What is the best time to add a new fish to the tank?

Guayni; SAHS wrote on 1/1/2007 9:42 PM:
I disagree with those expressing preference to do it with the lights out.
Just imagine yourself thrown in a dark room full of enemies. Where are you
going to hide? can't see!
There will always be fights even in compatible fish.
snip ,,,

4. When? I prefer to add the fish half an hour to an hour before lights
out. At least they get the chance to find a hiding spot before lights-out.
In the dark, residents can travel around the tank easily. Again, there will
always be competition.

Yea I often do it that way, put the fish in, watch it long
enough to make sure it has time to get some familiarity
with it's environment (around 10 minutes), and then turn
off the light.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets

Yea it's not a sure thing, but what turning the lights off
does, is it sends a signal to the other fish that it's
time to sleep.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 1/1/2007 10:22 PM:
Guayni; SAHS wrote:

I disagree with those expressing preference to do it with the lights out.
Just imagine yourself thrown in a dark room full of enemies. Where
are you going to hide? can't see!

I once had a powder blue that was very territorial. I added a fish once
with the lights out, but you could see the tang chasing it all over the
place. I think they may be able to see a good deal better in limited
light than we can. For that matter, the chasee seemed to be able to see
pretty well too!

Of course, that tang would chase a new addition with the lights on, so I
think it doesn't make any real difference.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Considering how many people kill their first fish, it's a
lot easier on the customers pocket book :-)

Also one does not even need fish to cycle a tank. A person
can use other methods such as adding the amount of fish
food that such fish would normally eat.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 1/2/2007 10:58 AM:
Blackheart - Ex WoW Subscriber wrote:

There's a reason you can get most Damsels for under $5.

Yeah. I was in the local LFS buying food the other day, and one of the
employees was doing the old shuck & jive selling some kid damsels to
cycle his new tank. I bit my tongue.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Guayni; SAHS wrote:


Adding new fish to any tank is always stressful to both the resident and the
newcomer.
I disagree with those expressing preference to do it with the lights out.
Just imagine yourself thrown in a dark room full of enemies. Where are you
going to hide? can't see!
There will always be fights even in compatible fish.

1. Keeping the livestock to an inch of fish per gallon is my rule of thumb.

?!?!?! INCH PER GALLON? I have always heard more like an inch per 3-4
gallons. 55 inches of fish total in a 55 gal tank?!?!

George Patterson wrote:
Guayni; SAHS wrote:

I disagree with those expressing preference to do it with the lights out.
Just imagine yourself thrown in a dark room full of enemies. Where
are you going to hide? can't see!


I once had a powder blue that was very territorial. I added a fish once
with the lights out, but you could see the tang chasing it all over the
place. I think they may be able to see a good deal better in limited
light than we can. For that matter, the chasee seemed to be able to see
pretty well too!

Of course, that tang would chase a new addition with the lights on, so I
think it doesn't make any real difference.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Having the lights off for a couple hours will lower the fishes
metabolsim a bit. That might make them less aggessive, or might not.

Add Homonym wrote:

Having the lights off for a couple hours will lower the fishes
metabolsim a bit. That might make them less aggessive, or might not.

I've had two fish that tended to get more aggressive when the lights went out.
One was *very* bad. That was an Imperator Angel. He would wait until other fish
went to sleep and then attack them. He killed hundreds of dollars worth of fish
in my tank. I finally traded him in for store credit.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

"Add Homonym" wrote in message
...
Guayni; SAHS wrote:


Adding new fish to any tank is always stressful to both the resident and
the newcomer.
I disagree with those expressing preference to do it with the lights out.
Just imagine yourself thrown in a dark room full of enemies. Where are
you going to hide? can't see!
There will always be fights even in compatible fish.

1. Keeping the livestock to an inch of fish per gallon is my rule of
thumb.

?!?!?! INCH PER GALLON? I have always heard more like an inch per 3-4
gallons. 55 inches of fish total in a 55 gal tank?!?!
Is not that much...
To put 55 inches of fish in a 55gal tank is not correct.
You have to subtract from that volume all the water displaced by liverock
and other things that occupy space.
Once you have all that subtracted you'll end up with less than 50% of your
55 gallons.
25 inches of fish will include your inverts!
In a 55gal you will only be able to keep like 15 inches of benthonic and
nektonic fish. It will all go down to 4 or 5 fish averaging 3 inches.
Is that a lot?