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There
are a number of concerns when moving fish from one environment
to another- we are asking a lot for a fish to
adapt immediately to a
new setup in a new tank in a different place, where the tankmates,
the water quality, water
movement, filtration
type, feeding schedule, ambient light and seasonal cues may all
be different. Over many years
of breeding and working
with a number of less commonly kept species, I have found that
to best determine whether a
species will do well in
my water and setup, there appear to be three acclimation periods
to be concerned with in
any successful
introduction and acclimation to a new environment.
An awareness of these
three acclimation periods and how they play themselves out may
be the single biggest reason
some hobbyists claim they are
unable to maintain certain fish, and certainly why some claim
that a fish cannot be bred.
The initial introduction
when you first bring the fish home is the most critical, but
there are two other, longer term
adjustment periods-
mostly to your water quality, that most fish have yet to go
through once established in your aquarium.
This is added to any
other acclimations they must make to thrive in your tank, such
as getting along with tankmates, etc.
After the initial
introduction, the second acclimation takes approximately 4-5
months, and the last may not take place, for
some species, until the
3rd or 4th generation. This last acclimation becomes very
important when breeding a species that
has been difficult for you,
or when predicting possible breeding success with a species for
the long term. (Longer than just
one or two generations).
Based on experience
maintaining and breeding livebearers, where lifespan rarely
exceeds 4 years, the timing of the
acclimation periods may
vary for other longer lived fish. In other species, the process
could differ by being either
shorter or longer.
The First Acclimation:
Initially
acclimating a new fish to your aquarium:
With the initial
introduction there is more to the fish’s
acclimation than the temperature of the water, and with
a species coming from different water parameters this acclimation
process can take a couple hours. At a
minimum the process
should be done slowly if you wish for the fish to do their best.
The fish is experiencing
disruption on a health
threatening level- to just “dump” the fish into the new tank is
introducing stress at a time when
the fish can least cope
with it. To then have to deal with interactions to new, strange
tankmates on top of that can
easily be fatal to many
less hardy fish. There are two ways to best accomplish this
initial acclimation:
The “Drip Method”- Used by many aquarists, the fish after
arrival are placed into a container that will hold the fish and
the shipping water they
came in. 1/4" airline tubing is set up to siphon from a
container holding clean aquarium water or
from the aquarium they
are planned to go into. An air valve is the put on the end of
the airline just before the container
the fish are in and a
siphon is stated. The air valve is then adjusted so that a
single drop of your aquarium water then
drips into the old
shipping water no quicker than about 1 drop every 3-4 seconds.
When the amount of water in the container
then doubles- so that
half is your water, half is the shipping water, then remove
about half of it and let it continue, doing
this a couple more times.
Watch carefully throughout the process for any distress in the
fish- if they start swimming in quick
spurts or appear in
distress, jumping from the water, gasping at the surface,
resting on the bottom without energy, then stop
the dripping immediately.
Possibly add an airstone with a very light air current, and then
do not add more new water for at
least 30 minutes,
depending on how well the fish recovers. It should take at least
45 minutes to an hour before you have
the fish in 100% new
water. Then, put the fish and the water into a container (or a
bag) that will float in the tank to
acclimate the
temperature. Leave them floating for at least 10 minutes for the
water temps to equalize, before letting
the fish go into the
tank. During this time I will also feed any other inhabitants of
the tank well, so their stomachs are
full when the new fish
are introduced to the tank. This will hold down any chasing,
possible fin nipping, etc.
“Drip Method’ revised-
This is the method we use here. After using the drip system for
many years, I began to simply put
the new fish into a
container with the water they had come in (sometimes the
container may need to be angled if there was
not much water), and
would add a small amount of new water- a tablespoon or two-
about every 15-20 minutes at first. Do not
add more water if the
fish are showing any distress, and wait until they appear fine
again before adding more water. When
the water they were in
had doubled, I would start adding water more frequently and in
greater quantity. Eventually I would
start removing water, and
once they were in nearly all new water I would then float them
in the container, or a bag to even
up the temperature before
releasing them into the tank.
I also use this
opportunity to give the new fish a good meal of brine shrimp or food
they will eat while confined to the smaller
container before
releasing them into the tank. This way they too go into the new
environment with a full belly to better handle
the adjustment. Some fish
are shy when introduced to a new tank, and may choose to spend
the first couple days hiding in
the plants before coming
out to eat, feeding them well beforehand helps ease the
transition.
With all new fish, it is best
to keep them in a quarantine tank first by themselves so that
any pathogens the new fish may
be carrying cannot be spread to
the new tank.
