Acclimation Guide

Food

  • We feed a mixture of frozen mysis and brine.
  • We feed that mix 2 times a day. In some cases, we also feed frozen bloodworms.

Step By Step Acclimation Procedure

  • After receiving the package please inspect the box and bags for damage
  • Please check all bags and make sure fish arrived alive.
  • After checking please float all unopened bags in your sump or tank for temperature acclimation. Float for 20-30 min.
  • After temp acclimation, release all fish in a bucket along with transport water. Keep inverts separate as fish water may contain ammonia reducer.
  • Check salinity of the transport water and tank water.

Salinity Acclimation (For Fish only)

We generally ship fish at sg 1.021-23, in some fragile fish we do ship at much lower salinity at 1.018. Either way, no matter what the salinity is on the incoming fish, have a bucket of saltwater ready at 1.021.

NOTE: We sometimes ship fish with medication in shipping bags to keep stress and ammonia at bay so do not mix fish with inverts and keep them separate.

When you receive the fish, temp acclimate them by floating in a sump or tank in bags for 20 min.

If the fish are delayed skip the temp acclimation and go to salinity acclimation directly.

After temp acclimation, release the fish into the bucket with sg of 1.021.

After 10 min, take 25% of the bucket water out and replace it with 1.025-26 salinity water (or whatever sg you keep your tank at).

Wait 10 min and repeat the process. Wait 10 min between each exchange and keep repeating until salinity is a match and then simply scoop and release the fish.

We do not recommend the drip method as it has a potential to hurt fish if not done properly and in quick time. When fish are bagged CO2 builds up in bags and causes the ammonia to convert to ammonium due to low pH. Ammonium is not toxic but once a bag is opened and O2 starts to interact with bag water, pH increases rapidly and so does ammonium converts back to ammonia, which is toxic. Thus please follow our acclimation method.

Salinity Acclimation (For Inverts)

We ship inverts at maximum salinity of 1.025-26 so simply float the unopened bags in a tank or sump for 20–30 mins then cut open the bags and net or spoon the inverts out and release them in the tank. NOTE: Please do not mix inverts with fish transport water as fish water contains medicines so keep the fish and inverts separate in acclimation.