Malaysia Happy Traveller: Cute Fish Spa at the Central Market

Sitting cross-legged for twenty minutes or more can cause numbness with needling sensations that makes you feel as if red ants are running all over your legs.

However, it wasn’t the needling sensations that I experienced when I visited the Cute Fish Spa at Kuala Lumpur’s Central Market. Several people were already sitting around two pools, dipping their legs in the water for what some might call fish reflexology or therapy: tiny spa fish, probably 5-7 cm long, nibbling at your legs, supposedly removing your dead skin cells.

I paid RM5.00 for a ten-minute treatment. First, I tried the pool where the fishes were tinier (When they become bigger, they are moved to the bigger pool). As my feet suffer from some numbness, I was not as sensitive as some other visitors who were tickled pink.

After close to 9 minutes, as if to warn me my time was up, I felt something like a teeny electric shock on my left foot. I stepped out of the pool to have a last minute encounter with the bigger fishes. The nibbling was harder and I was a tad anxious they might ‘bite’ off a little more than they could chew.

The operator would not tell me the name of the fish used at the spa except that they were spa fish from Taiwan. A handout claims the fishes are toothless, they help to remove only dead skin cells, micro-massage (nibble), and improve blood circulation.

As the fishes are toothless, like the famed Garra Rufa species from Turkey, they should be safe. A check on the Internet confirms that these are not the Chin Chin fish from China, which are often marketed as Doctor Fish, the moniker originally reserved for the more expensive Garra Rufa. Unlike the Chin Chin, which eat one another, the Garra Rufa are toothless and can only grow up to 6 cm long. The Garra Rufa have also been scientifically proven to have the ability to rejuvenate the body and there have been cases of people who have been cured of their dermatological disorders such as Psoriasis.