# 13 inch RHOM lip trim Pic Added



## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

I just picked up this Rhom from Rhomofo yesterday and he bought it from Ash a few monthes, ago at one time he had HITH but it healed and has a little scaring but still anice fish. I was checking him out last night and noticed that his lower lip has grown over his teeth and he cannot close his mouth. Now my question is has anyone ever trimmed a piranhas lip before. I know people have cut lips off before but I just want to trimm it to where it is should to be. I would post pics but my batteries are dead in my camera. Just let me know what you think.


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## Us And Them (Dec 4, 2008)

Yeah its Possible ,
Your gonna have to Knock Him out first
There is a thread on this site about SEDATION , I Dont see a point in doing it , unless you feel like he
needs Medical attention ASAP.

But anyways I have never heard of anyone trimming Lips on LIVE piranaha , Only removing CHIMPLES
when they get bad enough

Other than that , I would leave it alone.


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

Unless its preventing him from eating, I'd leave it alone.


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

I've done a chimple, but not any lips. LOL...I almost lost a finger doing the chimple. It was close!

Definitely sedate him for safty's sake!


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

Need pics otherwise I would say NO don't trim anything


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

I remember seeing this fish at pet station. It looked like it had some jaw damage at one time, and if that is in the bone, trimming it will only be a temporary fix. IDK....I think I would just leave it, myself.


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## Us And Them (Dec 4, 2008)

It looks like an Old man Who lost his Dentures :rasp:
I mean You could try it but You will be putting Your fish at risk of Disease and Parasites if You expose
an open wound like that in the water.


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

From the pic I would leave him/her alone and enjoy shim







. I would love to see a whole pic


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Heres a full shot .


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

I like the scaping. What kind of plants are those?


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

THE BLACK PIRANHA said:


> Heres a full shot .
> View attachment 186274


Beautifull, love the tank leave the lips alone..


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## weerhom (Jan 12, 2007)

I had "that" fish for 10 years before i sold it to ash. The best way to do it is with toenail clippers. Be very careful.....that fish can amputate. Just clip like you are clipping a toenail. The lips on the fish are very rubbery and a pain to cut, but can be done. If you do it, do it right and just do the whole lip. You can get a station set up to do it and plan it out. Use a tank wet towel to set him on to do the surgery. He will look ridiculous for a week but if it doesn't heal all the way back up, you will have the sweetest looking rhom around. You have an original rhom there. One of the first large ones ever brought in. Steve Yang brought that fish in the country especially for me at least 10 years ago. COOL pickup!


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

weerhom said:


> The best way to do it is with toenail clippers. Be very careful.....that fish can amputate.


Uncool. 
If you're going to do something like that, you deserve to lose a finger or two.


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## Us And Them (Dec 4, 2008)

weerhom said:


> I had "that" fish for 10 years before i sold it to ash. The best way to do it is with toenail clippers. Be very careful.....that fish can amputate. Just clip like you are clipping a toenail. The lips on the fish are very rubbery and a pain to cut, but can be done. If you do it, do it right and just do the whole lip. You can get a station set up to do it and plan it out. Use a tank wet towel to set him on to do the surgery. He will look ridiculous for a week but if it doesn't heal all the way back up, you will have the sweetest looking rhom around. You have an original rhom there. One of the first large ones ever brought in. Steve Yang brought that fish in the country especially for me at least 10 years ago. COOL pickup!


lol thats so Oldschool.

How is cutting the whole lip off the right way ? its an overgrowth.
unless YOU have already cut it in the past and it grew back .


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

weerhom said:


> The best way to do it is with toenail clippers. Be very careful.....that fish can amputate.


Uncool. 
If you're going to do something like that, you deserve to lose a finger or two.
[/quote]

I am going to sedate him and use a medical blade to remove the over growth then he will be treated with Melafix, so I dont deserve to lose a finger dick.


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## weerhom (Jan 12, 2007)

EVERY large rhom i know of in captivity has hith, EVERY....

And tango...I have a dog named RAOUL DUke.


