Syno Granulosa With Split Barbel

[unblinded]

I just purchased a 2nd syno granulosa and she's got a split barbel. I was a bit shocked to see this because I've never seen it before. From what I've read and was told it is a normal occurence. I've got a couple of questions maybe someone can answer. First, is this caused by genetics or environment? When I say environment-I mean when I catch the local catfish (channel cats) sometimes you can hook/split a barbel & I imagine it would grow back split. Second, if this barbel were to be removed-say in a fight, would it grow back branched or single? Secondary comments: I find the female to be twice as aggressive as my male--she has a territory that she attacks all of the other synos out of. The tank I've got them in is 300+ gallons with over 400 lbs of lava rock so there is plenty of hiding spots. I've also got a syno angelica, euptura & 10 multipunctata in there. When I first put her in the tank my male went over to her & tried to dominate her and she made him well aware that she could whip him when she pleased. She's about 2 inches longer than he is. I've read all the threads on keeping 2 together & I can see why. The tank she came from had her and another male in it (about a 70 gallon tank) and she whipped that male so that he had to be removed within a week of placing the 2 in the tank, so I'm keeping my eye on them. So far so good. He will eat from my hand so I get a good look at him every day & will see if there are any marks on him that require me to move one of them to my other thank. Now I've gotta save for #3.

[MatsP]

I'd expect it's similar to my

Megalechis thoracata

that got damage to a barbel, and the new one grew out split (actually several forks). Whether this is caused or aggravated by for example dirty water, bacterial infections, etc, I'm not sure.

--
Mats

[Viktor Jarikov]

All I can say I've seen this on bigger cats too, especially Leiarius marmoratus/longibarbis.
Extremely nice size tank for these guys.

Now I've gotta save for #3.

"Save" is right What did you pay for the two you have? around $300 each? What size? Trade-ins or simple retail?

[unblinded]

I paid about 270$ with shipping for the first one I got in 2008. I drove 7 hours one way to pick up this new one & paid 270$ for her as well.

[Viktor Jarikov]

pleasant to see there are such dedicated hobbyists out there it'd be awfully nice if you kept updating the community on your fish especially with photos - it's a rarely kept fish and many will thank you because that will be the closest for them to ever keep such a fish , not counting adding solid data to the over all knowledge.