Snarkys
.Registered Member
over the last year i have added four of these to my 90 two blue , one orange and a poka dot one. one blue didn't make it but the rest are fine. each time ordered mine online and just let the temps equalize and dropped them in.
The blue one never comes out during the day , just finds a place to hide in the dark and stays there all day but the orange one roams around all the time and has become one of my favorite additions. I'm thinking about getting a purple one also : )
BTW ive had them for about 6 months
If I had to guess id say mail order is your best bet as they have had less handling. pick somewhere large that does a ton of orders so you know it hasn't sat there for ages or gone through three distributors hands to get there. one of the ones in LA would prolly be your best bet.
I'm not sure i buy the whole acclimation bit. First reason is i know the fish stores and distributors are not doing 3 hour drip acclamations on them . If they can handle changing ten different tanks/bags from the ocean to your house without that long acclimation then doing at your house is prolly of marginal value. The other reason i don't buy it is i had my auto top off break down one night and get stuck in the on position . When i found the tank it was milky white with kalk , the PH ad 9.5 and the salinity was way way down. i immediately dumped in vinegar to get the PH down to something non toxic and then did a 50% water change. The stars were totally unfazed by the whole event. IF they can handle drastic swings and toxic levels like that surely they can handle the difference between the fish stores water and my own. Anyways I really have no clue what my success is attributed to but this is my experience with them. if i had to guess it is just 90% about getting a healthy specimen that hasn't changed hands that many times from the ocean to your house.
Id like to note that some of the 3 hour drips i have seen are just stupid. they stick a bucket below the tank and drip it in. what happens is the drip is not enough to keep the water warm so the water drops to room temp in three hours and then they dump it in the tank. IMO the temp stabilization is the biggest issue of acclimation.
The blue one never comes out during the day , just finds a place to hide in the dark and stays there all day but the orange one roams around all the time and has become one of my favorite additions. I'm thinking about getting a purple one also : )
BTW ive had them for about 6 months
If I had to guess id say mail order is your best bet as they have had less handling. pick somewhere large that does a ton of orders so you know it hasn't sat there for ages or gone through three distributors hands to get there. one of the ones in LA would prolly be your best bet.
I'm not sure i buy the whole acclimation bit. First reason is i know the fish stores and distributors are not doing 3 hour drip acclamations on them . If they can handle changing ten different tanks/bags from the ocean to your house without that long acclimation then doing at your house is prolly of marginal value. The other reason i don't buy it is i had my auto top off break down one night and get stuck in the on position . When i found the tank it was milky white with kalk , the PH ad 9.5 and the salinity was way way down. i immediately dumped in vinegar to get the PH down to something non toxic and then did a 50% water change. The stars were totally unfazed by the whole event. IF they can handle drastic swings and toxic levels like that surely they can handle the difference between the fish stores water and my own. Anyways I really have no clue what my success is attributed to but this is my experience with them. if i had to guess it is just 90% about getting a healthy specimen that hasn't changed hands that many times from the ocean to your house.
Id like to note that some of the 3 hour drips i have seen are just stupid. they stick a bucket below the tank and drip it in. what happens is the drip is not enough to keep the water warm so the water drops to room temp in three hours and then they dump it in the tank. IMO the temp stabilization is the biggest issue of acclimation.
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I think your comments on minimal handling are valid. Every step of transportation, these animals would need to be acclimated. Every step where they are not acclimated means more stress. So if you can cut out a few steps, I think you may do better.
But here, the luck of the draw I think does come in to play. Some will take to some degree of spot feeding...but some won't. 
