Care Guides

The essentials for setting up a planted tropical aquarium and safely acclimating fish shipped to your door — the same methods we use and recommend at the hatchery.

Setting up a planted aquarium

We recommend live plants as part of the complete aquatic environment — your fish will appreciate them. A 20 to 50 gallon glass tank is the best starting size.

Shopping list

• Test kits — mid-range pH (6.0–7.6) and combined NH3/NH4 ammonia
• Filter — an external canister filter sized to the tank, with sponge, zeolite and activated-carbon media
• Heat & light — 100–300 W submersible heater, a two-bulb hood (one “plant” bulb in back, one “fish” bulb in front) and a simple lamp timer
• Substrate, layered — 1″ gravel on the bottom, 1–2″ of pea gravel, then 1–2″ of fine silica sand, topped with decorator gravel if you like
• Plant fertilizer — an aquatic formula with iron and micro-nutrients but no nitrates or phosphates

Setup, in order

1. Fill the tank one-third full and add the washed substrate in layers.
2. Fill to two-thirds, install the filter and heater, and start both.
3. Plant your plants, top off the water, and set lights to a regular daily cycle.
4. Let the tank cycle before fish arrive: test pH and adjust gently toward your target, and wait until ammonia holds at zero.

Acclimating your new fish

Your fish travel in about half a gallon of water with pure oxygen, double-bagged in thick styrofoam. The water they arrive in will differ from your tank, so acclimate them gradually:

1. A day or two before arrival, do a 20–50% partial water change.
2. Open the box as soon as it is delivered and check that the fish are active.
3. Remove an inch of tank water and turn off the aquarium lights.
4. Float the unopened bags for about 10 minutes to even out temperature.
5. Open each bag and cuff the top like a sock so it floats open.
6. Add about half a cup of tank water to the bag every 5–10 minutes for about half an hour, until the bag is full.
7. Gently tilt the bag and let the fish swim out (or pour through a soft net if the shipping water looks dirty).
8. Top off the tank with clean, dechlorinated water and leave the lights off overnight.
9. Wait until the next day to feed.

If anything goes wrong with a delivery, follow the steps in our guarantee right away.