When I bought my new fish today (5 neons and 5 guppies) I just asked for a selection of 5, When I got home and checked them out one of the guppies had a badly damaged tail,ripped in half. I would have felt really silly choosing them individually as the pet shop owner wasn't too helpful. Does anyone know if its tail will grow back?

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I dont think it grows back it will stay as a tear i think. Cant remeber if i had a prob like this with any of mine. You could always take it back . To be honest they still do fine even with tears maybe just not as pretty as the others.

No I dont think I will take it back, now I've got used to it I think it gives it a bit of character. Just hope it doesn't stress him out too much, he's the only one who hides behind the pump all the time so he might have been bullied in the pet shop. Oh well time will tell.

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i dont feel silly choosing. i spend about 10 mins studying the guppies before i buy them, as i have heard that once mature they dont have that long a life span.
i study them to check for tears, damage, and obv disease.

You are paying for them so you shouldn't feel silly picking.

Last time I bought fish I bought 5 guppies and individually picked each of them. Mainly because I wanted blue, orange and tiger stripe. lol

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it should get back to normal but over a lengthy period of time

Just found him in the bottom of the tank, it was a really bad tear, looks like the damage was just too bad and he didn't make it. Thanks for all the help anyway.

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Damaged tails can grow back, just slowly and not to the full prettiness as the original. I had a female betta (she passed on, was old) who somehow messed up her tail. I don't know how, could have been bullying but I'm not sure because the fish don't really bully others from what I've seen. I then moved her into a tank with other female bettas, and that was fine, no fighting.. Anyways, the tail was slowly healing when she left the tank.

I do not feel bad taking my time at a fish store to pick out the ones I want. It is my money, and I want the best quality product. More importantly, I want my new pet to be in good condition so I can keep them healthy and to have a good life. When I go to a fish store, I take a long time before picking out my new pets, and for a good reason. An unhealthy fish will affect the ones you already own and can carry diseases/infections to them. Always look at each individual fish before buying, no matter how small they are or how many you are getting.