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Your New Fish

Your New Fish

Support Your Local Fish Shop
How Many Fish?
What Type of Fish?
Selecting Healthy Fish
The Trip Home
Acclimating Your New Fish
Feeding Your Fish

Support Your Local Fish Shop

If at all possible and practical, I would recommend that you support your smaller, independent fish shop. In many towns across the country, the big superstore chain pet supply stores are overtaking the mom and pop type pet stores. However, if you've noticed, the large chain pet supply stores are just that -- pet supply stores. Many of them carry little, if any, live pets. And those that do limit their selection to those animals that provide a higher margin, and this means that the rare and more difficult fish species to maintain are all but absent from what few tanks may be offered. If loyal hobbyists don't shop the smaller independents, one by one these quaint little corner pet shops will be overtaken by the chain supply stores and we'll be forced to obtain our tropical fish from online sources.

What to Look for in a Reputable Fish Shop

Tanks should be well stocked but not overcrowded.
The shop should sell a full line of supplies -- live and plastic plants, fish food (dry, frozen, live), tanks, water testing kits, medicines and filtration equipment.
You should see no visible diseases on fish.
If you do see tanks with diseased fish, these tanks should have a sign posted that says fish in these tanks are not for sale.
Tank water should be clear, gravel should be free of accumulated waste and algae growth should be minimal.
There should be no dead fish lying on the aqarium floor or floating near the surface.
Ask questions to determine whether the employees at the shop know much about fish keeping:

What do you feed the fish?
What temperature do you keep your tanks?
What PH does this fish prefer?
Where does this type of fish come from?
How large does this fish get?
Does this fish get along with other fish?
What PH does this fish prefer?

Observe the employees assisting other fish-buying customers:

Does the employee ask the customer whether there's a specific fish in the tank he should try to net or whether any of them will suffice?
Does the employee appear to be practiced at netting a fish?

Is the employee able to net just one fish without getting other fish and gravel in the mix?
Does the employee gently release the netted fish into the shipping container without abrading the fish with the fish net?
Does the employee place the netted fish directly into a prepared shipping bag instead of dumping netted fish from an intermediary receptacle into the shipping bag? (Why make the fish endure a spill over Niagara Falls, I ask?)
What kind of net is used to capture the fish? (Most shops use the woven green fabric nets. I prefer to use the smooth white nets sold as "brine shrimp nets" for smaller fish as there is less chance for scale abrasion.)
Does the employee place a drop of something like Novaqua or Stress Coat into the shipping bag? (Not a requirement, but a nice touch.)

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

So when should you turn around and walk out of the fish shop without purchasing any fish? It's really up to you. Use the information above to formulate your opinion as to whether the shop can meet your needs. If a shop usually has good service and healthy fish, I don't boycott it just because there is an instance of exception. But I might not buy anything on that particular day. It all depends upon the trust you develop in a shop, the variety of fish you seek and the other options available to you. Visit all the shops in your local area to determine a relative ranking, and don't forget that sometimes the best source for healthy fish is other hobbyists!

How Many Fish?

Too many fish in an aquarium and the fish will not be comfortable. Everyone needs his space - even fish! Also, if you overpopulate your tank, you'll have a more difficult chore maintaining water quality. A good gauge is about 1 inch of fish for every gallon. In other words, if you have a 15-gallon tank, figure about 15 total inches of fish. Add them up and don't forget to factor in the fish's expected adult size! Begin slowly, however. Do not try to stock your tank all at once. Purchase only 2 - 4 fish to start. Wait a couple weeks, and then begin to add 2 - 4 each week over the next few weeks. It is important to begin slowly, as your natural biological filter and nitrogen cycle will take about a month or so to establish. Fish diseases take hold very readily prior to this period.

What Type of Fish?

Since you've been hanging out in the LFS off and on now for awhile, you probably have some idea of what types of fish you'd like to have in your new tank. Remember the cycling process before you get too carried away and spend a lot of money on expensive and potentially delicate fish, however. Make sure the fish you purchase will get along with one another. It is unfair to the fish to place them in a closed environment where they will be harmed or continually bullied by other fish. Read up on creating fish "communities" and ask other hobbyists and employees at your LFS. Here is a list of inexpensive, fairly hardy, small- to medium-sized fish that I have found get along well in the same community:

Black Skirt Tetras
Flame Tetras
Serpae Tetras
Bleeding Heart Tetras
Platys
Cherry Barbs
Gold Barbs
Zebra Danios

However, you're certainly in no way limited to these fish types. Strive toward creating your own perfect community with inhabitants that you like.

