Clipping beaks? How far do you go?

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

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We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Shrouded
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Clipping beaks? How far do you go?

Post by Shrouded »

For those owners who have performed dentistry, do you clip the entire pointed tip, making the whole upper and lower beaks flat?

And when it is clipped entirely, does the beak grow out pointed or flat?

I have never done dentistry before so I have no idea what to expect. Does it really benefit the puffer when it is clipped completely flat?, I mean it is pointed for a reason right? Why mess with that?

I understand some grow so long that they can't open their mouth to eat that is why it is needed, but imagine if someone files your canines flat, wouldn't that throw off the whole mechanism of how you eat your food with your teeth?

So is it better to clip the entire pointed area flat or better to leave a little bit of it? Or it doesn't matter at all? I would think it would,but I might just be over thinking this haha :lol:
Last edited by Shrouded on Wed Nov 21, 2012 11:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Clipping beaks? How far do you go?

Post by defool89 »

If you dont have the problem where he cant eat yet just feed him crustaceans and it will work itself out and you will never have to know how to do it. I havent done it and dont want to know how to do it. Good question, i dont have the answer but preventative maintanance is better than corrective maintanance.
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Shrouded
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Re: Clipping beaks? How far do you go?

Post by Shrouded »

Well my Avocado puffer don't have overgrown teeth, its lips could be completely closed when it's not trying to chase me and beg me for food.

But despite not having an overgrown teeth, he still has that sharp pointed beak, I feel like he won't eat the same way once I clip it flat y'know.
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Re: Clipping beaks? How far do you go?

Post by Pufferpunk »

library/hospital/dentistry/
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: Clipping beaks? How far do you go?

Post by Shrouded »

Right....thanks for the link, I've read it a few times, but it still doesn't answer some of my questions.

"Peel back the net to expose the puffer’s head and teeth. Clip straight across and as short as feasible"~~~~~this is the only quote I found that is related to my questions, but......

Let me rephrase my questions:

Aren't puffers beak pointed on purpose?
Wouldn't messing how it's shaped mess up how they would naturally eat or crunch their food?
Will it grow flat once it has been cut "as short as feasible" or will it grow pointed again?

But I guess it doesn't matter as long as they get to swallow their food. I'm just curious :?
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Re: Clipping beaks? How far do you go?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Tjhey will develop their normal shape after using them again. I posted before/after pics.
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Re: Clipping beaks? How far do you go?

Post by Flutter »

Aren't puffers beak pointed on purpose?
Are they pointed on purpose or is that a result of normal wear? I don't think we'll ever answer that question unless a rich curious person is willing to fund a study :)

Wouldn't messing how it's shaped mess up how they would naturally eat or crunch their food?
It doesn't seem to. I know if I'm trying to crush something I'd want a flat surface, so I'd use a hammer instead of a screwdriver. The goal of their teeth is to crush, not pierce so they may work even better with a flat surface. You have to keep in mind that evolution is far from perfect and it's quite possible that pointed isn't best. The requirements of the teeth are also very different in captivity vs the wild so we need to keep that in mind as well.

Will it grow flat once it has been cut "as short as feasible" or will it grow pointed again?
It will grow out and become pointed again. I believe that the distal edges of the teeth are narrow than the proximal area which makes sense as you'd want the strongest area to be in the centre where there is the most force applied. However, since they don't get as many crunchy foods in captivity the distal portions are worn down/break off before the proximal areas which creates a point.
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