Acclimatizing your new fish

The fish in the local fish store might have travelled hundreds of kilometers, if not thousands which causes the fish to get stressed. This stress makes the fish vulnerable to diseases. It is therefore essential that the fish are properly treated and eased in their new home. This process of acclimitazation  will help you greatly to reduce your fish fatalities.

Here is how I acclimate my new fish.  I float the fish bag in the tank for 15-20 min to let the temperature equalize with the tank water. I then add the fish with some bag water in a separate container until the container is half filled with bag water. Then I let the container sit for 5 min to let the fish settle down. Cover the container if the fish appear panicky , restless, swimming around frantically. Once the fish are calm I start adding the tank water to the container using an airline pipe, until the container is full. The airline pipe helps to fill the water without disturbing the fish. Some people add the tank water directly with a jar while some drip the water drop by drop to avoid stressing the fish. I find it a matter of choice and belief. You can choose any way that you prefer. I then let the container sit  for 10-15 mins. After 15 mins I empty half the water from the container and refill it with tank water and again let it sit for 15 min. This process allows to slowly acclimatize the fish to the tank water chemistry. I carry out this filling-emptying-refilling cycle 2-3 times, thus increasing the concentration of tank water in the container. I then net the fish out of the container and directly add them to the tank. This avoids any ammonia built up in the container water to enter the tank.

Follow this acclimatization process each time you move your fish from one tank to another. This is because even though the two tanks may be set up at the same time and with same water source, over the period of time the chemistry of the two tanks will differ.

Also, it is advisable to add your new fish in a quarantine tank before you introduce them to your main tank. This is highly recommended when your main tank has well-settled fish because we don't know if the new fish has any disease which could infect the entire population. It can cause mass fatalities. 

Look out for my next post about setting up quarantine tank!

Looking forward for your comments and suggestions.