To also help ease the
transition into their new environment, leave the light off the
first day, and provide some plants
they can hide in to feel
secure.
Acclimation #2
When adding new fish to
an aquarium, the long term adjustment to your water conditions
may be more than some fish
can tolerate long term,
particularly if the fish is fully adult or older, and had lived
its life in different water conditions.
Younger fish are able to
adjust to new water qualities more easily, and show fewer long
term effects to the adaptation to
new water. Older fish,
depending on species, and dependent on the amount of difference
between the two water qualities,
will sometimes age more
quickly and experience a shorter life span as a result of the
second adjustment period that takes
place from approximately
day 2 in their new tank, extending out to about 2-3 months.
Because you do not know how long a new fish will survive it its
new environment, the goal with any group of newly acquired
adult fish is to get them
to spawn as quickly as possible. In a sense, a gravid female is
as important as a group of older
fish- the adults, due to
the stress of the long term acclimation and change in
surroundings, may not survive more than 4
or 5 months after
arriving in your aquarium. It is always nice to have adult fish
on hand to see what any fry will grow
into, but realize that
your original fish may not be as hardy as those
that have been born and raised in your water.
The first fry born will
be far ahead in the acclimation process, more so than their
parents could have been. These are
the first born in your
water, so they need to be well taken care of as they will be the
future of that species in your
tanks.
The majority of the
species you will keep in your tank, particularly if they are
commercially produced with a long
history in the pet trade,
should adapt well. Their lifespan may be only minimally
affected, particularly if the fish
had come from water
similar to your own. However, if your intent is to get maximum
size, color and breeding success
from your new fish, any
lack of success may be tied to the fish still adapting to your
conditions.
This second acclimation
period is when the greatest mortality occurs, and when many
factors that you cannot control
will influence their survival.
The older the fish, the greater the influence their previous
life history, current overall
health and changes in
their daily routine will play. These changes include a possibly
different diet, feeding and light
schedule, possibly higher
or inconsistent ammonia and nitrate levels, pH and hardness
differences between the old
and new water, the
activity level of the tank, and new tankmates, all playing into
any prediction of how close to a full
life the fish will
continue to experience.
The most effective means
of speeding up this adjustment period, and to work toward the
best outcome is to provide
them with an environment
that provides minimal stress, allowing the fish to be
comfortable. Feed regularly with quality
food, while maintaining
good water quality. Feeding smaller amounts of quality food
often is better than feeding a large
feeding once a day.
Consider keeping only medium bright light, and provide plants
that the fish can hide into
occasionally to feel
secure. Remove any aggressive tankmates, and try to keep at
least a pair or trio to get the longest
lifespan from your new
inhabitants. Maintain good aeration and keep up on water changes
of at least 20% a week.
But there isn’t much that
you can do beyond effective husbandry, as the differences in
water qualities the fish had to
experience cannot be
changed. However, the fish will better adapt generation to
generation, and this much longer
acclimation can take 2-3
generations, and is the third adjustment some species
need to make before they
become fully accustomed to your water
qualities.
Acclimation #3
The goal of any aquarist
is to find which species will do well for them- which will grow well
with good color, and will breed
as they should. The third
acclimation is of most concern for those who wish to raise the
fish and keep that species for
many generations. Whether
your fish will do well in your tank is tied to your basic water
quality. This third acclimation
is the most important,
and is determined to have passed, often into the
third or fourth generation when they begin
to reach their full
size, live a normal lifespan, and most importantly, have large
broods of fry that grow out and do well.
Most fish can adapt to a
fairly wide range of water qualities. In any pet store, where
all of the fish are kept in the
same water, the fish are
from a variety of water conditions. Some stores may buffer their
African tanks, but generally
all of the tetras, barbs,
livebearers, catfishes and most cichlids are kept at the same pH
and hardness. Many fish will
not breed, live a full
lifespan or reach their maximum size if their water quality is
too far from where the species
originated. Anyone who
has ever worked at a pet store knows the need to remove dead
fish from the bottoms of tanks
the morning after new
shipments arrive, as a result of the adjustment to another set
of water qualities. But feeding
normally, and appearing
to thrive does not mean that the fish will breed in those
water parameters.
Once the fish has
acclimated well enough to the new conditions to appear
healthy and comfortable, acclimation
to the other variables
that differ from their previous experience continues.
This can take 2-4 months, and soon
the fish should breed. If
they do not, there may be some continued resistance to your
water quality. You may see
small broods, broods that are not
entirely healthy, or batches where a portion are stillborn.
