Betta Fish: My boy being silly with his new roomies…

My boy being silly today when I added a few new blue shrimpies. He’s been with some cherries (around 40) and 3 amanos since August and shows no interest other than curiosity when they are eating or apparently when I introduce them. In the first photo, he lodged himself between the bag and the glass straight up and down and just chilled watching them. He did that twice and just keep going to each side of the bag until they were added then, back to normal life again. I guess I’m super lucky, I’ve seen and read a lot of horror stories. I added my shrimp before I added him and I know a lot of people do the opposite. I recommend letting your shrimpies establish their area first then add your betta if you are thinking of a setup like this. Tank is 9.5 gallons. Parameters all within reach (posted photo of my test). pH concerned me but was told by my LFS it’s alright where it is. Water changes 10-20% every 2-4 weeks depending on how needed it is. Cherrys, amano and these blues with my betta and 2 nerites. Temp kept at 76-78. Just wanted to share. They like to be dumb and rest in stupid ways and this took the cake for me with him. Not to mention, once he moved from being up and down, he went completely upside down and did somewhat of a flip to correct himself. Rate my setup!

Side note question…..in the 3rd photo (if you can see it), my boy seems to have a single scale (white) raised right underneath his right gill. It’s been one day so I’ve just been monitoring incase of pineconing. Any idea? He’s active, hungry constantly and happy. He doesn’t seem bloated and doesn’t seem to have any popeye issues. Thanks in advance and thanks for reading if you did. 😁