Did you just buy a new fish? Here are some things you should make sure to do to help your new fish adjust to its new environment.
Congratulations on your new fish! Is it your first one? If so you will want to take these steps so even the most sensitive fish can survive the transition into your tank.
Best Beginner Fish
- Tiger Barb
- Tetra
- Betta Fish (Siamese Fighter Fish)
Before Buying Your Fish
- Fish require space to swim around, with many requiring more than others. Depending on the type of fish, you would need a suitable sized tank. Community fish do not require large tanks, however stingrays and Arowana require large tanks from 150 gallons and above.
- Have your tank prepared for the introduction of your new fish. To learn more, read our tank setup guide.
After Buying Your Fish
- Before you begin the introduction of your new fish into your tank, turn off your tank lights so the fish doesn’t freak out or anything and injure itself.
- Next, remember that your new fish has just been travelling in a bag in the outdoors. So more than likely the temperature of your tank water is different from that of the water in the bag your fish is currently in, so to even that out, just leave the entire bag with the fish inside floating in your tank for around 10 minutes or so.
- Finally, you want to account for the difference in the chemistry of your tank water to that of the bagged water that came from your local fish shop. There’s almost a guarantee that the waters are chemically different but that is of course not a bad thing at all, there will always be slight differences. However, even slight differences can sometimes kill a fish through the shock of the change because of how sensitive they can be to their environments. So to ease the fish into your tank, just open up the bag and pour in some of your tank water straight into the bag(about a quarter of the water that came in the bag is a good general rule of thumb).