The Pearlscale Betta

When we say Pearlscale, the round golf ball-like Goldfish with protruding scales comes into mind. You ask people to think some more, people then think of Angelfish, or Scalare. But, I now want bettas to come into mind when we say Pearlscale.

What is pearlscale? It is the characteristic protruding of the scales. the scales are not necessarily round as the Goldfish version. The betta pearlscale is more similar to the Scalare version. The scales appear to be more like diamonds (so maybe it should be Diamondscale). However, the Scalare pearlscale has a rather random pattern. The betta pearlscale is diamond-shaped and is arranged in parallel rows of scales. But, one problem of the line is the appearance of "wrinkles". Wrinkles are defects that makes the scales look like they were twisted. This has been almost eliminated by choosing my breeders without the wrinkling. The pearlscale pattern is not yet as prominent as I would like them to be and I will be breeding for more pearlscale expression.

I have been working on the line for a year now. I got my initial broodstock from a fellow breeder who had these fish popping out of his grow-outs. He didn't really care about them much but I talked to him about developing the line together. He agreed and stopped ignoring those fish. However, his pearlscale line has crashed and is still to be revived. Here are some pictures of the pearlscales I have bred.

It's entertaining to see the artistic shine of the scales. You see random bright spots as different protruding scales reflect the light. Movement can be quite rhythmic as different scales reflect light at different angles.

The genetics of the pearlscale is not really drawn out clearly yet but here are some of my observations:
1. Pearlscale x Pearlscale = 100% Pearlscale, little to no variation in the degree of pearling
2. Pearlscale x Normal = most will be Pearlscale but there are a handful of normal scales

My future plans for the pearlscale is maybe producing it in more colors. So far, I am producing them in Copper, Platinum Red and Marble. Maybe, I will combine it with the CTPK finnage (once I got that fixed) and I don't know if people who will get pearlscales from me will combine it with HM (Halfmoon, long-fin). I will also experiment with crossing these lines to Dragon bettas. Dragon bettas have really thick metallic scales and I want to see how it will affect the Pearlscale expression. I hope those thick metallic scales make the pearlscale protrude more.

UPDATE (10/25/2013)
This is the last remaining breeder I have for the pearlscale. But, I still have one more spawn: a cross between a broad dorsal copper and a platinum red pearlscale DTPK. I hope that I can revive the line with this male and those fry.