a few green terror questions for ya

[Dormy]

Attached is a picture of my green terror. I've had her for 4 years, she lives in a divided 55g tank now and lost her tail fin to my red devil in a fight 3.5 years ago. She used to lay eggs routinely until about a year ago when she stopped attempting to spawn for some reason (maybe she realized she had no potential mate?). On the other half of the 55 are 2 pairs of convicts.

Questions:

1. Is there any hope of my GT growing back her fin even though it's been gone for over 3 years?
2. Since she is close to 5 years old (i would assume) does that mean her breeding days are over?
3. If no for #2, is it possible to get a mate for her and will she accept him?
4. If yes for #3, how? Can you differentiate at a young age?
5. If she were to get a mate would they need more space than half of a 55?
6. Why did the tail not grow back in the first place?

thanks for answering seemingly pointless questions

 

[Hot Slime]

Nope tail won't grow back, if you do find a mate for her to breed with your going to need more than half of the 55. As for breeding I wouldn't, you don't know how rough her mate will be. Her being handicapped might not be able to defend herself if things go bad.

 

[tanharold]

+1 finding a mate is difficult. Dont lose hope dude.

 

[Dormy]

bump^

 

[JML1997]

I agree, just leave things how they are..

 

[yuval]

Questions:

1. Is there any hope of my GT growing back her fin even though it's been gone for over 3 years? Impossible after 3 years
2. Since she is close to 5 years old (i would assume) does that mean her breeding days are over? I think she can breed physically
3. If no for #2, is it possible to get a mate for her and will she accept him? I do not think it's a good idea, he could hurt her when she like that
4. If yes for #3, how? Can you differentiate at a young age?
5. If she were to get a mate would they need more space than half of a 55?
6. Why did the tail not grow back in the first place? because the tail stem damaged

Hope I helped

 

[Jmart159]

1) No 2)No necessarily. She may still be able to breed if the conditions are right. 3) Yes, it is possible. If you are set on breeding her, I would aim small on the male to give her the best shot. Unfortunately, with her disability once the male is equal in size, there is a good chance that he may be too rough and kill her. 4) Venting is the best way to tell what sex they are. 5) Yes, I wouldn't try breeding them in anything less than a 75 gallon tank. I've tried before and things went well at first. However, on two separate occasions even though things were going well, overnight my male flipped and killed the female. Oh that note, my male was around 8 inches at the time but I still believe that a larger tank is in order. 6) I would say that the tail didn't grow back because, it was eaten past the point of regeneration. I like to think of fins like fingernails. You can clip your nail and it will grow back but if you take the tip of your finger off then, you are out of luck. I hope this helped. Good luck with your fish. Minus the no tail thing, she looks pretty healthy and nice.

 

[Psylant]

Jmart is correct in his analogy with the finger, for the tail. To be more specific.... If the very base of the tail/nail is damaged (doesn't need to be cut off, any damage might do this) then the tail might get a deformity. Since your fish completely lost it's tail, it's damaged beyond any repair.