Acclimating New Fish to Tank

[johncake]

I think I know the answer to this, but I wanted to check to be sure.

I added two new small gold gouramis to my 25 gallon tank yesterday. It joins a few panda cory cats, three zebra danios and five neon tetras. My water conditions are ~6.8 ph, 0 ammonia, ~20 (whatever unit) of nitrate. Tank is about 6 months old.

I know the new home and new tankmates are stressful to the new fish. Each fish is hiding in the corner of the tank and won't come out. When they do, they thrash violently around the tank and then crash into the glass and then resume hiding in the corner.

My question is how long should it take until they start acting normal in the tank? Is there anything I can do to ease their transition?

Just planning ahead and trying to be informed over the next week or so...

Thanks in advance.

 

[Allivymar]

You have punk rock fish! Heh, sorry...your description really brought that to mind

I'm guessing it depends on the fish. My clown loaches took about 2 weeks to completely settle, my angels about a week, and I don't think my plec even noticed. Your water parameters sound ok, although you may want to make sure your tank temps are within the ranges of your fish. You don't mention nitrtItes either. Are they ok?

As for easing transition, I don't think there's much (no fishy valium on the market yet *grin*). They'll need to work out territories and get used to the new confines and that will take as long as they feel necessary.

 

[johncake]

Just to finish out my tank specs... 78 degrees and 0 nitrites

 

[i3k]

How did you introduce the new fish to your tank? A good way to do this...is by letting the bag with the new fish float around the aquarium so the temp. inside the bag adjusts to the temp. in the tank. Let the bag float on top for about 15-20 min, add half a cup of the tank water to the bag with the new fish and let it float on top for another 15 min. Repeat the process 3 times and then let the fish in the tank by netting them inside the bag...do not pour the water from the bag into your aquarium.

 

[johncake]

Cool, that's exactly what I did.

 

[crocodylus]

also when adding new fish is a good idea to turn off the lights for a couple of hours in order to give them a chance to semi-acclimate themselves with their surroundings 8)