# Betta's and Guppies; Where are His Fins :'(



## ShannonZatchell (Aug 12, 2010)

Okay so i have a male Guppy, and my cousin put him in with a male Betta. we both assumed it would be fine, the tank the Betta was in was bigger than the one the guppy was in anyways and we figured he would be happier in a bigger tank. He was in there or about 4 - 5 days and everything was fine. one the third day i took a few pics of him ( mind you they are terrible ) and im glad that i did becaus this morning i put him back in the other ccontainer to move him to the guest room im staying in and i noticed only about n1.5 cm of his Caudul, and 1 cm of his dorsal are left one his poor fish body . He was a very special kind of gupy too, his dorsal fin Exceeds the length of his Caudul fin, and now its all gone !!. i was wondering if his tals grow back wi;l it grow back to the lentgh it was before, and will the patterning on it be the same. also would this have hapeened to any guppy or was t specfcally th mentality of the two fishes. Ill try to post pictres soon but i cant guarantee them.


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## heatran15 (Apr 12, 2010)

I have heard that you can use melafix to stop your guppies tail from being infected and yes the tail will grow back Also you should keep your guppy away from your betta because you never know those things can get aggressive especially the male but it is unlikely for a female to fight. Will its pattern grow back with the healing process well maybe it could maybe it won't possibly I do not know.


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## ShannonZatchell (Aug 12, 2010)

Okay, thanks, 
but another thing i was wondering is
i dont think he has a disease,, im pretty sure the Betta got agressive with him, and they ened up fighting, the betta bigger than my Zatchell, and clealy more agressive, from what i saw he wasnt injured, and when i looked in the tank the remnents of his tail werent there, had they already decomposed or did the male betta eat his fins  . 
And es i agree with you, once i go back home ill be keepin gmy new Betta in a seperate enclosure from my guppy, Yes he isnt the one who hurt Zatchell, but thres always a chance he could.


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## heatran15 (Apr 12, 2010)

No what I mean is that if it is growing his tail back then you put the melafix to reduce infection thats what I heard but it is optional of you don't want it.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

The betta likely took little bites all day. Chewed fins usually grow back with just clean water, but they are more susceptible to fungus and fin-rot than un-chewed fins. Some people add salt, or an anti-septic like melatfix. Mela-fix is supposed to help fins grow back faster (like neosporin heals cuts faster) . Avoid it with bettas because its oily and thats bad for air-breathers. I've read that the one 'community' you don't keep with bettas is guppies, because the bright colored fins resemble other bettas and trigger aggression.


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## ShannonZatchell (Aug 12, 2010)

Oh, okay Heatran15 ahaha i get what you are saying now
And thanks for the xtra info emc7 i dont think ill be oing in town anytime soon, so until i can et my hands on some Mela-fix, i think that ill try adding a bit of salt to the water, how much would you recommend, and does it have to be the Freshwater aquarium sal that you can buy, or will regular table salt work; it kinnda seems the table salt would be bit acidic, but im not sure.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

ShannonZatchell said:


> Oh, okay Heatran15 ahaha i get what you are saying now
> And thanks for the xtra info emc7 i dont think ill be oing in town anytime soon, so until i can et my hands on some Mela-fix, i think that ill try adding a bit of salt to the water, how much would you recommend, and does it have to be the Freshwater aquarium sal that you can buy, or will regular table salt work; it kinnda seems the table salt would be bit acidic, but im not sure.


yeah bettas hate guppies IME i had some adults and fry in with a betta before i knew better and he went after the adults and not the babies because they hadn't developed any color or anything yet. i ended up getting rid of the adults and i noticed as the babies developed more and more color it would get nipped so i removed all them also. they also dont seem to like killifish and vice versa. i would not use iodized table salt. i know there are certain types of sidewalk salt that are ok to use but as for table salt i think most arn't ok.


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