most feelers are about the same no matter what species. If your feeler grew back, mine will too............... at the rate it's going, maybe a year or two.

I wonder what they're even for?? I had a gold gourami & when you put a new fish in he would go up to it & his feelers would go forward in a circular motion as if feeling the newcomer, but angelfish don't do that. When I was looking up feelers, I think one place was talking about SW angels & said they skim (feel) for food with them, & if I'm not mistaken they were talking about feeling on the bottom (substrate) for food? If that applied to freshwater angels also, that would mean, they would like lay in wait & when a school of tiny fish came by they would "feel" them & then go for them. That doesn't make sense to me cause from what I've seen they operate by sight......... they see what they want & go for it.

Does anyone know for sure how fresh water angels use their feelers?

Well my sister shes had had her angel fishes tenticle bit off for 5 months now and it still hasn't come back. So I would say no they wouldn't inless my sisters is a special case.

how is your sisters water quality?

my father owned angel fish and break them for some time, and their feelers grew back always.

It'll eventually grow back with the right conditions, but probably won't be as long and good looking as the uncompromised one. Just watch out for a secondary infection if anything gets damaged like that.

Feelers are indeed sensory organs for finding their way and to locate food.

Oh well........... it doesn't really matter about the feeler.......... I was just curious. it seems to get along fine without it. I'm not perfect either.

Hmmmmm wow............ the Amazon waters must be really dark for a fish to need feelers to get around & to help it find food! I do remember seeing pictures of some of the waters where they catch fish & they looked just like giant mud puddles. Well......... thanks for your input everybody!

Some species use them as feelers, to reach out to touch things under and around them looking for food. They may also be used as (not sure about this) smell or taste receptors. I've also heard that they can be used in a defensive posture or for mating(again, not sure). My personal experience with them watchin my guramis is that they use them to look for things they may run into, or for locating food.

If anybody is still watching this thread,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I noticed the other day that the broken feeler is pointy again. That means it's barely starting to grow back.