CAN YOU CUT FISHES FINS?

[Piicklez]

I was going to post this in the cichild part because its about my oscar but I suppose its a general question really. My oscar has always had a kinked fin, one of the side ones by the gill. The bones in the fin physically kink down and cause the whole top half of his fin to not function right. He was like this when i got him. Hes about 10 inches. I was just wondering if the fin can be partly cut and if it will re-grow? Ive seen this done to an arowana on youtube and grew back fine.. hence the question about mine.

TITLE FAIL - CUT

 

[Water]

Do not cut your fish. Just because someone else does it, doesn't mean its okay. Cutting a fish's fins/gills to make them more appealing to your eyes is wrong. As long as your fish swims fine, don't worry about it. If you aren't happy with its appearance, simple, sell it and buy another Oscar. There are millions of them out in the pet trade.

 

[Piicklez]

well I wouldnt sell it anyway... so..

 

[Piicklez]

oh and i dont mean cut the whole fin off, to be more clear its probably about half an inch before the kink appears. i would just have to cut through the bones that go through the fin. I wont do it anyway. it would cause too much bother.

 

[still]

As long as he's healthy I wouldn't risk it

 

[MyGiants]

You can and I have personally done it myself. You want to make a clean cut with a razor blade. I had a cichlid once that had knots in the tail spines from being broken probably from being netted in to small a net. The fish was beautiful but had this ugly knots in the tails spines. I cut the tail just the across the spines that had the knots leaving it looking like a lyre tail. The tail healed perfect without the knots. Sometimes though if fins have a unnatural bend to it it might just be genetic and cutting it may regrow back the same way. Unless you can determine it had been damaged to cause this un-natural form.

 

[twilight zone]

You will have to cut past the kink part before it can grow back. They younger the fish the easier it will grow back. If there is a curve that you want to remove and allow to grow back, it has to be in a location that you can cut it off. If you cut and leave the curve, it will continue to grow at the direction of the curve. You can not cut too close to the skin. Only certain situation that it can be done. I use to do it on angelfishes that I bred. I did a tail trim on my friends Australian Aro with a tail split. It was a split that healed and widen. It wasn't going to ever grow back together. I cut past the split and it grew back normal. The split can not go all the way down to the skin. I use cooking scissors. Good Luck.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I seem to recall that fisheries biologists would notch fins on hatchery fish to be released into the wild. This apparently worked in terms of fish survival, though there is probably some risk of infection from the process. You will be handling the fish which can remove some of the protective slime coating on its body. Damaged/cut fins might also be subject to infection from fungus and such. Use a soft net big enough to hold the fish. Disinfect the cutting instrument. Don't touch the fish with dry hands. You might want to put a few drops of methelyne blue or some other antifungal on the cut. The methylene blue is a dye and will stain some things forever and your fingers for days, so use care. Sounds like an extreme measure for a cosmetic issue.

 

[twilight zone]

I also use a dry hand towel to put the fish in so it doesn't move around. The slime on the body of the fish just sucks right onto the towel and can't move. If your fish is healthy and your water is good, the fish will recover without problem usually. Of course the fish should not be fed for a least a day before the doing the procedure.

 

[skjl47]

I also use a dry hand towel to put the fish in so it doesn't move around. The slime on the body of the fish just sucks right onto the towel and can't move. If your fish is healthy and your water is good, the fish will recover without problem usually. Of course the fish should not be fed for a least a day before the doing the procedure.

Interesting; I have always thought that dry material/hands can remove the slime coat which is a fish's protective barrier and allow opportunistic pathogens to infect a fish. I was instructed to wet my hands before touching fish even when fishing, as I mostly release a caught fish.