Does my betta have torn fins??

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pattyfurg

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Sep 19, 2011
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I got her from a pet store but didn't pay attention to her fins...
She was in a fairly large bag with another betta she was in the tank with.
After the 10 hour drive home she started swimming on the side so I put her sister into the preheated 5 gallon tank and left her in a smaller tank with cut up peas on the bottom. After several attempts to get her to eat she wouldn't so I fed her a black worm. She is now swimming around perfectly fine but I recently studied her fins and I don't know what it's from :S
 

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bruinsbro1997 said:
Her fins look a little short but with time and good water quality they'll grow back.

Thankyou :)
Also would ghost shrimp be a good idea??
There are heaps of them in my local creak but I just wanted to be sure :D
 
If she was in the bag with another betta, then its likely the other betta was fin nipping during the journey. Females are just as aggressive as the male bettas, just make sure you have loads of hiding places and plants in their tank, so they can get away from each other. I had a female sorority for a few years and I loved them but they can be just as stressful to look after as the males sometimes haha

I wouldn't recommend the shrimp unless you want your girls to have a good lunch lol The Betta's are likely to eat them. I had 25 red cherry shrimp in my tank with my females and in my male tank, and they devoured them all over time. I was not happy haha
 
Welsh said:
If she was in the bag with another betta, then its likely the other betta was fin nipping during the journey. Females are just as aggressive as the male bettas, just make sure you have loads of hiding places and plants in their tank, so they can get away from each other. I had a female sorority for a few years and I loved them but they can be just as stressful to look after as the males sometimes haha

I wouldn't recommend the shrimp unless you want your girls to have a good lunch lol The Betta's are likely to eat them. I had 25 red cherry shrimp in my tank with my females and in my male tank, and they devoured them all over time. I was not happy haha

WOAH lol 25!? I was just thinking ghost shrimp coz I can catch them at the creak and they clean the left over food lol
Thanks for the advice :D
 
Yeah, I agree that her fins probably were nipped, but they do grow back. Good to hear she is swimming now. Did you plan on putting her in the 5 gallon with the other female?
 
absolutangel04 said:
Yeah, I agree that her fins probably were nipped, but they do grow back. Good to hear she is swimming now. Did you plan on putting her in the 5 gallon with the other female?

Nah I did my research and found they can't get along with just two :( I might get a bigger tank and maybe 3 more females. If not they will just stay in different tanks.
 
Nah I did my research and found they can't get along with just two :( I might get a bigger tank and maybe 3 more females. If not they will just stay in different tanks.
Great to hear you did your research! :)
Btw, that is a lovely female you have there! She looks a lot like mine. I looked for awhile before I was finally able to find a pretty female. We have a thread called Betta Showcase. You should search for it and add you pretty little girls. :flowers:
 
I tried a sorority a few different ways and I would strongly discourage anyone from trying it. IMO bettas are just more happy without the presence of another betta, whether they are male or female. Maybe in a heavily planted 55 gallon it could work..but still I think it's more stress to them than it's worth.

She definitely looks like the other betta tore her up. If the damage is only the fins, she doesn't need medicated. She does need super clean water until she heals so I would recommend daily water changes with a dechlorinater that will help replace slime coat such as Prime or Stress Coat.
 
absolutangel04 said:
Great to hear you did your research! :)
Btw, that is a lovely female you have there! She looks a lot like mine. I looked for awhile before I was finally able to find a pretty female. We have a thread called Betta Showcase. You should search for it and add you pretty little girls. :flowers:

I can't look at your photos coz mine just come up :S and thank you I was going to get this light orange girl that had flaming red fins but she was picking on the other fish so I decided not to get her :( she was a really nice fish though. And I will look up the betta showcase thing :D
 
siva said:
I tried a sorority a few different ways and I would strongly discourage anyone from trying it. IMO bettas are just more happy without the presence of another betta, whether they are male or female. Maybe in a heavily planted 55 gallon it could work..but still I think it's more stress to them than it's worth.

She definitely looks like the other betta tore her up. If the damage is only the fins, she doesn't need medicated. She does need super clean water until she heals so I would recommend daily water changes with a dechlorinater that will help replace slime coat such as Prime or Stress Coat.

Thank you I just bought a 5 gallon for my aggressive betta and some declorinater because I spilt all of mine cleaning the tank :S (not happy)
I was thinking of getting one or two guppies because I heard it conditions them faster and she wouldn't be alone :)
 
Bettas are fine alone. They do not need company. It is not advised to keep male bettas with guppies because the bright fins spark agression form the betta. I am honestly not sure if this applies to female bettas as well, but I just thought I would throw it out there.
Some bettas are just nasty to tankmates and some are excellent community dwellers. But, I wouldn't advise you to add tankmates into a 5 gallon because its not a lot of space, so the betta might become aggressive if she feels she is being cramped. Just my opinion/experience.
 
I agree that a 5 gal is too small for tankmates. I would consider it the bare minimum for a solo betta. It's barely enough space for them alone, so they shouldn't have too share. Some females are fine with shrimp, you may want to add some of those. Also a pretty nerite snail will keep the tank free of algae.

Are you familiar with the term cycling? Your new tank there will go through the nitrogen cycle which can really damage the fish if you aren't aware of what's going on. Do you have a master test kit?
 
siva said:
I agree that a 5 gal is too small for tankmates. I would consider it the bare minimum for a solo betta. It's barely enough space for them alone, so they shouldn't have too share. Some females are fine with shrimp, you may want to add some of those. Also a pretty nerite snail will keep the tank free of algae.

