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Fish Acclimatization
by Peter McKane of England.
From his website www.helpthefish.org
Aquarticles.com
The acclimatization of fish is an incredibly important process. Without it, fish that
you introduce to your tank, whether it is a new setup or not, will become severely
stressed and as a result may die or suffer severely reduced life expectancy. The
process itself is incredibly simple, and if more people stuck to it, then many
stress related deaths could be avoided.
Transport
Acclimatization begins where you first pick up the fish. From the moment they
leave their tank, whether it is from a private supplier, a local fish store or even
out of the box that they were delivered in, the fish must be kept as still as possible. If you are driving home with your fish, then hold the fish in its box or bag in
the air between your legs. This means that any sudden acceleration or stopping
will mean that the fish will sway and not be bumped up against the side of their
container. The container should also let in as little light as possible. Most fish
stores will wrap a bag containing fish in old newspaper, and this is an excellent
practice because dark conditions make fish suffer less from stress.
If your journey back to the new tank for the fish is long, make sure that you open
the container at least once every thirty minutes to let in fresh air. This is not
sufficient to keep a fish happily alive for more than a few hours, because the
container used to transport the fish will be far below the recommended size to
house the fish permanently. This reason alone is enough to discourage buying
fish that are delivered by post, unless they are sent via a courier to arrive
preferably within 12 hours, but no more than 24 hours.
Darkness
Dark conditions make it much less likely to stress fish to the point of weakening
their immune system and making them susceptible to illness. Make sure that
throughout the process of moving the fish into its new aquarium, the fish sees as
little light as possible. Draw the curtains in the room and turn off any aquarium
lights. Obviously you will need to be able to see what you are doing, but as long
as at least the aquarium lights are turned off, then your fish will feel a lot happier
about everything that is going on.