beta water

Question
QUESTION: I have 6 betta fish.  all males.  they are spoiled rotten.  filters, heaters, friends next door...the works.  I test the water often and do partial water changes at regular intervals.  I have noticed that in a couple of the tanks  (they each have their own 5 gallon tank) there is a lot of a sort of white film.  It reminds me of wet toilet paper or dust bunnies or something.  What is it?  will it harm my boys?   I have noticed that the fish seem to hang around behind their heaters.  Is this bad?  related to the filmy stuff?   Also...how often should I do a complete water change...right now I take between 2 and 4 liters out each time.  (in case you need a conversion...1/2 to 1 gallon approx)  Thanks for your help...I love those fist...they are sooo pretty and relaxing.

ANSWER: Is the film growing on your fish, if so where on your fishes body? The white film may indicate a bacterial infection depending on where it is. Is this film growing on the heater suction caps? In my experience, I have had film growing on the heater. It is just a harmless type of fungi, I'm pretty sure. It isn't a great idea to remove all of your water because it damages the ecosystem that you have happening in your tank. This ecosystem is made up of good bacteria, you want this in your aquarium! By removing all of the water, you kill this ecosystem and as a result, you have no good balance in the aquarium. I had a male with stings of white stuff floating around. I sucked it out and did a 3/4 water change and this helped a lot. If you do find that it is growing on your fish, this means that you have some kind of a disease in there that you must treat. Otherwise, if they don't seem sick they will probably be fine.

Male Fighting fish in particular like to hide in things, lie on plants and other objects. This just might be that he likes the heat from the heater and he has found a private resting place. Don't worry about this too much. How many degrees do you have the water set to? It should be around 26 Degrees Celsius.

Do your fighting fish have an interest in fighting? If they try to fight through the glass (don't ever put multiple males together because they will fight to the death!) they are usually happy if they try to fight. Another sign that they are happy is that they make bubble nests, made from their spits. Once you have bubble nests they are usually quiet happy.

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QUESTION: hi again...I just have one more question. I was thinking of getting a female betta.  Is it mean to have a female and not allow them to mate?  If I did allow them to mate and there were babies...what would one do with so many fish that need separation?

Answer
If you decide to get a female, she will need more space than the males (your tanks are at a sufficient size already) She will need lots of hiding places if you are going to keep a male with her. The plant i use is called Limnophila aquatica and it is found in most pet shops. You need a really bushy plant with stems that can bend easily so they don't grow out of the water so they just float. She will need plants to hide in incase the male becomes aggressive and tried to attack her. Usually this won't happen because she is too quick. In some cases but rarely the female might attack the male so just watch them when they are first introduced. Tank dividers are good because they can see each other before having contact, I believe this is the best way to introduce the male and female.

If the male and female like each other they will usually breed with the right equipment. They will need floating plants (lily pads are good) just anything he can build the nest in. If you find that he is very interested in the female this is a good sign. My female was interested too when the divider was in but she was a little scared on the first date (this is normal, they just have to get used to each other)

He will make a bubble nest and show off to her a bit before he wants to breed. If the female doesn't have any eggs, she won't want to breed with him! so make sure before they have contact that she is full of eggs if you want them to breed. She will become quite fat and a white spot will appear near her anal.

Once he makes his bubble nest you must make sure you have very low filtration in there because it can easily damage the bubble nest. If everything goes well, he will chase her around a bit and curl himself around her and she will release her eggs while he fertilizes them. They will fall down and the male with pick them up in his mouth and place them in his nest. He will become very aggressive to the female soon so you must remove her after they are done. He will look after the eggs and hatchlings for about 2-3 days, once they are out of the nest you must remove him to so they don't get eaten.

It will be several months before you have to separate the males but they can like in small containers, so they are separated. The water just has to be at leased 23-34 degrees C. Basically that's all you will need to know for now but feel free to ask me any more questions.