# Fins too big. Solution?



## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

I have one little boy, Robin, who's fins are way way too big for his body. It seems no matter how much I feed him, he's not getting any larger, but his fins keep growing. I had gotten him from MoonShadow in June and he had some serious fin problems, they had been rotted or bit down to a stump. Now his fins are healing, and he's growing, but I think he has too much fin. He's slowed down a lot and is always on either his leaf or above the heater, he has to really struggle to swim through the water.. it's so sad. His whole body wiggles more then I have ever seen a healthy fish wiggle.

I'm to a point I will take drastic measures to make his life a little easier.

So I need to know if there is a way to trim a betta's fins without hurting them.

If shorter fins will make it easier for Robin to move around, so be it. I have called my local vet, whom I take all my cats and dog to, but he doesn't deal with fish, so he was no help. Please, someone give me something? I've got the poor boy in a 1 gallon container that's very shallow to help him rest more, but I can't heat it properly, so I have that inside a 5 gallon bucket full of water and a heater (it's ugly)


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

What kind of tail, VT? or HM?


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

He would be a halfmoon, he's got a 180 spread when flaring, but I think he is a feather.. what else are they called?


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

Sounds like my SAmmy , that is why I asked, Rose tail, or HM DT's DElta tails, and I have noticed sometimes Sammy has troubles, but not enough to stop him from swimming, he does need to push harder tho, so I was wondring about that..his fins are growin very lengthy..beautiful but loooongg..


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Yeah, Robin is very pretty, but I can't stand seeing him struggle so much just to come see me in the morning. Breaks my heart.


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

Sometimes they may take it upon themselves to do the trimming..but if not..I think he'll be fine..can you post pic, or vid?


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

This is a few weeks old. As you can see he has a lot of regrowth on his tail, and that's gotten longer. As has everything else. But he has such a tiny body and it seems like no matter what I do he won't keep on any weight.


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## PaintedOaksOki (Oct 6, 2011)

He's gorgeous! From what I see, he looks fine, my HM's tail is longer, and he doesn't seem to have many issues. He doesn't have a filter added yet, he had fin rot, and his tail hasn't finished growing yet... xD


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

It's the anal fin..Sammy has the same length..and when he comes up for air, food, he really pushes thru the water, but he moves fast..


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Do you see how the regrowth on the tail overlaps it'self? It's really heavy right at the point of regrowth, you can see the base of his tail is normal. All that extra fin hanging off makes it hard for him to move. It's like he's dragging a whole set of velvet curtains behind him.


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## PaintedOaksOki (Oct 6, 2011)

Tug's like a little bullet when he wants to be, so I think your betta will be fine! ^.^
As for the notion of trimming his tail, I don't think there is a way.
Also, Halfmoons can have pretty large tails.


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## Sapphoira (Jul 16, 2012)

One of the issues with selective breeding for fabulous finnage is that sometimes, the fins are problematic. That's a large reason why low flow filters and places for them to rest and hide are so important, to compensate for the fins and lack of natural adaptation. One of my HM's has a little body and HUGE fins, and he does have more trouble getting around than some of my other guys, but he can rest on his plants and in his betta log.


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

Video of Sammy you can see him swim..

*Watch Sammy Singing..lol!!*


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## TheCheese909 (Aug 11, 2011)

I've trimmed a few fins.. My boy Eery is a HM and he's got a rather small body and large fins which caused him to swim very wonky. He got fin rot, which was actually a blessing, after battling it for over a month I just cut his tail off. It's regrown some but not fully.
I put him in a shallow dish (it was actually the lid off of a small pack of blank CDs), added some stress coat & a dab of BettaFix, put him in and once he was calm and not swimming everywhere i used my scissors and in one quick snip trimmed a chunk of his tail & anal fin off. He took off real quick and then was over it. I put him in a new little QT of clean water until I saw some regrowth and then put him back in his tank.

Sometimes it may take two or three snips to get it right. My boys don't stress very easily and if you do it quick enough it shouldn't be a problem. If he gets too upset you can always come back and get more off.

He's super happy now with a shorter tail. He's had his new short tail for 4+ months and he's much more active.

Below are photos of him with his full tail-or mostly, fin rot started-, when I trimmed it and now.

The photo of him with the trimmed tail, he had a problem with his eye- he ran into some decor in his tank (i thought it was popeye at first), i think, even though he had a very non-windy filter i think it might have thrown him into something. So ignore his eye, it's all better now.


The last picture, his tail looks a little messed up, it just grew out a bit odd, which happens. It's filled in a little more but thankfully his tail is still quite alot shorter then what it once was.


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

my rosetail, Todd, has some pretty massive finnage. all i do, is give him plenty of plants to rest in, keep him in a 2 gallon KK, no current AT ALL.... he rests in the plants when he's tired. and give him good food. what kind of food do you feed?


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

He gets hikari bio-gold pellets with some frozen bloodworms or leftover BBS every now and then. And he's got plants in his tank, I moved the tallest ones into his section, though recently I've placed him in a very shallow container and left him several things to rest on, plants, moss balls and leaf hammocks. When he does move it's very hard for him to get from one place to the other.

Need to do some research, I guess. I really do want him to be able to move around like the other boys do. He comes over to see me and tries to swim around but it's obviously very hard for him.


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

that's the sad thing about HMs. they're bred for huge fins, but often can'd handle it. if he hasn't started tail biting, the finnage might not bother him as much as it seems. Todd's one of my most active bettas, actually. ._.


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

My boy also has some big finnage, hes a double tail half moon, love his tail but he does have a tougher time swimming than others...he does have a filter on a low setting but I still see him float by often lol...he just stops to rest and you see him float on by to the other side of the tank...its almost funny..unfortunately he is getting a lot of tearing on the lower part of the tail, I caught him resting by the filter a few times which I think is leading to the tears :/ I think the big heavy tail just comes with the territory.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

Personally, I wouldn't do anything with my betta's fins. Remember they were born with their fins, as the fins grow, the betta us used to his fins. Just make sure the flow of the filter isn't too strong. IMO.


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

tpocicat said:


> Personally, I wouldn't do anything with my betta's fins. Remember they were born with their fins, as the fins grow, the betta us used to his fins. Just make sure the flow of the filter isn't too strong. IMO.


You have a point, except this boy is growing new finnage from lost fins and the new finnage is nothing like what he should have. It's literally draping behind him. *shrugs* I'll just leave him be for now.


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

that's why i dont' stop my HMs from tail biting. Twitch has DESTROYED his tails, but he's a DTHM, so his fins will naturally be HUGE. so, i just keep his water clean. ._.


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