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I bought an Arowana today however it was at a discounted price as it has no barbels. Will they grow back in time?

It may be too late. This does happen to arowanas kept in tanks too small for them. They may grow back but if they've been gone a while they may never grow back.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

if its rather young, then theres a good chance theyll grow back. if its older, n as shinigami said, its been in a small tank for too long. they prob. wont. are the barbels completely gone, or merely worn down to lil nubs? if there is still some lil bit of barbel left they could grow back. either way good luck, enjoy having an aro. they are wonderful fish.

Well, it looks like they are gone. Perhaps are tiny nubs. Not sure of his age but he is about 4".

I don't think you're supossed to buy them until they are around 8 to 10 inches long. Oh well, good luck.

May I ask why? I have never heard that before........

I bought my silver arowana at about 4" and housed it in a 33G tank. It's already about 7" long (obviously in a bigger tank...). as long as you keep up on the tank maintenance I'm sure it'll be fine. I was doing 20% water changes twice a week.

When they're 4" they were quite recently born, maybe a few weeks or just days after losing the yolk (in fact, they may even still have the yolk sac!). They are essentially fry, and as such they can be kind of on the delicate side. However, because they're much larger they're not quite as hard as your run-of-the-mill fry, so it's not like it's impossible to keep them. And lastly, baby arowanas have high blood pressure. They'll just stop moving and collapse from time to time...

On the other hand, because your fish is young, the damage can't have been that much or carried on too long, so it may indeed be possible for the barbels to grow back. Just wait and see, and perhaps Melafix may help...

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.