The healthiest of those
young are then grown out and bred. Generally, after about the
3rd generation, the batches of fry
will approach normal
size, and they will begin to appear healthier and more robust.
Those fry will be the first that have
truly acclimated to your
water.
Generational time differs between species. For guppies, the
generational time used by breeders preparing for shows
is 4 months. Herbert
Axelrod mentions in his book "Fancy Swordtails' that the
generational time for the swordtails and
platies they were using
in their breeding efforts had a generational time of 8 months.
Fancy guppy breeders
encounter this multigenerational acclimation frequently when
obtaining a new line from another
breeder. Those new to
keeping expensive guppies will comment that the young fish they
bought did not grow as large
or as colorful as their
parents at the original breeders. Then their first generation
rarely looks as nice as the original
fish. They chalk it up to
the superior fishkeeping skills and foods fed at the breeder's.
However, if their water quality
was different enough from
where the fish had come from, the fish may need 2 or 3
generations before their fry become
consistent and of higher
quality. With guppies, quality is large size, vibrant color,
exaggerated finnage and vigorous
activity- all affected
when a fish is continuing to adapt to the water they are kept
in.
Guppies will breed once
they are fairly well acclimated, as will many other species that
are not difficult to breed.
But many fish cannot be
forced to adapt, however gradual the process, such that they
will one day breed. As well,
specific water qualities
may be essential to the survival of the fry- the egg membranes
may require pH and hardness
within certain limits, depending on species. Many fish simply do
not experience the natural responses to breeding cues
when the water quality is not what it should be for their
species.
In northern California where I once lived, water from the tap
was at a pH of 8.2. Angelfish and discus, for example,
that require a pH below
6.8 to breed could be bought apparently healthy from any pet
store, but they would never
breed in water so far from their
preference.
A recent example
illustrates this process. The fry of 3 wild caught pair of
Alfaro huberi were given to a friend to
develop about 5 years
ago. It took those pairs many months to drop small batches of
undersized young.. This fish
gradually increased its
numbers by just a few fish, year by year. A pair raised from the
second generation I had given
him then had a full sized batch
just this fall. It was the first time he had more than 15 of
these fish in 5 years! Those
young are full sized and
should now do well, having regular sized batches of fry of their
own in the future.
In 1998 I obtained my
first 2 pair of Zoogoneticus tequila. They did not reproduce
well, and ultimately, I needed
to obtain groups of 2
pair three more times before young were born in my water that
thrived. Today the Z. tequila
is raised by the
hundreds, and is one of the most prolific fish in the fishroom.
But it took a couple generations
for them to fully
complete their acclimation.
Currently there are three
species going through this third acclimation in the fishroom
here, and it is expected
that 2 or 3 more years
may pass before they begin to reproduce in large numbers, as
well as to reach their full
size and color. One is
Xiphophorus clemenciae. This fish has a reputation for being
difficult to maintain, with
some discussion that
certain populations are more challenging than others. The fish I
obtained were not wild
caught fish, and the
water qualities they came from were not known. The issue of the
third acclimation with this
fish is clear, as it is believed
by many aquarists that the F1s of any pair of this species will
not be fertile. This is
the third acclimation at
work- when the young of the first generation born in your water
reach breeding age, they
may still breed slowly
with smaller broods until at least another generation has
passed. As a result, many supposedly
knowledgeable aquarists
insist this fish is not fertile past its first generation, which is not true.
The Xiphophorus
clemenciae is a spectacular fish and the original adults were
full sized 3.5 inch fish.
(The X. clemenciae is one
of the smaller wild swordtails). However, as can be seen in the
picture below, many of the
young of the first
generation are undersized. They are healthy and robust- they are
fed 3-4xs per day with daily 15%
water changes- but will
likely require another 2 generations before the majority of the
fish in any spawn are full
sized. The X. alvarezi is
an example of a full transformation. The original fish were
obtained about 8 years ago and
were about 3.5 inches,
and bred consistently, with small batches of young that were
undersized when compared to most
swordtails. Over time,
the smallest males that were early maturing or undersized, fish
that could neither be sold or
used as breeders were
removed, and no other manipulation of the line took place. Over
time the original wild line
improved through
adaptation and optimal care. A pic of a male taken in 2012 shows
the improvement in body size and
color that has taken
place.
One fish kept here will not breed, and this multigenerational
acclimation may be to blame. So while a few pair are
being waited on to breed
in other tanks, young fry obtained from another fishkeeper are
being grown out so they may
spawn when they mature,
after having been raised in this water. Depending on how badly
you might wish to breed a
particular fish, this
process to get a spawn may take a number of months or years to
accomplish.
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