It is a common experience of a new fish keeper to see most or all of his fish dying in a short period of time. Many pet fish shops also get bad name due to such events. However there are very few people who understand what the basic cause is.

Many people just bring pet fish from the shop and then dump it in the aquarium with water. This is absolutely not the method to do it. It may encourage a lot of parasites to grow in your aquarium, which are indirectly imported from the pet fish shop.

Actually the fish bought from a shop should be put in a tank for quarantine for at least a couple of weeks. If you are not equipped with extra tank to do it, you should carefully or observe the tanks of the dealer and the conditions there. If you notice any fish which is sick or dead, avoid shopping from there.

Correct method of acclimating fish

Let us assume that you bring the fish from the shop in a bag. The first thing to do is – put the bag in your tank. Then open the mouth of the bank in small turns and then leave the bag alone. This will be useful for equalizing the temperature of water in the tank and in the bag. Then you need to test the pH of the water from the pet shop. Compare it with the pH level in your tank.

If there is no much difference, you are giving an opportunity to your fish to survive in the tank. You can also drop a couple of crystals of ammo-lock in the tank so that they can absorb the excess ammonia inside.

This is important because if there is a wide difference in the pH levels of these two waters, you get some time to reduce it. If you don’t do this, the fish is likely to die soon because of the difference. This is considered to be the main reason of the death of newly bought fish in your aquarium.

So thereafter you can start the acclimating process. Take some water from your tank in a measuring cup and put it in the bag. Wait for 15 minutes and then repeat the process. You should do all this for at least 2 hours to ensure that and the difference in the pH levels of both the waters is reduced to a minimum. And this cannot be done very quickly. It has to be done in a slow manner so that the fish will not get any shock.

When the difference in the pH levels reaches to a minimum (say about .4), and then you can mix both the waters. Even if the difference is not much from the beginning, still you cannot float your fish immediately in the tank. It should be done slowly. You should give some time for the fish to adjust to the water of the tank.

If you do all this process slowly and systematically, testing both waters over a number of times, and ensuring the difference in the pH levels to the minimum, you will give a good chance to your new fish to survive in your tank.

The life of your delicate fish is in your hands and depends entirely on your patience.

Chintamani Abhyankar is a angelfish enthusiast and has been raising and breeding angelfish for many years. He is an expert on their care and an advocate for raising healthy angelfish the natural way. His famous digital book, “Secrets on Keeping Beautiful Goldfish”, offers simple, easy to follow instruction for raising healthy, long-living angelfish. Visit his website www.angelfishcaretips.com to learn more about expertly raising your angelfish and to receive your FREE copy of his special report, “Fish-Keeping Hobby Secrets Revealed”