Acclimating fish to the tank.

[Aquarist20]

Kind of a dumb question but when acclimating new fish is it better to do it in the dark rather than having the lights on? What are everyones thoughts on this? Thanks

[iCam]

Hey. To be truthful, I'm not quite sure. But, I would think that turning the lights off would help it a little with stress.

[BraenDead]

If the fish is coming from a LFS with similar lighting, I dont think it would matter much. But if coming from low lighting or if shipped from online, definately give them time to adjust to the lighting.

Bob

[vapovick]

Bright lighting could shock them a little, fish from LFS will have been in light so I would think that they would not be affected as much as say a shipped fish that was in a box in the dark. if it was shipped I would open the box and allow the ambiet light to enter, and the fish to have a little time before placing them to 'float' in the tank.

I think the main reason we see to turn off the lights is to give a new comer to the tank time to find a spot to hide and adjust, other wise you toss him in there, were the other fish can easliy find him and give him some trouble...
./hth

[Aquarist20]

Yeah I was thinking low lights would be better. I know at Segrest Farms here in FL has like a "dark room" and another distributor here has a "dark room" also. They have those red bulbs in the room so you can see. Kinda interesting.