Ensuring appropriate water parameters and environmental requirements is fundamental to reduce tank mortality.
There are a few factors that you should keep in mind when getting ready for the arrival of new fish.
Research beforehand so you know the desired water values for the species you’re interested in and make sure your aquarium is in the acceptable range.
Do a water change the day before new fish arrive to remove excess nitrate. You don’t want to have to do this after their arrival, as you’ll want to leave them alone as much as possible to prevent stress. On the day of purchase, do a final water test to make sure your aquarium water is safe.
In order to ensure that the water quality is right your fish, you should test the nitrate, hardness, nitrite, ammonia, pH, alkalinity, and temperature on a regular basis. When on the water tests have been done, then only should you consider adding your fish to your aquarium.
New fish added to an aquarium increases the biological load on the filter system, so only a few new fish should be added to the aquarium at a time.
Placing too many fish at once can overload the biofilter and cause fish loss due to ammonia increases.
Some species of fish, corals or invertebrates have high maintenance requirements.
See the description of each individual species for more information on water parameters.
Tank's water chemistry must be within the following parameters:
Temperature: 72 - 80 degrees F and constant
pH: 8.1 - 8.4
Specific Gravity: 1.023 - 1.026
Ammonia: 0.0 ppm
Alcalinity: 7-10 dKH
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Nitrate: 3 - 20 ppm
Phosphate: 0,03 - 0,2 ppm
Calcium: 400 - 450 ppm
Magnesium: 1250 - 1350 ppm
Iodine: 0.06 - 0.10 ppm
Strontium: 8-14 ppm