Acclimating Shipped Fish

[Snake42490]

im now reading up that some of them contain toxic chemicals and such so i assume there is a certain kind to get haha... i will wait before i go do something and regret doing.

 

[Tolak]

You want the cheapest ammonia you can find, this has no other additives. More expensive ammonia often has soap in it, this is bad for an aquarium. You can shake the bottle, if it has a few larger bubbles that dissipate in a few seconds it has no soap, if they are smaller like foam & don't dissipate it has soap.

I would put them indoors, away from any source of heat, just in case they are the cheaper 12 hour heat packs.

 

[Snake42490]

well i am leaving for the store now. i will be back in about 15 min thanks again! ill keep in touch

 

[Snake42490]

my search for ammonia has failed haha... i found two different kinds both had soaps added.. i end up getting 8 feeder fish which i will use... after im done with them they get to go to our 350 gallon pond haha.. im acclimating them to the tank as we speak.. so hopefully all goes well for them.

 

[Snake42490]

well i have tested the water of the 20 gallon tank. for the past two days it has stayed at 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm for nitrite.. will that mean the tank probably wont cycle? the feeder fish are doing great haha..

 

[Darkehorse]

The best source for pure ammonia is Walmart. I think you probably waited too long to 'cycle' (or in this case, maintain the bacteria) in the tank. You could add some flake food and let it sit for a few hours and then remove it, although this is not ideal. You're trying to keep alive the bacteria that would normally remove the nitrogens produced by your fish. I'm not sure the bacteria that would break down 'rotting' food is the same kind that would break down your fish's waste. It might be best to do daily water changes since the fish are supposed to arrive in a day or so. As for ammonia and nitrite levels it's not going to register any because you don't have anything in your quarantine tank that actually produces either. Try the water changes. Also, you will probably want to add some of the filter media from your other tank just before you add the fish to them. This should help a lot to keep the nitrogen levels down.

-Darke

 

[Snake42490]

yeah so it turns out in our area they dont offer express 1st day.. they have second day though... i hope everything works out and they make it... the guy that shipped them said he was expecting 1st day.. i hope he packed them well enough...

 

[Snake42490]

so we had an unexpected snow storm come in.. fish are two hours away haha,.. i think by now they are in town so i am trying to see if i can come pick it up from one of the delivery trucks.. hopefully they will let me!. should i be doing a water change on the twenty gallon before adding them? or should i just move the feeder fish then acclimate them into the tank?

 

[Snake42490]

what are some foods you guys would recommend feeding synodontis petris? right now i have tetra cichlid flake.. tetra cichlid granuels.. HBH african cichlid attack and some seaweed.. i have heard HBH graze is a good one for them what would you guys recommend?

 

[Snake42490]

well so i about had a spaze attack looking at our weather / watching it lol... its snowing like crazy 30 degrees out.. to make a long story short i end up getting the fish tonight so they didnt have to sit out in the cold! they look great all 6 were alive and acclimated to my tank. very active... the only thing i need to know is what type of food should i feed and when should i start feeding them?

 

[Darkehorse]

well so i about had a spaze attack looking at our weather / watching it lol... its snowing like crazy 30 degrees out.. to make a long story short i end up getting the fish tonight so they didnt have to sit out in the cold! they look great all 6 were alive and acclimated to my tank. very active... the only thing i need to know is what type of food should i feed and when should i start feeding them?

Well from my google research, they eat live foods:

Live; snails, crustaceans, insect larvae , Tubifex ; fish eggs; tablets; will occasionally graze algae​

Not sure why you posted this in the cichlid forums, but you would definitely get better advice posting in the Other Catfish subforum off of the main catfish forum. At any rate, I'm glad they arrived safely and good luck with your new fish!

-Darke