Below is a copy of the acclimation protocols that you will receive with each livestock order.

Choice Aquariums is pleased you ordered the new specimen you've been wanting from us, and we'd like to offer this advise on making the introduction to your home aquarium system. The best scenario is that you have a quarantine tank set-up and ready to welcome your new arrival. A separate system where the new specimen can be isolated is desirable to significantly reduce the risk of introducing disease and/or parasites to your display aquarium. Although Choice Aquariums takes great care to bring you the healthiest specimens we can, the process from ocean to home is never foolproof. The safest approach is to isolate the new specimen for a period of two to four weeks and allow time for it to settle-in. Observe the animal and ensure it is eating and behaving normally with no symptomatic sign of illness or pests before you transfer it to your display. Ideally, before you order, you will have checked your water chemistry and temperature on the system in which you intend on placing the new animal to ensure it is within acceptable parameters for the type of specimen you've selected. If your water chemistry or temperature is not within acceptable parameters, we would strongly urge you to defer your purchase until you can complete water changes and/or any other adjustments to ensure your system parameters are acceptable to sustain the new life you'd like to introduce. Keep in mind, the water chemistry or temperature of your system could be out of generally accepted parameters, but the specimens contained within may show no signs of stress. This is because they have had time to acclimate to the condition slowly as your current conditions developed, where your new specimen, if placed directly in those conditions, may expire due to the sudden change in chemistry or temperature.

Ensuring your water chemistry and temperature are appropriate before you order, and proper acclimation when the new specimen arrives is the key to keeping the new life you are responsible for in healthy condition. Acclimation is best accomplished in reduced lighting. Dim the lighting in the room and turn-off the aquarium lights. The darkened environment reduces stress on the incoming specimen, and lowers activity levels of the current aquarium residents, which reduces the likelihood of aggression. Next, we want to ensure the temperature of the bagged specimen is slowly adjusted to the temperature level of the aquarium in which your new specimen will be placed, even if it is a quarantine tank that will house the animal for an isolation period. Do not open the bag the animal is packed in, simply place the bag containing the specimen in your aquarium, allowing it to float for approximately 15 minutes. This gives the water in the bag time to adjust in temperature to the aquarium.

After the requisite period of time for temperature to adjust, take the bag and cut it open just below the metal ring that has it sealed. With the bag open, we are ready to begin the water chemistry acclimation. The intent of this process is to slowly adjust the chemistry of the water in the bag to the chemistry of the water in the aquarium where you intend on housing the specimen. We accomplish this by slowly adding water from the aquarium to the bag. Over time, the volume of water added from the aquarium dilutes the water in the bag, changing the bag's water chemistry to more closely match the aquarium. The slower we accomplish this, the more gradual and subtle the chemistry changes in the bag, and the less stress the specimen will experience. Imagine if you will, that you're standing on the street somewhere in the Midwest United States. Suddenly you find yourself at 29,000 feet on Mt. Everest in Nepal. The thinner lower oxygen air is a change in chemistry, and the difference in temperature causes you to stress, go into shock and expire. Conversely, if you traveled and walked the distance up the mountain, your body would have time to slowly acclimate to the thinning oxygen resulting from the gradual increase in elevation and you'd add layers of clothing as you ascend to protect against the temperature change. Gradual change reduces stress, and keeps your specimen healthy, so please do not rush the acclimation process.

With your specimen bag open, acclimation can be accomplished in one of two ways; the preferable method is slow drip, and the alternate method would be hand dipper. In preparation for acclimation, you can take your specimen along with the bag water and gently place it in a clean unused plastic container, sized appropriately for the specimen, ensuring the water depth in the container is sufficient for the animal. The slow drip method is typically accomplished with an appropriate length of quarter inch airline tubing. Place one end of the tubing in the aquarium and the other end in your plastic acclimation container. Position the plastic container holding the specimen and bag water lower than the top of the airline tubing in the aquarium. Create a siphon by sucking on the lower end of the airline tubing and place it in the specimen acclimation container. The rate at which the water enters the acclimation container should be a slow drip of approximately three drips per second. The rate of flow through the airline tubing can be controlled with airline control valve or by simply tying loose knots in the airline tube; tightening or loosening the knot can adjust the flow rate.

The alternate method of hand dipper is to simply take another unused plastic container and dip water from the aquarium, pouring a quantity equal to approximately 5% of the volume contained in the acclimation container, which holds the specimen and bag water. This addition of water from the aquarium to the acclimation container should be repeated every five minutes, each time, increasing the total volume of water in the acclimation container with water from the aquarium.

With either the slow drip method or hand dipper method, the process should continue until the volume of bag water that originally contained the specimen has been doubled. At that point, carefully pour-off 50% of the water and repeat the process, doubling the volume again over a period of time. When pouring-off excess water, be sure it is placed down the drain and not into the aquarium. It should be your practice to never put bag water from any specimen you acquire, regardless of the source, in your quarantine or display aquariums. We never know what pathogens may be contained in that water, and there is no sense in risking contamination of your home aquariums. After the acclimation process has resulted in two cycles of doubling the bag water with water from your aquarium, you are ready to net the specimen and place it gently in your aquarium, again discarding the water left in the acclimation container. It is key to note that some specimens may crawl or jump out of acclimation containers, so it is advised to keep them covered with a either a lid for the container you are using or a clean, uncontaminated cloth that can be simply placed on the container to stop the animal's exit.

After placing your new specimen in the aquarium, observe the inhabitants and watch for aggression. It is not uncommon for new arrival to be harassed by existing specimens. If the aggression seems to be persistent, intervention may be required to save a life. The best solution is to isolate the bully. This can be accomplished with an egg crate lighting grid that has been cut to size and can act as a divider to separate the two combatants, or a plastic kitchen strainer that is employ as a dome to trap the bully and keep the two combatants apart.

If your new specimen is a sponge, clam or gorgonian species of coral, please be aware these animals are best acclimated and transferred to your aquarium without exposing them to air. This can be accomplished by pouring-off the maximum amount of water from the plastic acclimation container without exposing the animal to the air, and then submerging the container in your aquarium. Although it is ideal to avoid putting any bag water in your aquarium as a standard of practice, in the case if these types of specimens, the benefit of avoiding exposure to air, exceeds the risk of introducing pathogens from the water.

With acclimation complete, the new specimen introduced to your home aquarium, and any aggression issues addressed, allow the tank lights to remain off for a total of three to four hours before placing your aquarium system back on its normal light cycle. After the lights are on, continue to observe for aggression, and address as required with the kitchen strainer or egg crate divider.

Choice Aquariums works hard to bring you the highest quality aquatic life and makes every effort to ensure the safe delivery & excellent health of the specimens we provide. Unfortunately, even when good animal husbandry practices are followed, a loss of life can still occur. If you have lost a specimen you've purchased from us, please refer to our Choice 14-Day Warranty.