Content

• Steps
• Warnings
• What do you need

When you are about to acclimate fish to a new aquarium for the first time in your life, be aware that there are several steps you need to take to ensure that the fish are safely transferred from the shipping container to their new home. If not handled properly, fish can get damaged or injured, so you should make the procedure as stress-free as possible.

Steps

1. 1 Before buying a new fish, be sure to properly cycle your aquarium to develop beneficial bacteria. The water in the aquarium should be completely looped to avoid surges in ammonia levels and algae blooms. The loop can take anywhere from a few days to several months, depending on the size of the tank.
2. 2 Bring a paper bag or carrying container with you to the pet store when you go shopping. Most fish are light sensitive, and moving from a building to the street or changing from one light source to another can shock the fish. When the pet store packs your fish in a clear plastic bag, place it in your container.
3. 3 Avoid leaving your fish in direct sunlight or air from a stove or air conditioner in your car on the way home. This can lead to much more dramatic changes in water temperature than the fish can handle.
4. 4 Turn off the lights in the aquarium and dim the lights in the room where he is standing. Do this before removing the bag of fish from the container, as fish are sensitive to light and can be injured by sudden changes in lighting.
5. 5 Turn off the aeration in the aquarium so that the oxygen level in the aquarium does not differ much from the oxygen level in the bag. During acclimatization, strive to ensure that the fish are not stressful.
6. 6 Open the container or paper bag and carefully remove the clear bag of fish. Don't open it yet. Do not push the bag or container as you can injure or stress the fish.
7. 7 Feel the outside of the bag to determine the temperature of the water in it. This is necessary to compare its temperature with the temperature of the water in the aquarium. Do not open the bag right away, if you do, then release all the oxygen she has.
8. 8 Place the sealed bag of fish in your looped aquarium. Allow the bag to float on the surface of the water, acclimating the fish to its temperature. The procedure should take 30 minutes.
9. 9 Open the bag of fish and pour some water from the aquarium into it. Wait 1-2 minutes and add more water.Keep repeating until the bag is mostly filled with water from your tank. Then leave the fish in it again for 15-20 minutes.
10. 10 Open the bag, catch the fish with a net and carefully release it into the aquarium. Do not pour the water from the bag into the aquarium, as it may contain unwanted parasites and sources of disease.

Warnings

• If you are going to add a new fish to a fish tank, keep it separately in quarantine for a couple of weeks before adding it to the general tank.

What do you need

• Paper bag or container
• Fish in a plastic bag
• Aquarium
• Fresh water