Giant Gourami Tail Operation

[Stinkiray]

First of all, please read carefully.

I have a giant gourami that's about 2 years old, around 10". It used to be housed with a Fly River Turtle. Needless to say, the gourami got beat up pretty badly. It's fine now though, although it's pretty disfigured. And FYI, the fish is very healthy and is now in a 130 gallon tank with 3 barbs and 3 other fish(not sure which species)

What I'd like to know is... IF I trim the tail, would it grow back nicely?

 

[JL]

Trimming should not be neccessary, I've had fish get tails bitten w/ perfect bite shapes and the tails grew back perfectly.

 

[Stinkiray]

Problem is... it didn't grow back nicely.

 

[Cichlas]

As long as damage wasn't down to the peduncle, or trimming isn't done to that extent, it should grow back fine. I agree with JL above though, the tail should grow back perfectly fine by itself. Unless it was deformed before hand of course.

 

[Stinkiray]

Err, okay. It's deformed. And what's a peduncle? I'm a little new to these things.

 

[Cichlas]

Err, okay. It's deformed. And what's a peduncle? I'm a little new to these things.

It is the point where the fin joins the body. The "wrist" of the tail/body for want of a better term.

 

[Tsubakai]

Put a picture up to illustrate what you are talking about. I personally would have reservations about operating on a damaged tail purely for cosmetic reasons.

 

[krichardson]

Problem is... it didn't grow back nicely.

Well how long has it been from the time the fsh was bitten to now?I've had a cichlid get his tailfin bitten off almost completely but with good water and good food it did eventually grow back.

 

[mad ness]

doesn't grow back as good as new sometimes. you could try trimming if desired after giving it enough time to regenerate on it's own. for example no change after such and such time. can't comment on how long because I've no idea. for example my mala came with a half tail fin. could tell the new growth was not to the puduncle. regrowth was crooked, different color, uneven, and never reached the length of the non damaged portion and it's been months, my guess is it's permanent. prob no gurantee it'll grow back samea s before so upside to doing itdepends on how bad it is to start.

 

[Stinkiray]

Err, thanks for the input. One by one now.

Tsubakai: sorry, my bad, thought I posted pictures already. Here:



krichardson: It's been... about a month. The fish was transferred to a tank about 2 months ago, and before that it was in quarantine pond because it got beat up real bad by a FRT.