"Steve" wrote in message
newsYy3b.219882$cF.72139@rwcrnsc53...
I was in a fish store yesterday and saw a very crowded tank of Rams.
They
were good size, at least 1.5" and their colors were fantastic however
they
all had torn tails. About the last 25% of the tails were either split
or
partially missing. The owner said the would grow back. Is that true?
If
it weren't for the exceptional coloring I wouldn't have thought twice
about
buying them.

Steve

Yes, tails grow back, unless the damage goes right to the base of the fin
rays. In nature, few of these fish maintain perfect fins. Note that
there is a small chance that a split tail may stay split (more so if it
reaches the base, but still only a small chance IMO), and missing chunks
of tail might fill back in but have jagged overgrown edges or be without
a perfect colour match to the undamaged tail. Generally speaking, the
more time the tail has to grow back, and the younger the fish, the more
perfect the filled tail will be. IMHO juveniles tend to grow their tails
back the quickest and with the least discernable differences.

NetMax