How to reduce stress on new fishes?

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


PlantsAteMyFish
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:56 pm

How to reduce stress on new fishes?

by PlantsAteMyFish

So it's been 3 weeks now that I have my 110g planted tank going so I decided it's time to start the "cycle". I went to the lfs and got 6 zebra danios and 2 clown loaches. The danios were in a small tank so they werent too hard to catch but the loaches were in a 30g tank with decorations. The guy had a tough time trying to catch them and probably put a huge amount of stress on them.

I hurried back home and set the bag in my tank to let the water temp balance out. Not more than 15 minutes later I came back and one of them was about to go sideways in the bag. I had no choice so I netted them and put them in my tank. The danios were all fine but the loaches swam to the bottom and just kind of laid down there. I kept an eye on them for the rest of the night and although they just sat at the bottom they didn't look like they were struggling to stay upright.

I checked up on them this morning and the danios were as happy as can be and fortunately one of the loach was up and swimming around at the bottom. I couldn't find the other guy but I think he's still hiding among the plants or under the rocks. I'm pretty sure the one swimming around is going to survive but not sure about the other one.

I was going to follow the acclimation steps at Dr. F&S site but didn't have time to go through the whole steps. Did I do everything right or did they come close to dying because of the guy at the lfs? I just want to be more prepared next time I add more fishes, especially expensive ones.


GiantDogg
 
Posts: 65
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:24 pm

by GiantDogg

Well, first of all, don't cycle with Clown Loaches if you are doing a cycle with fish. Danio's, Tiger Barbs, White Clouds, etc are good. Guppies are good too. 2nd, never get less than 5 Clown Loaches and 8 is optimum. You can add stress coat to the bag, it might have been stress or just a bad batch. You can also research the fishless cycle.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

Clown loaches like being upside down, so don't worry about that.

As you already added the fish a fishless cycle is N/A. Just feed sparingly, don't replace filter material (bacteria are growing in there, and do your water changes.

The water contains very few bacteria. The bacteria for cycling are attatched to all surfaces. The filter is designed to create a lot of surface areas water flows past, but your plants will also serve as biological filters as well.

Loaches have no boyancy bladder, so they'll allways end up sitting on something, or under something, but yea, they'll be more active with more of them.


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

by natalie265

It's usually recommended that you slowly add water from your tank, to the bag of fish by using a drip line, or just adding a small amount of water every couple of minutes. This way you're acclimating them to your water's ph, gh, kh etc, not just your water's temp.

How to reduce stress on new fishes?

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