Are you familiar with the term cycling? Your new tank there will go through the nitrogen cycle which can really damage the fish if you aren't aware of what's going on. Do you have a master test kit?

I actually just got one before I read this XD I tested all of my fish tanks and the ammonia and pH is perfect. I added some fungus cure so her fins wouldn't get infected :D what would you recommend for torn fins and she's also missing scales from her head :S my pet store doesn't have bettafix so is there any alternatives?
 
Maybe somebody else has a different opinion, but I personally never use meds for things like torn fins. Clean water helps them heal on their own. My de-chlorinator also has an additive to enhance the slime coat, so that may help. I use meds as little as possible with my fish. Try to never use meds unless you are positive that there is an identifiable problem. So, I wouldn't use the fungus cure as preventative measure. But, maybe somebody else has more med experience than me and will offer different advice.
 
absolutangel04 said:
Maybe somebody else has a different opinion, but I personally never use meds for things like torn fins. Clean water helps them heal on their own. My de-chlorinator also has an additive to enhance the slime coat, so that may help. I use meds as little as possible with my fish. Try to never use meds unless you are positive that there is an identifiable problem. So, I wouldn't use the fungus cure as preventative measure. But, maybe somebody else has more med experience than me and will offer different advice.

I wont be able to clean my tank for 3 days will she be ok?
And should I fast my fish or give them the feeding blocks :S
Lol I'm asking so many questions but thank you for all your answers :D
 
No, never a feeding block. That will just foul the water. She'll be fine without food for 3 days. Just give her a large water change and feed her before you leave, and do the same ASAP when you return.

Your new tank is testing no ammonia but that's because it hasn't built up yet. Here read this: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
It's crucial to understand cycling in order to keep the betta in the new tank alive. If you already have an established tank, you should be able to move over some of the filter media to the new tank which may even completely eliminate a cycle. I'm assuming these tanks have hang on back filters than take carts, correct? Get a new cart for the older tank and rip the fiber part off of the old cart. Leave half of the fiber in with the new cart and add the other half to the cart in the new tank. This will help seed both of those new cart's, as long as it's a good seeded cart to begin with. Make sure you aren't changing these carts on a regular basis until they are basically falling apart. The manufacterers would like you to believe they need changed something like monthly, but this isn't so and, in fact, is detrimental to the fish. The majority of your beneficial bacteria is in that cart, so gently rinse in in tank/dechlorniated water if it looks mucky, and otherwise keep using the same one for as long as possible. When it does have to be changed, do the same thing and rip the old one, keeping part of it in there with the new one.

Melafix is the same medicine as Bettafix, just five times stronger, so you can pick that up and give 1/5 the dose if you can't find the other. I have had great success medicating injured bettas with this, but I only medicate for what I consider to be more severe injuries. Clean water is the best medicine, most of the time. How is she acting since she's been injured? Is she swimming around normally and eating normally? Do any wounds look to be getting any worse?
 
siva said:
No, never a feeding block. That will just foul the water. She'll be fine without food for 3 days. Just give her a large water change and feed her before you leave, and do the same ASAP when you return.

Your new tank is testing no ammonia but that's because it hasn't built up yet. Here read this: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
It's crucial to understand cycling in order to keep the betta in the new tank alive. If you already have an established tank, you should be able to move over some of the filter media to the new tank which may even completely eliminate a cycle. I'm assuming these tanks have hang on back filters than take carts, correct? Get a new cart for the older tank and rip the fiber part off of the old cart. Leave half of the fiber in with the new cart and add the other half to the cart in the new tank. This will help seed both of those new cart's, as long as it's a good seeded cart to begin with. Make sure you aren't changing these carts on a regular basis until they are basically falling apart. The manufacterers would like you to believe they need changed something like monthly, but this isn't so and, in fact, is detrimental to the fish. The majority of your beneficial bacteria is in that cart, so gently rinse in in tank/dechlorniated water if it looks mucky, and otherwise keep using the same one for as long as possible. When it does have to be changed, do the same thing and rip the old one, keeping part of it in there with the new one.

Melafix is the same medicine as Bettafix, just five times stronger, so you can pick that up and give 1/5 the dose if you can't find the other. I have had great success medicating injured bettas with this, but I only medicate for what I consider to be more severe injuries. Clean water is the best medicine, most of the time. How is she acting since she's been injured? Is she swimming around normally and eating normally? Do any wounds look to be getting any worse?

Sorry for the late reply but she is all better now and is swimming around fine :D and since I have a new tank I ordered a half moon female betta that I will breed :D thanks for your advice and I didn't end up going so I had time with my fishies :D
 
absolutangel04 said:
Maybe somebody else has a different opinion, but I personally never use meds for things like torn fins. Clean water helps them heal on their own. My de-chlorinator also has an additive to enhance the slime coat, so that may help. I use meds as little as possible with my fish. Try to never use meds unless you are positive that there is an identifiable problem. So, I wouldn't use the fungus cure as preventative measure. But, maybe somebody else has more med experience than me and will offer different advice.

She is much better now other then abit of the ventricle but other then that she is fine :D since I have a spare tank I ordered a half moon female but the store hasn't gotten back to me :( thankyou for all your advice
 
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