Quarantine and acclimation guide

We recommend that you always quarantine new fish if it is at all possible. Fish can become stressed during the shipping process and are susceptible to pathogens in tanks that your fish are immune to. Established fish may also pick on your new arrivals, making it difficult for them to recover from shipping. We also recommend waiting 24 hours after shipping to feed or at least offering food very sparingly.

Quarantine means that your new fish should be housed completely separately from your other fish. You can quickly cycle a quarantine tank by seeding a running sponge filter in your main tank prior to receiving your new fish. Quarantining your fish also extends to your equipment. Water changes hoses, nets etc should be sterilized before using them between tanks. We recommend a minimum of a 2 week quarantine to give your new arrivals to recover from shipping before adding them into your display tank.

New fish do best being trickle acclimated we have found. We recommend acclimating your fish with a slow trickle. You will need an airline hose, something to weigh the hose down in the tank, a valve to regulate flow or tying a knot in the line, a bucket and an ammonia neutralizer. Although we fast our fish prior to shipping, ammonia will still build up in the bag during the shipping process. Detoxifying the ammonia will make the acclimating process much less stressful for the fish. When their water has at least tripled, you can net your fish into their new tank. You never want to dump shipping water into your tank. The shipping water has ammonia and methylene blue in it. methylene blue can crash a cycle.

Please clear your day for the date of delivery. We ship Monday through Wednesday, so please specify which day you prefer your fish shipped on for a next day arrival. Arrival times can vary quite a bit and you want to ensure you are present for the fish's arrival and can take your time to acclimate them properly. You will be sent a tracking number when your fish are shipped, it is up to you to check on it regularly so you can start the acclimation process immediately.

If you notice a fish has arrived dead or had shipped poorly, notify us immediately. Please refer to our DOA policy.