Hahaha brilliant, trust me to get a mutant fish! I was quite drawn to his interesting look (I knew he wasn't natural) so it's my own fault! I've cared for a blind house rabbit before but a blind fish would be new to me! Fingers crossed it doesn't happen but good to know he doesn't look to have fin rot.I think it's a dragon scale Betta or its parents were (it appears to have some dragon scale genes). Dragon scale Bettas have scales that are more prominent than normal fish. It's a man made mutation. The main drawback to dragon scales is they usually get scales growing over their eyes as they get older and eventually they are blinded by this. Whether your fish develops it is unknown but it might. The scales shouldn't cause any issues to the fins. The little bumps on the fin rays are little scales.
As long as the fish is eating well and all the scales don't start to lift up and stick out sideways, I wouldn't worry about it. However, if more scales start to stick out from the body then post more pictures because that could be a problem.
Basically, you have a mutant fish with an interesting set of scales
Redoing my 6 gallon
- Thread starter Lcc86
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If he does get the dragon scale eyes, you will notice scales slowly growing over his eyes. It takes a few months and you can train the fish to take food from a certain spot in the tank. Then if he becomes blind, you can keep feeding him in the same spot.
If he does become blind, keep the aquarium decorations in exactly the same spot and he will get around ok. If you change his decor around he will have trouble moving around.
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Fin rot is caused by poor water quality (generally ammonia) that damages the tissue on the tail and fins. This makes the ends look tatty and if it gets worse, it can become infected and you get red lines and red edging to the fins. If you keep ammonia and nitrite levels at 0ppm, and do regular water changes and gravel cleans, you should never see fin rot on the fish.
If a fish does get fin rot, check the water quality for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Then do a massive water change and gravel clean each day for a week. Clean the filter too. Monitor for a few days and if it gets worse, add salt. if salt doesn't help, then you need antibiotics, but try cleaning the tank (daily water changes) first.
If he does become blind, keep the aquarium decorations in exactly the same spot and he will get around ok. If you change his decor around he will have trouble moving around.
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Fin rot is caused by poor water quality (generally ammonia) that damages the tissue on the tail and fins. This makes the ends look tatty and if it gets worse, it can become infected and you get red lines and red edging to the fins. If you keep ammonia and nitrite levels at 0ppm, and do regular water changes and gravel cleans, you should never see fin rot on the fish.
If a fish does get fin rot, check the water quality for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Then do a massive water change and gravel clean each day for a week. Clean the filter too. Monitor for a few days and if it gets worse, add salt. if salt doesn't help, then you need antibiotics, but try cleaning the tank (daily water changes) first.
Sounds somewhat similar to my rabbit tbh, it's remarkable how they can adapt to being blind with the right support. Hopefully it doesn't come to that of course!
I lost my last betta to fin rot a couple of years back unfortunately (thread on here somewhere), didn't matter what I threw at it, it kept progressing. I think that's why I was a bit paranoid, especially as he is new to me. Thank you for your advice
I had a dragonscale betta several years ago and he did grow scales over his eyes. I did exactly what Colin said about feeding and not moving the decor.
This is what happens to their eyes
This is what happens to their eyes
This is so sad, we humans really do mess animals up... my boy definitely wasn't being sold as a dragonscale, I'd never heard of them until today. I knew I was buying a man made version but didn't realise this was even a thing.
I'd never heard of this happening when I bought him. If I'd known, I would have left him in the shop
When clean water and medications don't work on fin rot it's usually a drug resistant bacteria causing the problem. People have been throwing all sorts of chemicals into aquariums for the last 50 years and the bacteria and other microscopic organisms have adapted and become partially or fully resistant to some things. This makes it harder for people to treat their fish and the fish usually die.I lost my last betta to fin rot a couple of years back unfortunately (thread on here somewhere), didn't matter what I threw at it, it kept progressing. I think that's why I was a bit paranoid, especially as he is new to me. Thank you for your advice
A lot of medications that require a prescription in most countries are freely available in some countries that mass produce aquarium fishes. And many of the people breeding fish really don't know much if anything about medicine or treatments for fish so they just chuck in whatever they can get and try things until one works. It's not a good thing to do but unfortunately it happens a lot and people who get these fish are the ones who have to try and deal with the problem if it occurs. There's not really any way to avoid it either because most fish come from the same farms.
One week on from bringing him home, here's some pics of him doing his best leaf impression. His personality is still coming out, he's a bit shy at times but when I sit at my desk next to him working he is getting more brave and interested. He doesn't appear bothered by the snails he's living with so he doesn't seem to be too murderous, but I won't be testing that theory any time soon!
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Yeah I've made that mistake before lol. I've had bettas that I thought were docile and unbothered, and when I put dwarf shrimp in with them they'd be like "ah, fresh blood at last" lmao
I found it's usually better to put all the other critters in *before* adding the betta, as that makes it easier for them to get used to their tankmates (also gives the other critters time to figure out hiding spots etc.).Haha yeah I had that with a previous betta, decided to buy him some shrimp friends as I was worried he was bored, it took about 5 seconds for him to try attacking them, I had to rescue them sharpish!Yeah I've made that mistake before lol. I've had bettas that I thought were docile and unbothered, and when I put dwarf shrimp in with them they'd be like "ah, fresh blood at last" lmao
Got some shots this morning while I was meant to be studying. The limnophilia is really taking off, it's touching the surface now and will need a trim soon. I need to post a comparison with the limnophilia in my frog tank, which I haven't been fertilising due to a bit of algae, but I broke the light yesterday so just waiting for a new light to arrive today, then I can take a picture of it.
David Copperfield (as he has been formally named) is quite a character. He's feisty but also quite timid any time my hand goes near the tank. He still has that weird stumpy bit of tail fin.
As a side note it's very distracting having my tanks next to my workspace, but also so peaceful to just gaze over at them.
David Copperfield (as he has been formally named) is quite a character. He's feisty but also quite timid any time my hand goes near the tank. He still has that weird stumpy bit of tail fin.
As a side note it's very distracting having my tanks next to my workspace, but also so peaceful to just gaze over at them.
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Let the Ambulia grow a lot more before you trim it back. You can take cuttings around 8-10 inches long and plant them in the substrate to get more plants. Make sure you don't cut off more than 1/3 of the plant because it stresses the plant. You can also lay the plant along the gravel and put some weights on it, and the plant will develop roots where the leaf nodes touch the substrate. Once that has happened, you can cut the plant between the nodes (or leave it uncut) and have a wall of plants.
Thanks Colin, haven't used this plant before but I really like it, hoping to transfer some of the cuttings to my other tank when the time comes.
Ambulia is a lovely plant when it gets going. I looks like Cabomba but is much easier to grow and much less finicky about water chemistry. When it gets good light and lots of nutrients the top inch or so of the plant can go a reddy brown in colour. If it doesn't get enough nutrients it can go light green to yellow colour. I used an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser (Sera Florena) when I was growing it.
May have accidentally overdone it with the tannins in here, oops! As an aside I'm not sure if the combination of red root floaters along with the height of the sessiliflora is taking up too much swimming room at the top? He doesn't seem too fussed and sometimes uses the leaves to rest in but not sure if it's getting a little too crowded. I guess an abundance of plants isn't the worst problem to have!
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