How to Acclimate Your New Fish?
- Mar 31, 2021
- Anshika Mishra
- 454 0 0
There is no denying that fish keeping is one of the most satisfying and engaging hobbies; but at the same time, this hobby also demands a lot of work, patience, and time. Though buying an ideal-sized tank, all the necessary equipment, and your favorite decoration is not a tough task, but you still have to do some research before the purchases.
After setting up the aquarium and having established the nitrogen cycle, the real game begins, the one that attracted you to this very hobby, your wet pets. With all the colorful varieties of fishes out there in the hobby, you have to choose some that are ideal for your setup.
What would you do next?
Choose your favorite fish and put it directly into your new tank, right? Well, sadly this is one of the biggest mistakes that newbies tend to make. Before putting your little pets in their new home, they need to acclimate accordingly.
So, let us discuss what to keep in mind while acclimating a new fish:
Acclimating
Acclimating seems like a pretty simple thing, you are just putting a new fish in the tank, its not a big deal. Well, it can actually be pretty stressful for the fish, especially if they have spent an entire day on an airplane, in a bag, kept inside a dark box.
So, as a responsible fish-keeper, we want to make this process very simple & stress-free for the fish; but how to do that?
The first thing you should know is that there is no specific way of acclimating your fish. You can do it the way you find convenient, keep it stress-free for the fish, it is really not that big of a deal.
How to Acclimate?
Equalize the temperature
When you get your fish to your house, whether they have been shipped or you have just brought it from a pet store; the first thing you want to do is float the bag in the aquarium.
This way the fish's bag will get in equilibrium with the aquarium's temperature, because if there is a big difference between the temperature then there's a possibility of severely shocking your fish. Floating the bag lets the water in the bag balance out with the water temperature of your tank very slowly.
The safest bet is to float the bag for 20-30 minutes straight, just to be sure.
Once the temperature in the bag is the same as the temperature in the tank, it is time to get the little guy into his new home.
No need to drip acclimate!
This is a very simple process you don't need to open the bag and slowly drip the water in your aquarium to let the tank water blend with the bag water. All this does is prolongs this process and let's face it the fish want to get out of that tiny bag.
It's the time!
All you need to do is grab a bucket and fishing net. Lay the net over your bucket. If you have a big fish-net, it should be able to lay nicely over the top of your bucket. Post this you have to cut open the bag and dump the water through the net to where it will catch the fish in the net.
Doing this will ensure that no fish-stored water gets into your tank, but only the clean new pet. Now, you can slowly take your fishnet, hold the fish, turn the net over, and place the fish in the tank.
Make sure that this process is slow, naturally, you will panic and want to get the fish in the tank, in a matter of split-seconds. But just imagine all the things that could go wrong because you panicked. Relax, take your time and get the fish into the tank, in one piece.
About author