# Betta Tail, growing because its young, or because it is living in better conditions?



## SharonM (Sep 12, 2011)

Hi, first post here, I've been reading a lot for weeks and weeks to learn about bettas. I got my Betta a week ago. He is living in a cycled 17L tank, with a bubble powered corner filter (not sure of the proper name). 

When I got him he had a few holes in his fins and there was crud on the bottom of his cup, which I realised was bits of fin when I was transferring him to his tank. These holes healed up in about 2 days, but then he tore his tail some how in the tank, so I removed anything that could've possibly done it, did a partial water change and added the salt I had on stand by and it has now started healing quite well, the tear is almost 1cm shorter than it was when it happened. He now also has colour on the little fins on the side of his body (not sure of the correct name).. they were clear with only a small streak of colour when I got him. 

I have no noticed 3 to 5mm of new growth on his tail and the other bigger flowing fins. This part is still quite transparent, but you can see it growing quite rapidly. 

I asked the guys at the aquarium shop how old he was, and they said they got the shipment in a month ago, and that they were apparently about a month old when they arrived. This seemed like he either has no idea what he is talking about, or he thinks I'm stupid. I'm pretty sure he has no idea, because after I told him I felt bad for a lot of the bettas they had because of the conditions they were in (most of them had yellowing water with heaps of crud on the bottom of the cups, most of which were pretty non-responsive), he lectured me about how bettas prefer small cups of water because they live in animal foot prints blah blah blah. Most of the fish seemed to be in a pretty bad state. I even bought a little girl betta because I felt so sorry for her ( she lives in my community tank, and seems to love it, she even lets me hand feed her at feeding time.).... 

So I am having trouble working how how old my betta is. His tail is definitely growing, but I'm not sure if it is because he is young or because he is happy. If anyone could give me any clues to this I'd be very grateful. 

I was pretty disappointed all in all with the place I got them, they're not a pet shop, they're an actual aquarium shop, all they do is sell fish and aquariums, one would hope they'd have educated staff. 


Thanks

Sharon


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## SharonM (Sep 12, 2011)

Here is a pic of him


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## Leeniex (Aug 14, 2011)

He's probably young (and very pretty!), but at a month they are still tiny. Probably several months old when you got him.


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## SharonM (Sep 12, 2011)

Yeah, I figured he must be a fair bit older than 2 months, he is a lot more developed than any 2 month old betta I've seen online. I'm guessing he is at least 6 months old, but I really have no idea. His fins are growing every day, I can't believe how much he has changed in a week. His colours are totally different, much brighter, and he had almost no shimmer to him at all, and now he is totally shimmery. He definitely seems like a happy fish now. He is super cheeky.


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## Leeniex (Aug 14, 2011)

If he has lots of fin growth and color, that means you are doing a great job.


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## SharonM (Sep 12, 2011)

Yes, I figured I must be doing ok because he has healed up so fast, and brightened up so much. He is way more beautiful than when I first got him. He looks totally different to what I had in mind when I went shopping for him. He kind of chose me, he was being all cheeky in his cup and really caught my attention, and was one of the cheaper ones, because he is a veil tail. Most of the other fish they had there were double or triple what I paid for him (most of the more expensive ones were also in the worst condition, heaps of them had half of their tails in pieces on the bottom of their cups). All the veil tails were cheap. I paid more for the little girl crown tail. She has a pale body and red fins. She is very cute and also very cheeky. She seems really happy living with the other fish. I'm pretty sure she has made a meal out of all the little platy fry that was in the tank, I caught her chasing the last one that was left, and I haven't seen him in a few days, I'm not really worried though, my tank has enough fish and the platy keeps popping out fry every few weeks. I figure one day she'll give birth to one smart enough to make it to adulthood, there are enough little hiding spaces in the tank.


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## MMAsac (Aug 5, 2011)

very beautiful VT, great find on a handsome little guy


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## SharonM (Sep 12, 2011)

Grrr, he has now torn another fin. He must be catching them on the plant that is in there, I think I'll take out the plant and maybe just add some more moss.


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## Betta Monkey (Sep 13, 2011)

Grats, that's one very well-cared for betta  I think he should be fine with the plant out now. Even if he's a veiltail, he looks like a double (or even triple??) Vtail to me


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## SnowySurface (Apr 25, 2011)

Welcome to the forum. 

Was he in a very small QT tank before he was put in the 17 gallon tank? If so, then he will lose fins until he build up tail strength. The less he has to wiggle to travel around the tank, then less stress he will put on his fins. In time, he will be strong enough to travel without swimming his tail off, literally. 

Do you have a strong filter? Since the tank is 17 gallons, I assume your filter is for 10-20 gallons. It would not surprise me in the least if your betta found the 1 gallon volume of water your filter disturbs the most and likes to play near it. Strong water currents can cause fin damage and stress. Since your betta doesn't look stressed, he probably explores the area with the strongest current out of curiousity and damages his fin tips repeatedly. Trust me, even if you filter doesn't disturb the water as a whole, you still can't trust it not to damage fins. X3 

I'm glad you were able to save him from a fish store owner who thinks bettas can survive in animal footprints. I hope my ideas help.


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## SharonM (Sep 12, 2011)

I feel a little better now. He had been living in about 250ml of water for at least a month, and what ever size they had him in at the breeders before that... When I bought him he went straight into his tank... The tank is 17L... Which according to google, is just under 5gal. It just has a little corner bubble filter. I had one sitting around from when I originally bought the tank 2nd and hand figured it would create much less current than the filter I originally bought for it.

I think it is all the zipping in and out of the plants what is doing the damage. He loves to swim all over his tank. He totally freaked out when I put him back in his cup to do a water change, I've never seen a fish freak so much in my life. Hopefully his tail will grow back stronger and will stop breaking. 

Now I just need to I need to find something to put in there for him to play in and around and give him some cover until the moss gets bigger. 

Thanks guys.


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