These instructions provide information about acclimating your fish to their new environment in 5 sections:

1. PREPARING THE RECEIVING TANK

We suggest that your receiving tank is set up well in advance of receiving your Angels (ideally the tank should be conditioned for a minimum of 3 weeks). The water parameters should be as close as possible to the following:

• pH 6.8-7.2
• Total hardness 50-150 ppm as CaCO3
• Carbonate Hardness 50-150 ppm as CaCO3
• Temperature 78-81 deg F
• Ammonia undetectable
• Nitrite undetectable.

If pH or hardness are outside these ranges they can be adjusted as follows:

• If hardness and pH are too low they can be easily raised with proprietary products.
• If the hardness is too high, it can be lowered by diluting the aquarium water with distilled water or RO water.
• If the pH is too high, lowering the hardness first will make it easier to lower the pH, again with a proprietary product.

Some hobbyists don't bother to change the aquarium conditIons; they just use the water they have. If receiving water conditions are significantly different than recommended in the first paragraph, then follow the instructions in the next section "Acclimating your Angelfish to the Receiving Tank" very carefully.

2. ACCLIMATING YOUR ANGELFISH TO THE RECEIVING TANK

When you receive your fish, transfer them and their water into a bucket or container. A 3 to 5 gallon bucket is ideal. Ten minutes later start adding small quantities of water from the new receiving tank. You can do this by adding a cup of water every few minutes or starting a slow drip feed with an airline tube. Loosely knot the airline tube to control flow. Keep adding water until it is at least 50% new receiving water. This will prepare the fish for transfer. Transfer nets should be clean and not have been dipped into any other tank before transferring the new Angelfish.

After you have mixed in the new water, transfer 1 fish to the receiving tank and observe it for a few minutes. If it looks stressed give the rest of the fish some extra time to adapt to the mixed water. After 15-20 minutes slowly add more water until it is 75% new receiving water. Then transfer another fish to the receiving tank. If this fish looks okay, then transfer the rest of the fish. Don't add water from the container to your tank! It contains unfiltered waste from the shipping water.

One of our customers suggested that after introducing new fish, it's beneficial to "black out" the tank for several hours so current residents leave the newcomers alone. This allows the newcomers time to adjust to the new environment reducing stress on them after their long journey. He said his Angels were comfortable and accepting food by evening when using this method. I think turning off the lights for a period of time is a great suggestion.

Cleaning nets: Nets can be cleaned by washing with dish soap (physical removal of soiling and bacteria), rinsing thoroughly with hot water (for soap removal and heat kill) and cold water (for chlorine kill) and drying (for dry kill).

3. COLD WEATHER ACCLIMATION

We have success shipping Angelfish when temperatures are as low as in the teens by using heat packs, insulated boxes, and overnight shipping. In cold weather the fish usually arrive warm, but sometimes arrive cold. This may have to do with the location of the box in transportation vehicles, exposure to wind, etc. If they arrive cold, Angelfish sometimes appear sluggish and breathing slowly.
If so, the best thing to do is warm them up right away. Floating the fish bags in a 78-81 degree tank warms them up at the right speed. The fish usually revive within half an hour. After the fish have stablized, you can start your drip feed.

Do not start the drip feed first. This forces the fish to adapt to water condition changes and a temperature change all at the same time. Its better to warm up the Angels in their own water first, allow them to stabilize, and then acclimate them to the receiving water.

4. CHANGING THE AQUARIUM CONDITIONS OVER TIME THROUGH WATER CHANGES

As you know, healthy aquariums need partial water changes to remain healthy. Ideally, 25% water changes should be made weekly. However, if you don't have much time, you can probably get away with 25% water changes twice a month.

If your water conditions are significantly different than recommended and you don't want to keep doing dilutions and pH adjustments, just declorinate your change water and pour it in. Your tank will eventually transition to the local water conditIons, and in almost all cases your Angels will adapt nicely.

5. FEEDING

Offer food to newly introduced fish only after they have adapted to their new environment. Sometimes they adapt fast; sometimes it takes longer. You have to cater to your own situation.

Whenever you decide to start feeding, only feed tiny amounts until the Angels get used to eating. Many customers like to know what we feed our fish. The foods we generally feed are:

• flakes
• frozen brine shrimp
• newly hatched baby brine shrimp
• color enhanced flake and Cyclopese (to supply cartenoids needed by orange fish)
• spirulina flakes or pellets
• algae wafers
• dried plankton (crumbled).