Selecting Healthy Fish

Selecting healthy fish is critical to the ongoing health of your entire tank. Many fish diseases are contagious and most parasites will migrate to other healthy fish in a closed environment such as an aquarium, so exercise the utmost caution when selecting new fish. Here are some signs that a fish may be sick or otherwise unhealthy:

clamped fins
listlessness
flipping or scratching against tank objects
appearance of struggling to maintain position in water
kinked tail or crooked spine
hollow underbelly
missing or extended scales
abnormally rapid breathing
poor coloration
cloudy eyes
white spots resembling grains of salt
white slimy patches on the body
white cottony tufts on the mouth area
red sores or patches of broken skin
tiny worm-like appendages around the gill area

Don't make the mistake of thinking that you'll be able to nurse unhealthy fish to a state of health. Unhealthy fish usually just become more unhealthy with the change of environment and new tank mates.

The Trip Home

Your LFS will place your newly-selected fish in traveling bags -- a tall, narrow plastic bag containing water from the fish's tank along with about two-thirds air for the trip home. The bag will be twisted at the top, doubled over and closed with a small rubber band wrapped several times around until air and water tight. Some stores will then place this bag upside down into a paper sack. I was told that the reason for the inverted bag was to displace any pockets and to ensure fish swimming near the water surface didn't get caught in a loose fold at the top of the bag. You should head for home immediately after purchasing your fish, so if you have several errands to run, make the trip to the LFS the last one on your list. Hot or cold external air temperatures will quickly change the temperature of the water in which your fish are traveling, so keep this in mind during summer and winter months.

Acclimating Your New Fish

The day that you acclimate a new fish is one of the most critical points in its life -- that and when it was shipped to your LFS and placed in one of their tanks. Different fish require different water qualities, but all fish require any change in water quality -- from temperature, to hardness and alkalinity -- to be very gradual. While your water should be at or near neutral PH, which is what the water at the LFS should be, it's important to establish and follow a thorough acclimation routine in order to increase the odds of a successful transition from one environment to another for your fish. The acclimation routine should take about 40 - 60 minutes to complete. Here is a step-by-step guide to acclimating your new fish:

Have the following items handy:
- small brine shrimp net
Remove some of the water from the shipping bag if it is more than 1/2 full. Do not dump this water into your aquarium. You'll want to avoid wherever possible mixing water from the LFS tank with your tank, as many fish diseases and microscopic parasites may be present in this water. If you're careful, you can take the shipping bag with fish and, holding the top of the bag between your thumb and forefinger, gently ease out the extra water into a sink.

Depending upon how many shipping bags you'll be acclimating, you may need to remove some water from your tank, as you'll be floating these bags in your tank and they will displace a volume of water equal to their volume.

One the shipping bag is open and excess water removed, gently ease the bag into your aquarium, folding the extra measure of bag over the lip of your tank. If you have a hood on your tank, the hinged lid can be closed over the top of the folded bag to help hold it in place.

Test the water in each shipping bag that you'll be acclimating and make a note of any radical departures from neutral (or from the current PH of your tank water). The greater the difference in PH between the shipping bag water and the water in your tank, the longer the acclimation process should take.

Add a drop or two of Novaqua or Stress Coat to the shipping bag. This helps the fish maintain its protective coating, which often gets disturbed or abraded when being netted and transferred from the LFS tank to the shipping bag. It also aids in buffering the fish from slight changes in PH.

Dip about 1/2 cup water from your tank and add it to the shipping bag. This begins the process of "equalizing" the PH of the shipping bag water with that of your tank. It is very important that this occurs gradually, as fish cannot tolerate sudden changes in PH and may go into shock and die when undergoing such change.

Continue this process about every 7 - 10 minutes. During this process, the temperature of the water in the shipping bag is also slowly equalizing with that of the water in your tank.

