Best Way to Acclimate Fish to Tank

[Rascal]

A few random thoughts to add to the mix:

 

I agree that sometimes, for some fish, QT and/or dipping may do more harm that good. Stress is really the biggest killer. I think it depends on the fish and where you get it.

 

Selection is 1/2 the battle. Most important: a fish that is eating, or at least trying to. For herbivores (Tangs, Blennies), and live-rock grazers (angels, wrasses), look for fish that are actively swimming around trying to pick whatever food they can off of the the decorations and walls in the dealer's tank. For other fish (like your clowns for example) ask the dealer to drop a flake or two into the tank to see how they react. Also look for fish that are well fleshed in the area b/n the dorsal fin and eyes, and with good color.

 

When it comes to acclimating, be aware that movement from low to high is more stressful on the fish (and so should be done more slowly) than from high to low. Many dealers keep their fish systems much lower than natural sea water in order to minimize disease. That said, don't skip acclimation just because the salinity is the same -- you still have to consider PH.

 

When considering your stocking list give careful consideration to the order in which you add each fish. As a general rule, add them in increasing order of aggressiveness/territoriality (i.e.-- the most aggressive fish last). If there are two fish that are likely to have a problem with each other, it may be better to add them at the same time so that neither one claims the entire tank as its own territory before the other one has a chance to get comfortable.

 

Clowns were my first fish, too. What else are you planning on adding?

[Coral Hind]

Are clowns ok as our first move-ins?

~Heather

 

If this is a tank that has not really gone through a cycle and you are new to the hobby then I suggest starting with some cheap damsels or green chromis. After a couple of months when the tank settles in then get the clowns or what ever else you want.

[ErikS]

Well..................clowns are damsels..........so......

 

Peronally I don't use fish to cycle, LR is for that. Once the LR has cycled I put in the hardiest of the stocking list - clowns are pretty hardy (my maroon has been way too hardy, but that's another discussion)

[trble81]

We have ~ 40 lbs of live rock in the tank. About 23 lbs of it came from a fellow WAMAS member's tank. That LR is about a year old and is nice and purple. We have pics in the member gallery that we took after setting up the rock. The rock has been in the tank for a hair over 3 weeks and and I haven't seen any Ammonia and the Nitrites and Nitrates are in check (I'll see if that's still true when I test everything again in a day). The polyps that were hitching a ride to our house are still enjoying life, new ones are coming out, I see little worms hanging out on the rock and making their little white tubes and sticking out their little white feathers, and we got a few little starfish that entertain us by just hanging out.

 

We have posed the question of whether or not we would see a classic "cycle" in the tank, and generally people said with well established LR that we drove and got from someone's house, we may see mini cycles happen or none at all; but the main point was to allow it go through the process of "cycling" for 2-4 weeks anyway before adding fish.

 

We were reading about the false Percs in our reference book that we picked up the other day and we were thinking of getting those to start (because of them being hardier than the true ones and they hopefully will be easier to feed if we can find tank bred ones).

 

 

-Mike

[Coral Hind]

Well..................clowns are damsels..........so......

 

Yeah but I said "cheap" damsels. Ones that cost $5 or $6 instead of $20+. Just my recommendation to a newbie that hasn't mastered water quality yet.

Edited January 24, 2007 by prevyet

[Norboo]

I use a small Bata tank from Wal-Mart. I drilled a 1/4 hole on the lid (for drip tube) and another hole on the side so the tank doesn