New betta with no scales on face/head???

I recently bought a beautiful black/dull blue halfmoon betta from petsmart a few days ago and notices that his head was considerably darker and smother looking than the rest of his body. After looking a bit harder, I realized he had almost no scales on his head.

He is currently in a 1.5 gal tank with a heater, soft rock river rock, half a moss ball, and some gravel. I have already done a water change since I bought him and had put API tap water conditioner in, and I feed him betta pellets.

He is very active and seems to be in good health other than his scaleless face. He hasnt lost any scales since I bought him, and just want to know if I bought a sick fish, and if there's any way to promote scale regrowth.




I'm only 15 so don't have much of an income, but I am saving up for at least a 2.5 gallon tank to put him in if truly necessary.

 

What a beauty! I'm fairly new to bettas myself but he looks perfectly normal to me. All of mine have heads that appear to be scaleless. I think there is a form that has scales but that's actually the unusual one!

I recommend keeping an eye on secondhand sites for inexpensive/free fish supplies

 

I'm glad to know its common! I was just getting worrisome because I wasn't sure if it was a precursor to another disease or a sign of parasites, or simply just mistreatment from being at Petsmart.

Ive heard that salt helps giills and such but could it be used to help him recover his scales, or at least help protect the spots where he is missing them?

 

Nope, they're not missing! He never had them, and never will. It's just his genetics

I found this short explanation of it:

 

Ok thank you very much! It makes me happy to know I don't have an ill betta

 

Yea my betta is colored pink and purple but head is yellow

 

I'm only 15 so don't have much of an income, but I am saving up for at least a 2.5 gallon tank to put him in if truly necessary.

Good to see a young aquarist You are right in thinking that a 2.5 gallon is truly necessary however. Betta's shouldn't be kept in anything under a 2.5, despite the Anabantoid Association deciding it should be 5 litres (or just over 1 gallon). Unless you plan on doing daily water changes, you also need a filter and a cycled tank. I would suggest you do get him into at least a 2.5 if you have the opportunity - are you in the US? Petco do a Dollar-a-Gallon sale = you could even get a 5gal for $5 if you so desired.

Sorry for the off-topicness of that - to answer your original question, your Betta is fine, and looks very healthy Some Betta's have scales on their head, some don't.

 

I live in canada and only have a local petsmart. 2.5 gal tanks with a canopy are about $17, and a 5.5 gallon is about $30. My current job is only a part time, and since I'm in school I don't get many hours, and most of my paycheck goes towards college.
Would he be ok living in his current tank until I can afford a larger one? (up to a months time)

 

I live in canada and only have a local petsmart. 2.5 gal tanks with a canopy are about $17, and a 5.5 gallon is about $30. My current job is only a part time, and since I'm in school I don't get many hours, and most of my paycheck goes towards college.
Would he be ok living in his current tank until I can afford a larger one? (up to a months time)

As long as you have a heater in there then he is fine until you save up

 

I'm in Canada too and I know the difficulty with finding decent betta accommodations. For some reason the best tanks I've seen aren't sold for very long before they're replaced with something else. I just keep my eyes on the local classifieds and whenever a nice tank comes up I grab it just in case. Because I never know when I'm going to come home with another unexpected betta

I know it gets bad reviews but most of my tanks have the Tetra 50W submersible heater and it works well for me. They all seem to maintain a constant 78*F and it's less than $15 at Walmart.

I don't know what city you're in but check UsedEverywhere.com and they might have your city listed or one close by. There's craigslist and kijijI too. I can also recommend finding a joining a freecycle or free recycling group near to you. It happens so often that someone buys the smallest aquarium they can get, throw too many of the wrong kind of fish in it, they all die and the person gives up on the hobby. The tank sits around collecting dust and next thing you know it's on the side of the road in a free pile. Ask around, someone's bound to have one

Also check for aquarium plants if you want a planted tank. There's someone here who sells his trimmings for $5 a bag. I got all kinds of cool stuff that isn't sold in the LPS!

 

As long as you have a heater in there then he is fine until you save up

Correct - so long as daily water changes are performed. Ammonia builds up very quickly in tanks as small as this.

 

Correct - so long as daily water changes are performed. Ammonia builds up very quickly in tanks as small as this.

Yes that too

 

HI Yuuto your betta is gorgeous! I'm in Canada too, I wish you lived near me as I have a 3 gallon in my basement that you could have! Have you tried Walmart for a tank? They are sometimes much cheaper than the pet stores

 

I currently have th 7.5watt Grreat Choice minI heater. Ive only been to petsmart to look but ill give walmart a shot!
I do 50% water changes every 2 days and leave a filter in the tank to filter some of the water before I put my betta back in.
Ive also been keeping an eye out on kijijI but haven't found the right one yet.
Thank you everyone for your responses and helpfulness!

 

If you were going to be keeping him in a smaller setup for a longer period of time, i'd suggest going to a hardware store and picking up some clear plastic storage - great cheap QT/temporary home! I ran a small one when a Fluval I had went leaky, and I use a 10gal one for my QT



Keep up the waterchanges and you will be ok for the time being.

 

yuuto - to me, it looks like he has scales on his head but they just don't have the iridescence of the rest of the scales?

 

I have a plastic storage container for my quarantine tank. It holds 4 gallons. It was cheaper than something of the same size I could buy at Petsmart or Petco. I just stick a small filter on the side as well as a heater and hiding places and I'm good to go.

 

I live in canada and only have a local petsmart. 2.5 gal tanks with a canopy are about $17, and a 5.5 gallon is about $30. My current job is only a part time, and since I'm in school I don't get many hours, and most of my paycheck goes towards college.

Hi! I'm in college too and have a betta. You don't need a tank with a hood/light, unless you want to have real aquarium plants (which are their own set of expenses/work). I have a 15 litre (3.8 gallon) glass tank with a clear plastic lid, an internal power filter, and a heater. I only have artificial silk plants. The tank and filter cost $25 Australian dollars at a department store, and the filter was $18. You do need a lid of some sort because bettas can jump, but if your tank doesn't come with one I believe you can make them fairly easily and cheaply from some sort of mesh.

 

You can also buy the glass tops. They are so much cheaper than buying a hood. I like them much better too. Easier to handle and clean, and they also let more light in. I'll never go back to other types of hoods again.