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## jmax611 (Aug 6, 2006)

mine doesnt have hith


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## the_w8 (Jul 28, 2003)

neither does mine









Awesome pic Jmax...I really like how light big rhoms can get in sand...I love it


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## jmax611 (Aug 6, 2006)

thanks i think im switching back to gravel soon though.

so steve when are we gonna do this lip trim?


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

BP eat me I wasn't talking to you. If you choose to cut your fishes lips because the way it looks bothers you then thats your thing. But if it doesn't hinder him from eating, and I assure you it doesn't, its not necessary and will be something that you'll continually have to do.

Weehorn thats awesome man?????
Who cares? 
I'm not tracking. Am I missing something here?


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## Ba20 (Jan 29, 2003)

did the sand get dirty quick ?


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

it could be that it lost the teeth on the lower jaw. when I got my 12" diamond it's missing both upper and lower teeth on one side and the lip would wrap into its mount a little (not like yours probably because the teeth on the other side were holding the lips). a week later the teeth grow back and everything was normal again. give it couple weeks see if it changes.


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Tango374 said:


> I like the scaping. What kind of plants are those?


I cant remember what they are, bought them a couple years ago and they just keep growing and I just keep clipping. Gave a bunch to Jmax and his are growing better that mine.


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

Like I said....I don't think trimming this guys lip will stay. His jaw looked like it had a chunk taken out of it at one time, and it's just skin covering a lump of bone mass. I had a red belly that looked simular to your big guy, and that was what happened to it. The only difference was it happened to it's upper lip.


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Tango374 said:


> BP eat me I wasn't talking to you. If you choose to cut your fishes lips because the way it looks bothers you then thats your thing. But if it doesn't hinder him from eating, and I assure you it doesn't, its not necessary and will be something that you'll continually have to do.
> 
> Weehorn thats awesome man?????
> Who cares?
> I'm not tracking. Am I missing something here?


Sorry tango I thought you were talking to me, But if you seen it in person you would see why I want to do this. He can not close his mouth. I gave him a peace of tilapia a bit ago and he wont touch it unless its small enough for him to swallow whole I think he would be more comfortable in the long run if I remove the over growth. Blue how is my old diamond doing, I regret getting rid of him


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Blue Flame said:


> Like I said....I don't think trimming this guys lip will stay. His jaw looked like it had a chunk taken out of it at one time, and it's just skin covering a lump of bone mass. I had a red belly that looked simular to your big guy, and that was what happened to it. The only difference was it happened to it's upper lip.


I looked at him and his lower jaw really good and it doesnt look like his jaw is damaged. Looks like the lip just grew over the teeth and into his mouth. Im going to get the stuff to sedate him tomarrow and I will take before and after pics and post them. I hope its just an over growth he is an awsome fish very active and started eating after being in the tank for only 12 hours.


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## Us And Them (Dec 4, 2008)

THE BLACK PIRANHA said:


> Like I said....I don't think trimming this guys lip will stay. His jaw looked like it had a chunk taken out of it at one time, and it's just skin covering a lump of bone mass. I had a red belly that looked simular to your big guy, and that was what happened to it. The only difference was it happened to it's upper lip.


I looked at him and his lower jaw really good and it doesnt look like his jaw is damaged. Looks like the lip just grew over the teeth and into his mouth. Im going to get the stuff to sedate him tomarrow and I will take before and after pics and post them. I hope its just an over growth he is an awsome fish very active and started eating after being in the tank for only 12 hours.
[/quote]

Well , goodluck. Hopefully everything goes as plans for you and the Fish can eat normally again.


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

THE BLACK PIRANHA said:


> BP eat me I wasn't talking to you. If you choose to cut your fishes lips because the way it looks bothers you then thats your thing. But if it doesn't hinder him from eating, and I assure you it doesn't, its not necessary and will be something that you'll continually have to do.
> 
> Weehorn thats awesome man?????
> Who cares?
> I'm not tracking. Am I missing something here?


Sorry tango I thought you were talking to me, But if you seen it in person you would see why I want to do this. He can not close his mouth. I gave him a peace of tilapia a bit ago and he wont touch it unless its small enough for him to swallow whole I think he would be more comfortable in the long run if I remove the over growth. Blue how is my old diamond doing, I regret getting rid of him








[/quote]
Your old big guy is doing great in his 6', 125 all to himself. He's settled in, and eating like a pig. I'll take some new pics, and edit this post in like 15 mins. So check back.

