Caudal fin shorter than dorsal and anal

[JAZZano]

Hi everyone!

I have a beautiful blue crown tail who I've ha for about 5 months now. He was living in a 2.5 gallon unfiltered unheated tank for the first month, now he lives in a 6.6g fluval chi, filtered and heated. I also have 5 small tank mates with him and 3 ghost shrimp.
For about two months now (this started before I added the other fish, but the shrimp were there) I have been worried about his caudal fin. I noticed that it was visibly shorter than his anal and dorsal fins, but there does not appear to w any signs of fin rot. To be safe I dosed with Betta Fix for a week and saw no change.
He is very happy and always builds me beautiful bubble nests, so it's really only a cosmetic concern right now. Could his anal and dorsal fins just be growing faster than his caudal and that's why the difference?

I couldn't get a good pic of him, but imagine on this picture the caudal fin stops shortly after the dark blue ends

[lelei]

What other fishy's do you have in the tank?

[sainthogan]

Is is possible that your fish is tail biting? I only ask that because many bettas do that. I'm ruling out the other tank mates because you said you only recently moved them in and this has been going on a while.

[JAZZano]

Thank you for your quick replies!

I have also ruled out the other tank mates since it happened before, but I have a black neon terra, a cardinal tetra, a glowlight tetra, a cherry barb, and a zebra danio (yes I know this combo seems odd and breaks a lot of basic fish rules but I added them slowly and made sure to observe how they all get along).

I have considered tail biting too, but I find tail biting is usually more localized to one part of the fin, whereas my boy's entire fin is short. Also, I watch him on a regular basis and have never seen him biting.

[OrangeAugust]

I'd never seen Fishie biting his tail, but I know he was doing it.
But you're right- with him it wasn't his whole tail; the very bottom of his tail wasn't bitten at all.

[JAZZano]

Yes, bettas frequently bite their tails in transport between the wholesaler and fish store. It's so sad to see them when they arrive (I work at a PetSmart), I always give them a couple days of dilute melafix and then lots of exercise in a tank which usually cheers them up and helps with the damage.

[homegrown terror]

it should be mentioned that neither bettafix or melafix is something you should be giving to bettas...it can cause damage to their labyrinth organs (basically imagine making your betta smoke a carton of cigarettes) to treat fin fin damage you should give them a ten-day maximum cycle of aquarium salt, clean warm water, and an environment free of stress (if you're in a pet store environment, remove them from the shelf and keep them someplace far away from other bettas who might cause them to constantly be "on guard")

[JAZZano]

Yes we definitely isolate the bettas at work and keep them a bit warmer than usual. What in bettafix damages their labyrinth? Also why is the AQ salt only recommended to go in for 10 days? I read that somewhere else recently and ie never heard it before.

[JAZZano]

Yes we definitely isolate the bettas at work and keep them a bit warmer than usual. What in bettafix damages their labyrinth? Also why is the AQ salt only recommended to go in for 10 days? I read that somewhere else recently and ie never heard it before.

PS- I love your bettas names! Tardis has got to be my fave, fellow whovian here.

[homegrown terror]

Originally Posted by JAZZano

Yes we definitely isolate the bettas at work and keep them a bit warmer than usual. What in bettafix damages their labyrinth? Also why is the AQ salt only recommended to go in for 10 days? I read that somewhere else recently and ie never heard it before.

any longer with AQ salt can burn their gills and other mucous membranes. i think it's the tea tree extract in the products ending in -fix that damages their labbies.