Acclimating fish

After getting new fish, everyone is excited and ready to put them into the aquarium to see how they look. One of the most important keys to successfully introducing fish to your tank is acclimating your fish. Acclimation is a simple process of allowing your new fish to adapt to your tank conditions.

          When you purchase your fish they will come in a small clear bag. The first thing you do to acclimate your fish is to just simply let the bag sit in your tank water for 15-20 minutes. Letting the bag float will bring the temperature of the water in the bag to the temperature of your tank water. This is very important because if your fish goes immediately into colder or warmer water than the water that it was previously in it can shock your fish, and possibly kill it!

          After letting the bag float, open the top of the bag and pour some of your tank water into the bag. This will get your new fish used to your water conditions as far as your pH level, water hardness, and other conditions that may be different in you tank than in the tank the fish previously came from! Once tank water is poured into bag, allow to sit for 5 more minutes.

          Finally, you can release the fish into the tank.  DON’T EVER allow the water from the bag to enter into your aquarium. That water is highly polluted from the stressful experience that the fish had so adding that water can do more harm than good. The way to get the fish into the tank without dumping that bag into the tank is to “fish it out” with a net, if you have one small enough. If not, simply hold a net over a bucket, dump the bag into the net, and then put the fish into the tank.

          After a fish is released into a new aquarium, it may hide and not eat. This is not strange, just give it time and it should come alive and serve its purpose in your tank! Acclimating a fish may seem unnecessary and just a waste of time, however it’s not. It reduces a lot of stress on the fish.  So take the time and make sure with every new fish you get, a proper acclimation is performed to assure the success of that fish!