Acclimating Your Discus After Overnight Shipping

To acclimate your new discus fish I recommend the following:

When you buy discus fish from Discus.com I pack them 1 to 2 fish per bag with multiple bags in a Styrofoam shipping container with cardboard over wrap and heat packs. Have a clean bucket available for the acclimating process. Open the shipping container and the individual bags; pour them all into the clean bucket. After they are all in the clean bucket with the packing water they were shipped in, pour out three quarters of the packing water then start the acclimating process.

Add 2 cups of your aquarium water to the bucket of new fish once every 8 to 10 minutes, do this 3 to 4 times. Now after 30 to 40 minutes from the time you began net the fish from the bucket and place into your aquarium. Do not acclimate for over 40 minute as they can deplete the oxygen in the bucket and suffocate. Turn off the lights for 3 to 5 hours and let them continue to acclimate in the dark. That evening you can turn on the lights and give them a small feeding of frozen bloodworms. They will recognize this food and show some interest in eating then. By the next day they will feed more aggressively. Be sure your tank temperature is 86 to 88 degrees, these warmer conditions will help them rebound from their travel stress.

Special note: Do not be alarmed if some of your newly acclimated discus fish lay on the bottom for a while, often they are disoriented and cool from their trip. In a few hours, after they have warmed up they will all be upright exploring their new surroundings and acting normal.