Introducing new fish to your aquarium
It is important to acclimatise your fish correctly, so not to cause stress on the fish that can lead health problems and/or fish loss. Acclimation is the process of introducing fish into a new environment with minimal disturbance or sudden change from their existing environment.
When you purchase your fish from us we will put them in to a bag, some fish we may double bag because of the spines on certain fish, they can pierce the bag. We will then place the fish into a carrier bag; we strongly advise that you keep the fish in the bag until you get home this is to block out excess light and visible movement so that the fish remain calm whilst they are being transported. If you are travelling quite far we can put the fish into a box also to minimise heat loss or gain.
Always take your fish straight home, when you get home follow these steps to acclimatise your new fish.
1) Turn off your aquarium lights, bright light may disturb the new fish.
2) Take the fish out of the carrier bag/box and float the clear bag containing the new fish in your aquarium. If they have travelled for more than 20 minutes then open the bag to allow air in. fold the sides of the bag down to create a ‘floating rim’, keeping the bag upright.
3) After about 15-20 minutes the temperature of the water in the bag should have equalised to that of the aquarium water, if the bag hasn’t already been opened, fold the sides of the bag down to create a ‘floating rim’, keeping the bag upright
4) Add a cup full of your aquarium water into the bag approximately every 10 minutes for half an hour
5) You can then either; net the fish out of the bag and dispose of the water or gently tilt the bag and let the fish swim out. DO NO POUR THE FISH OUT
6) Leave the aquarium lights off for at least another hour