Pearl danio with barbels?

[Tokis-Phoenix]

(probably a stupid question) I've been raising my pearl danio fry for quite some time and finally a dozen or so of them are around neon tetra size or a little bit bigger. I've noticed an odd development in some of them though, some of them are growing "whiskers". I can't remember wether this is normal or not with pearl danios as i rehomed the parent danios many months ago a week or so before the fry hatched out and i can't remember whether they had barbels or not- i went to my lfs and none of their pearls had barbels, so is this some kind of weird mutation in them? I am totally positive they have whiskers and not some sort of parasite/desease.

 

[The-Wolf]

not a silly question at all.

They have two pairs of long barbels.
Rostral barbels reaching to, or slightly anterior to, the middle of the orbit; maxillary barbels exceed the origin of pectoral fin.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the info, im happy my pearls are growing normally- i wonder why the adult danios in my lfs didn't have any though? Do both females and males get the barbels?

 

[The-Wolf]

yes both the males and females have barbles.

the ones at the lfs proberbly do have them but as they are not in ideal conditions (i.e. net is oten in the tank trying to catch them etc)
they are ... clamping them, for want of a better expression.
or it could be that during their ordeal in getting to the shop they have been erroded or had them eaten, by other pearls.
They will grow back in time and optimum water conditions.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for all the info/help
Just one more question though- how long does it take for pearl danio fry to get to the half grown stage as mine seem to be taking forever?

 

[The-Wolf]

that all depends on temperature and how often/how much you feed
fry can take upto 6 months to reach half the adlut size
having the temp in the higher band (82f or so) and feeding twice a day can shorten this time.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thankyou loads for all the help, i think my pearls are pretty much growing at the normal speed .
Thanks !