I had a few question on what people do when they feed, and how they acclimate there fish. I just got four damsiles. I just fed them, after a certain amount of time should i pick up the left over food? I have regular and live sand inside my tank. Also I wanted some tips on how to acclimate my fish. Any help would be greatly appreciate.
There are many opinions on Aclimation. Feeding is really dependent upon your livestock and the cleaning crew/scavengers you have in the tank. if there is a lot of food left over lighten up on the amount and spread out how many times a day. What are you feeding them anyhow?
Im feeding them omega one marine pellets with garlic.
1st if there is food left you put too much food in. Put in a little at a time and feed for 3-5 minutes. Fish are opportunistic feeders and will eat as long as food is easily available.
2nd Remove any extra food. If you put too much in it will breakdown and pollute the tank. The cleanup crew will remove the stuff you miss but I would not leave a ton of uneaten food. Watch how much you add to avoid putting too much in.
Usually when I acclimate fish I don’t feed them till the next day. This gives then a chance to acclimate without using energy to digest food.
How I aclimate:
Float for bout half hour
I drip aclimate till there is twice the amount of water in the bucket
Dump out half then double water amount again
Net fish and place in tank with minimal lights
Also I feed the tank prior to putting the new addition in
Feeding - as mentioned above - a little bit goes a long way. try to remove anything uneaten after 4-5 minutes.
Acclimating - I personally use the drip method - slowly dripping in tank water oer the course of an hour or 2 (depending on the salinity difference between my tank and the stores). The important thing to remember is to put a small heater in the bucket you are drip acclimating in to, otherwise the temperature will drop and you will causing the fish additional stress.
i place a pitcher type canister over side rail and handle holds in place then i place fish and lfs water in it. tank water keeps pitcher warm and then just slowly add tank water over hour or so. then net fish and dispose of lfs water.