Once you have added about 1/2 as much water from your tank as what was in the shipping bag when your began the acclimation process, test the PH of the water from the shipping bag and compare the reading with your tank PH reading. If they do not match, continue adding water to the shipping bag until they do. Once the PH reading of the shipping bag water matches the PH reading of the water from your tank, proceed to step 10.

Remove the shipping bag from your tank and place it in the cottage cheese container to hold it upright. If you need to remove some more excess water from the shipping bag in order to fit it into the container, follow the instructions above in step 1.

Taking your small brine shrimp net, gently net the fish in the shipping bag. The fish won't have far to go when trying to elude the net, but will likely become frantic. Be careful not to trap it between the container and the rim of the net. If there are multiple fish in the shipping bag, remove them one by one. Netting them in pairs or more just tends to invite injury.

Once you have netted the fish and lifted the net from the shipping bag, you need to act very quickly, for your fish is unable to get oxygen once removed from the water. Gently cup your hand over the top of the net to prevent the fish from jumping out as you quickly move toward your tank water. Carefully dip the net into your aquarium, so that the top of the net is perpendicular to the surface of the water, and move the net slowly backward. The motion you should try to achieve is like catching a butterfly in reverse. The fish will swim out of the net and gracefully into your aquarium, without so much as a scratch! While this may seem like a lot of care and detail, anything you can do to reduce the trauma caused by the LFS netting and subsequent trip home will help ensure the health and comfort of your new fish.

Observe your new fish for awhile as it explores its new home and gets its bearings. Things you'll want to watch for on the first and subsequent few days include the following:

Extreme hyperactivity - this may indicate an adverse reaction to a change in water PH.

Other fish bullying the new inhabitant - once the new fish gets his bearings, this usually is not a problem. If it persists, you may want to consider removing the new fish and placing it in a "Betta Keeper" or partitioning off a portion of your tank for it for awhile to let things settle down. Both a Betta Keeper and a tank partition should be available at your LFS. This is an extreme measure, however, and should only be taken if the new fish is at risk of imminent injury.
Bullying other tank mates - this is less likely than the new fish being bullied, but can happen. I would recommend the same measure as in the situation above.

Signs of injury or parasites - while injury is certainly a concern for the health of the new fish, parasites are a concern for all your fish. One of the toughest decisions you will make as an aquarist is what to do about sick fish. Just like sick people, sick fish will probably get healthy and heal better at home in their tank along with their family or tank mates. However, sometimes a fish will become so ill that it will fall prey to other fish, which unfortunately, according to the plan of nature, will tend to single out and hasten the demise of the weakest among them. At other times, a sick fish threatens to infect your entire community of fish with the disease or parasite. In these instances, you may need to place the sick fish in its own "hospital tank." A hospital tank is a small tank, containing gravel and water from your community tank, a small filter or air pump with air stone, and a small heater. This tank can be used to quarantine and medicate sick fish without subjecting your entire community of fish to chemical treatments which in almost all instances have undesirable side effects on healthy fish and water quality.
Treating sick fish is not easy, as you are unable to control one of the most important variables on the road to wellness -- appetite and good nutrition. However, there are many medications on the market intended to do battle with the most common fish ailments, and some of them work very well. Unless your entire tank is sick, I would recommend you treat the infected fish in its own small tank for best results and to avoid subjecting your other fish and your biological filter to the harsh effects of many of these chemicals.

Hiding out for extended periods by itself - while some fish do tend to be more receding than others -- especially nocturnal fish -- this may be the first sign of trouble. Keep an eye on this fish and look for subsequent signs of developing disease.

Disinterest in food at feeding time - sometimes a new fish will show no interest in eating at feeding time. Other times a fish will seem to show interest, but reject the food by "spitting" it back out. Neither of these conditions is a positive sign. However, some fish will take longer to adapt to their new environment and will fast for a period of time before eagerly taking and retaining food. You may want to consider offering live or frozen foods in order to perk up appetites. More on feeding fish below.