Blue


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Sounds good Blue Glad to here he is doing well and once again another captive raised rhom that does not have or ever had HITH, he said he had this fish of mine for 10 years and he is only 13 inches. The diamond I sold to Blue I had bought of of another member a about 5 inches and grew him out to 11 in about 2 1/2 years or less. I think a 10 year old rhom would be more than 13 and I dont know the size it was when he got it.


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

It took a little longer than I expected to download the pics, and I have a lot of them. So I decided to start a new thread in the picture section. It's called "Blue's Blue Diamond".


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

BP, after rereading what I had posted I can see how that seemed to be directed toward you. It wasn't. 
Weehorn posted the best way to cut this fishes lips off as if he had some experience. Makes me believe thats why this rhoms lip is messed up now. Which is an assumption, but it kind of got me going because to do that for cosmetic reasons is something I don't agree with at all. 
This isn't your first rhombeus so if you feel that this is necessary to aid in this fish being able to feed itself, then by all means give it a try. 
But if it doesn't work I'm sure that you are well aware that you will probably have to majorly decrease the portion sizes of food offerings.

However it goes good luck.


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## Rhomofo (Oct 10, 2007)

He looks great in your tank! Just give it some time his true personality will come out! He was never was that aggressive when I came to the tank but when I walked away he went nuts! Everytime I walked away I would look back and he was attacking the glass splashing water all around. He can eat big foods. He was eating raw shrimp and smelts. He would swallow 5-7 inch smelts in one gulp. One time he ate 6 of them in one feeding


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## ismheg (Oct 2, 2009)

I would recommend you leave it alone, as the lip will eventually grow back even once its trimmed so there will be no point in trimming in the first place. nice tank and fish good luck


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

I just did a 50% water change on my 180 pygo tank so I will let them calm down and I will post pics of them later.


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## db04ph (Jan 27, 2009)

did u do it?


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

Rhomofo said:


> He can eat big foods. He was eating raw shrimp and smelts. He would swallow 5-7 inch smelts in one gulp. One time he ate 6 of them in one feeding


Thats good news.


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

db04ph said:


> did u do it?


 No I didnt do it, Im going to wait because his fins and a little tattered from the move and I dont want the to really go to sh*t after I do this so I will wait a week or so till I thing every thing will go well.


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## CyberGenetics (Mar 29, 2009)

hmmm.. i just saw this thread now

I'm not "for" cutting the lips off P's. I think its cruel and unnecessary. To the comment about toe nail clipping them off.... that makes me F..ing sick to know people like u exist.









Taking into perspective that this is not purely cosmetic (although it will look better then overlapping aswell) and u truly believe that doing this will help ur P's quality of life. I guess i can say that I am actually interested in seeing how this turns out









Just pls make sure he is sedated, and his water is clean as hell, to prevent infection.

keep us posted


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

weerhom said:


> EVERY large rhom i know of in captivity has hith, EVERY....
> 
> And tango...I have a dog named RAOUL DUke.


i dont understand this statement....??? you dont do your water changes, have a 
poor diet and dont take care of your fish, you will cause HITH for sure, its not
a common concern in rhoms or anyother fish


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Unless the fish has no teeth....I dont see how his lip could hinder his eating. His teeth would keep any lip overgrowth in check. You rarely see the teeth on my rhoms bottom jaw....but they are there.


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

I would abandon the idea of cutting his lips. They would grow back the same size anyway.


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

I see he's up for sale. Not a bad price either.


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Blue Flame said:


> I see he's up for sale. Not a bad price either.


Had to see if their is a market for him because my reds look like they are going to spawn and I will need all the tank space I can get, my flowerhorn is up for sale 2.


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## CyberGenetics (Mar 29, 2009)

What was ur decision on this? did u ever end up doing it or did u can the idea?


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

VinceC_69 said:


> What was ur decision on this? did u ever end up doing it or did u can the idea?


Yes it was done check my other thread I will bump it so you can see it.


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