Proper way to adapt new fish...

[kingtoad]

Complete noob question, I know, but I'd better get off on the right foot before I do anything wrong. My new reef tank is near completion and if my water maintains the proper balance I think it will be ready for fish next week. My question is, what is the best way to put a fish in your tank to avoid as much stress on the fish as possible?

Years ago when I owned my freshwater tank, I just put the bag inside the tank until the water in the bag was the same temperature as the water in the tank, then I let him in. I am unsure how to do this.

I have heard that multiple tangs do not do well together. I want to put two tangs in my tank, if I put them in at the same time, will they be OK living together?

 

[yachtboy14]

If they tangs are of diff body shapes (say a blue tang and yellow tang) they will do fine. But if you want more then one tang of the same body shape you will want to put at least three in at the same time. As far as putting them in the tank make sure your lights are off and stay off for at least 6 hours. Then just put the bag in the water and let it float for ~15mins then throw away half the watter in the bag and fill the bag with some water from your tank until the bag is full. Let it sit for another 15mins and you should be ready to net the fish (don't let any of the bag water enter your tank) and put him in your tank. Some ppl refill the bag with tank water 5 or more times but I don't see any reason to do so.

 

[TekCat]

You need to do a bit more to acclimate fish. After matching temperature you need slowly introduce tank's water to bag. Every 10-15 minutes add very small amount of tank's water to bag with fish. When you get bag full of water discard half and keep adding tank's water. The second time you get full bag of whater - you're ready to release the fish to tank. Make sure not to dump bag's water in tank! Discard it!

Another method is drip-acclimation. where instead of adding water in small portions (using cup or something like that), using airline tubing with flow restrictors start syphon from tank down to a container where fish and some of original bag's water is. Let water drip, not flow... a few drops per second is sufficient for fish. When water in acclimating container doubles, discard half and when it doubles again - you're ready: fish in tank, and water down the drain.

 

[ipiniowa]

Kingtoad,

I would get yourself a drip kit from the LFS. I always put the fish in a seperate container and slowly drip water from the tank that I put the fish in for and hour or two. That way he doesn't get the shock of a totally different water all at once.

 

[Gobie]

It depends on what size tank you have for how many & what kinds of tangs you want to keep.

 

[yachtboy14]

It takes the fish hours to completly adjust to the change in water chemistry. So it doesn't make much sense to me to drip acclimate a fish (an invert should be acclimated in this matter because a high percentage of the creatures body is water). But it might be a good idea to drip acclimate your first few fish so you will know how to do it when it comes time to put corals in.

 

[kingtoad]

Thanks for the assistance, guys. I'll be picking up a Damsel tomorrow.

 

[kingtoad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6659836#post6659836 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yachtboy14
It takes the fish hours to completly adjust to the change in water chemistry. So it doesn't make much sense to me to drip acclimate a fish (an invert should be acclimated in this matter because a high percentage of the creatures body is water). But it might be a good idea to drip acclimate your first few fish so you will know how to do it when it comes time to put corals in.

Can you explain to me how to accimilate corals? Or give me a resource that will elaborate this method? I'd like to start purchasing soft corals.

 

[gofish]

How long has your tank been set up and running? I know you said that you'l wait until it is stable, just don't rush anything. It pays in the long run!

 

[frank2926]

Why would you NOT drip acclimate fish.....
One of the reasons for drip acclimating fish is the difference in specific gravity as well as ph and kh.

 

[yachtboy14]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6660438#post6660438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kingtoad
Can you explain to me how to accimilate corals? Or give me a resource that will elaborate this method? I'd like to start purchasing soft corals.

Here is a link to some good info:

http://netclub.athiel.com/acclight.htm

As you can see drip acclimating can take quite awhile.

 

[piranhaking]

one thing i would do differently is instead of using a knot in the air line is to spend a few bucks (literally 1 or 2 dollars tops) and get an inline shutoff/regulator. That way you have much better and simpler control over the flow.

 

[markandkristen]

as far as damsels i wouldnt be afraid to net him after 15 minutes of acclimation in the bag. those fish have 9 lives baby