# Guppy was attacked!



## luananeko (Aug 27, 2010)

Background:
I've got a 29 gallon tank (fully cycled) that I'm gradually stocking up. Before last week, I had worked my way up to:

3 african dwarf frogs
1 calico bristlenose pleco
2 otos
4 male guppies
1 female betta

One of the guppies was pretty runty sized compared to the others, had a relatively small tail, and seemed to take the longest to adjust once I got the guppies home, acclimated, and added to the tank. He sorta hid behind the heater for the most part, and stuck close to the surface for a few days while the rest of the guppies quickly began exploring. Finally he started venturing out and joining the other guppies, but I noticed last Thursday he suddenly was missing about the top 1/4th of his tail. I wasn't sure who the culprit was, as the other guppies all tended to chase him a little. Then the following morning, I walked in and saw the female betta (who normally completely ignores everyone in the tank and does the "betta dance" at the front of the tank whenever I come by) was latched onto the poor guy's tail actively chomping away. I shooed her off immediately, and stuck her in a floating isolation container while I got my old 6 gallon hospital tank ready to move injured guppy into for recovery.

Current situation:
The injured guppy has been in the hospital tank for close to a week now and I've been dosing him with melafix to help his fins regrow. Final tally was only a spike of his tail and some sparse shreds were left, but he's swimming fine and is active. I know the fins will grow back, but I've got a few concerns I hope folks can help me with...
1) I noticed both his "gill covers" (pardon my lack of proper terminology) are bent outwards, like someone bit at them and hung on for a bit. Will that heal on its own with time, melafix, and isolation, is there something else I need to do, or will it always be that way and is just benign although funny looking? He doesnt appear to be gasping at all, so I dont think its affecting his breathing.
2) Around how long should I keep him in isolation? I'm guessing till his fin regrows and till he gets closer to the other guppies' sizes so he's not so much a target? Around how long do you think that would be? Weeks? Months?
3) Should I worry about my other guppies with my betta girl? None of them have shown any signs of getting chomped on and they're all much closer to her size, so I'm hoping this was just a "Hmm you look weak, small, and tasty" issue rather than a problem where the betta girl can't handle tankmates. She never seems to pay attention to any of them.

Thanks for your help!


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## intensejustin (Sep 8, 2010)

I had the same problem, everywhere I read online, they say its ok for betta male or female to be in a livebearer tank, but my experience shows anything that has/is flashy with large tail or dorsal or both fins will eventually become victim to the betta. 

I also noticed male guppies with other male guppies will join up and "attack" or harass the "prettiest" guppy, for me, my prettiest wasnt the one I thought was the prettiest it, he was just the one with the huge fancy flashy blue tail and he didnt have a choice, its not like he was showing it as dominance or anything, he was born with it... 

My advise, betta, buh-bye. Trade it in for another fish. When he gets better, turn the lights out on the tank he is going to go into, re arrange plants and decorations, put him in about half hour later so he is going from hospital tank with light on into community tank with no light and rearranged decorations. In the morning, all the other males should be confused with the rearrange and be too busy exploring to notice he is back. Ive read that adding a fish to a no-light tank is bad and causes stress, but with all the guppy breeding and everything I have done with them... for me it is the only thing that works. Also I would kinda take it easy with the melafix as soon as you notice fins are regrowing and use "Start Right" instead, my exp is that the fish becomes eventually stressed with the medicine and just dies... Start Right is just a conditioner with Aloe, witch is controversal itself, although I say it does wonders in helping wounds heal that are NOT infected, if its infected obviously you need an antibiotic.


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## intensejustin (Sep 8, 2010)

Also I, I dont know much about frogs, I do know when guppies sleep... they fall to the bottom and lie there until the light comes on. So Id be curious to see if a frog was nipping at him??


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## marcelomelloramos (Oct 10, 2010)

Hi, I a brazilian creator guppy


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