Trimming Betta's Tail.

[l_l_l]

Hi!
I have seen a video where a hobbyist trimmed his arowana's tail because it grew back in a weird way, being not very beautiful in the end..
 
I was wondering if the same could be done for a betta, if so, how, and is the Betta going to hurt?
 

 

[sawickib]

I saw that video a while back a well, idk if that woud work or not, seems like the betta would have a lot of trouble and you would have to be very careful to not hurt the betta.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Why would you want to trim a betta's tail out of curiousity?

 

[CoryFever]

Just saying, if it's for beauty, it's probably animal cruelty. It would make sense to trim the tail if a section was infected though.

 

[attibones]

In the video you are referencing, the owner of the arowana was mostly concerned for the way his fish looked. I personally disagree with this practice (and with owning arowana, but whatever). There is always a chance that trimming the tail could lead to imperfections as the tail grew back, not to mention potential serious infection.

If you were going to do it, I would use clove oil in a one gallon bowl or tank with air stones in order to anesthetize the fish.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Hang on a second, are you asking is it ok to cut bad bits off a fishs tail. Are you real. Is it ok to chop your legs off if you don't like your toes...unbelievable!

 

[guppy2002]

Does your betty look bad? Why do you want to chop his fins? Sounds cruel. Will you only love him if he is pretty?

 

[stanleo]

Does it really surprise anyone that people would do this to fish? We do it to dogs and cats. We even do it to baby boys.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Something about this recently popped up in a FB betta group I'm in. I'm going to quote some responses from someone (which I hope is okay) that is a breeder so I would think she is fairly knowledgeable.
 
"I've trimmed fins for health reasons but grooming for show/sale is unethical IMO. However it's common practice in Asia."
 
"They have no feeling in their fins. They're much happier after the fin rot or overly heavy fins have been trimmed and they can swim easily or have the disease removed."
 
"There are no nerves or blood vessels in the tail except very close to the body so it is extremely different than docking a dog. It is very much like trimming hair or nails. It takes a steady and experienced hand but it is far and away the safest and fastest way to treat fin rot without subjecting the fish to drugs and stress from medication. Search videos of it done well, the fish is swimming happily 1 minute after the procedure."
 
"If there were blood vessels in the fins it would bleed when you trim which it does not."
 
There is a member of this forum that has had to do it and it saved her betta, which I hope she chimes in at some point.
I'm not saying I agree with it for aesthetics but I think it can be a good thing to do in certain cases of fin rot and such.
 
I hope this helps a little bit til someone with more experience can possibly explain, and maybe calm some people down.

 

[attibones]

I'm not entirely sure what OP's plans were, but in the video referenced, Joey actually cuts really close to the body of the fish and breaks through the bones. I'm not sure if the fins themselves have any nerves, but removing all but a stump is too extreme for me. 
 
I'm curious, I_I_I, what your plans are? Could very well simply be for discussion. 
 
I'm hoping someone with a background in fish anatomy can chime in with some comments about the nerve ending thing. If there are no nerves in the fish's tail, that may be part of the reason why bettas bite their own tails so frequently. Perhaps they can't even really tell that they are doing harm to themselves if they can't feel it? Or perhaps they feel as though they are attacking other betta fish? I wonder, though, if a lack of nerves really means a lack of sensation. I don't remember much from human anatomy and physiology, so I can't compare it to human works.

 

[sawickib]

I think in the video it shows him cutting the fins and it being really tough, but i think that was due to the fact the aros have very tuff fins, they are literally built like tanks that jump out of the water, but it could of just as easily been bone. Not saying i agree with doing it for aesthetics, but in the end its not my fish, and if it helps the fish fight infection thats very helpful. But again doing it for aesthetics is up to the owner, not really relating but when you cut a cats nails its incredibly painful, but in the end i think its necessary because they will mess up your furniture. I dont think the betta would feel much pain from cutting parts of its tail off for better growth though.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I've seen a video in the past by someone who does show bettas in the USA (no idea who it was a few years ago I saw it) and he did a DIY video on how to.  Apparently that man did it for two reasons, perfect edges on show bettas and trimming them short on males he used for breeding purposes because they were too frilly to get the job done properly...

Do bettas/fish really have no sensation on their fins?  Any time I've seen fish nip each other's fins in the past they seemed to react to each other.

 

[l_l_l]

Thank you all for your answers.
 
My question has many goals, first one is to start a good discussion on this forum with experienced fish keepers.
I also like to learn new stuff and know more about the hobby and fish, therefore, I also ask controversial questions.
I don't mind badmouthing so keep everything comming
 
To give a better idea of why I would do something like that is that I have a very very beautiful Betta that got his tail torn so much from his past community experience that I had to move him in another tank all by himself. Now that his tail grew back, it actually looks really weird, rays are split into two in some places where it was initially torn. I want to cut it back to give it a chance to grow back nice and symmetrical.
 
Some people are making all types of comparaison with cutting a betta's tail and other animals. I'm asking because I am very concerned about hurting an animal.
I am strongly against cutting cat's claws and other attrocities of the sort, but I will trim their nails as I know this doesn't hurt them.
I also trim my dog's nails and it doesn't hurt him as well.
I'd really like to know if someone done it in the past and show some evidence that it hurt or not..
 
Thank you!

 

[attibones]

I think the nail trimming bit was supposed to be more like removing the nails, which is painful for the cat.
 
I just did some research (meaning a quick Google) to see if fish actually have feeling in their tails, but I haven't seen anything from a reliable source yet.

 

[l_l_l]

I also am trying to find something reliable, and if I'm going to do this, I want to make sure I do it correctly as I don't want to hurt the fish.
I am very skilled with scalpels but still..