Feeding Your Fish

Feeding time is one of the rewards of fish keeping. You'll find that it's something you look forward to each day. How many times per day should you feed your fish? There are many schools of though on this, but I have found that twice per day works well. How much should you give your fish at each feeding? Less than you'd think! Here are some fish feeding guidelines:

Food type - feed a combination of flaked food, freeze dried treat such as blood worms and a frozen food such as brine shrimp. Frozen or live food should be given in a separate feeding and not combined with the dry food.

Frequency - for optimal health, feed your fish twice per day. Once per day is acceptable. You generally should not feed more than twice per day. I've found that dry food for breakfast and frozen food for dinner is a good combination.

Quantity per feeding - this, of course, will vary depending upon the number and size of fish you keep. Never pour the food into the tank directly from the food container. For dry food, start with a small pinch between your forefinger and thumb. Most fish should not require more than a couple flakes or bites of freeze dried food per feeding. Some fish will tend to overeat if given the opportunity and may become somewhat bloated. Try to avoid this situation. Most fish will begin rejecting the food once they've consumed enough. It's always easier to add more than to remove uneaten food.

Feeding frozen food - frozen food is a convenient way to add variety, protein and moisture to your fishes diet. You should be able to purchase frozen foods from your LFS. I recommend San Francisco Bay Brand frozen blood worms and frozen brine shrimp. These come in foil sealed pre-packs that makes it easy to remove and thaw a pre-measured meal. Here's how I do it:

Remove a meal-sized chunk (about 1/2 inch square) of the frozen food by either punching out a foil-sealed pre-pack or breaking off a piece from a larger block (depending upon what brand you purchase).
Place the chunk into a Dixie cup.
Scoop up a small amount of water from your tank into the cup to begin thawing it.
Swirl the food around in the water to hasten thawing.
Once the food is thawed collect a bit along the side of the cup with your finger and place in your tank.
Continue this process until it appears that all fish have had their fair share. Do not dump any remaining food from the cup into the tank, as it will likely go uneaten, quickly spoil and begin to cloud the tank.

Feeding live food - a bit more tricky and less convenient than frozen food, live food also adds variety, protein and moisture to your fishes diet. It has the added benefit of recreating a more natural environment where the fish are actually pursuing and catching their food. Plus it's a heck of a lot of fun to watch! I have had pretty good success feeding live tubifex worms to my fish. Here's how it works:

Keeping live worms - you will purchase live tubifex worms in a plastic bag similar to the shipping bag in which what you brought your new fish home. Tubifex worms are small (about an inch) thin worms with a very high protein content. These will need to be kept in your refrigerator until they are used up. The reason for this is that it slows their metabolism, thus eliminating the need to feed them and reducing the amount of waste they produce. If it grosses you out to open your fridge and see a bag of live worms, you might want to place the bag in another container. You can also transfer the worms and the water into another container if you'd like. It's best not to change the water in which you received them, as a change in PH might cause them to die off. If you must change the water, use water from your tank rather than tap water.

Preparing live worms - at feeding time, simply remove a pinch of worms from the container and place into a Dixie cup. In order to lessen the chance of introducing contaminants from the worms into your tank, rinse them off in a bit of water from your tank. Dump the rinse water into a sink, being careful not to lose any worms in the process!

Feeding live worms - once you've prepared the worms, you'll feed them similar to feeding frozen foods. Offer them a few at a time and make an effort to ensure that all your fish get their share. If you have bottom feeders that are difficult to feed, you may want to place a few in a small dish containing a bit of gravel. Another way to feed tubifex worms is with a feeder specifically designed for this purpose. It is a colander-like apparatus that floats on the surface of the water, allowing the worms to work their way out over a short period of time, dropping naturally into the water to be snatched up by a hungry fish. You'll have a great time watching your fish respond to live foods -- it's a trip to see them suck these in, spaghetti-style!

Uneaten live worms - live worms that are not initially taken at feeding time may work their way into your gravel and persist for some time, perhaps living on fish waste and uneaten dry food. How long they persist will depend upon the characteristics of your tank water and its ability to support them. After feeding live tubifex for a time, I realized that uneaten tubifex were quite happy in my tank and were multiplying. While I was a bit surprised by this, it didn't cause any trouble, they weren't visible, and when I'd clean the tank, the fish would either benefit from a surprise snack or I would simply vacuum them up.

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