Purchasing and adding livestock to your aquarium
At All Pond Solutions we are proud to offer an exceptional range of high quality livestock at the lowest prices. We source all of our aquatic livestock from ethical breeders of whom we know and trust and we treat all of our fish with utmost care and expertise.
Unfortunately, due to our high standards of care, customers are unable to enter the livestock premises and view the fish. All specimens are quarantined on site and are monitored meticulously and thoroughly for signs of poor health or distress.
If you have questions about our livestock before purchase, our dedicated livestock specialists would be more than happy to be in contact with you and talk to you about any of our species.
Before purchasing livestock for your fish tank, ensure you are well informed about aquarium care and have carried out certain procedures.
If you are just getting started with your first aquarium fish tank, you must make sure you have given your aquarium 4-6 weeks to cycle. This means that you have added all substrate, ornaments, plants, etc., filled the tank with water and allowed your equipment to run for the given time. This will give your filter the chance to clear all the bad bacteria in the water that would be harmful to most fish. Treatments such as aquarium bacteria balls are great for establishing beneficial bacteria in your fish tank filter and helping the cycling process along. It is also important to treat any new tap water you put into your aquarium with a water dechlorinator so that all the harmful chlorine / chloramine are removed.
Can I add all my new livestock at once?
If your fish tank is already cycled and you are adding new fish, it is best to introduce livestock gradually, only adding a few fish at a time dependant on the size of the aquarium. This allows your filter adequate time to adjust to the extra waste being added by the fish by building/increasing their bacterial colony, as more bacteria needs to grow in order to break down any extra waste.
If too many fish are added at once, this will overload your filtration system and the bacterial colony within the filter and fish tank. So say, you had 2 fish in your tank and went on to add 10, the aquarium would only have enough bacteria to cope with the waste of 2 fish. So by adding 10 fish, you are essentially increasing the amount of waste going into the aquarium times 5.
The filter needs time to grow enough bacteria to cope with this extra waste, so if it is not broken down- this will mean that Ammonia and Nitrite levels will increase and stay in your fish tank until enough bacteria has grown to break it down (which can take weeks). Ammonia and Nitrite is lethal to fish, and only a small amount (0.25ppm) is enough to kill them.
We recommend that you continuously test your water and keep track of your water parameters. If you test your water and Ammonia/Nitrites are high, perform a 20% water change every few days until ammonia and nitrites are brought back down to normal.
If the water quality in your aquarium is stable after a week or two, proceed to add fish gradually, a few at a time, spaced out by a couple of weeks at a time. I would recommend testing the water before adding new fish to ensure that it is safe to do so.
At All Pond Solutions we are proud to offer an exceptional range of high quality livestock at the lowest prices. We source all of our aquatic livestock from ethical breeders of whom we know and trust and we treat all of our fish with utmost care and expertise.
Unfortunately, due to our high standards of care, customers are unable to enter the livestock premises and view the fish. All specimens are quarantined on site and are monitored meticulously and thoroughly for signs of poor health or distress.
If you have questions about our livestock before purchase, our dedicated livestock specialists would be more than happy to be in contact with you and talk to you about any of our species.
Before purchasing livestock for your fish tank, ensure you are well informed about aquarium care and have carried out certain procedures.
If you are just getting started with your first aquarium fish tank, you must make sure you have given your aquarium 4-6 weeks to cycle. This means that you have added all substrate, ornaments, plants, etc., filled the tank with water and allowed your equipment to run for the given time. This will give your filter the chance to clear all the bad bacteria in the water that would be harmful to most fish. Treatments such as aquarium bacteria balls are great for establishing beneficial bacteria in your fish tank filter and helping the cycling process along. It is also important to treat any new tap water you put into your aquarium with a water dechlorinator so that all the harmful chlorine / chloramine are removed.
Can I add all my new livestock at once?
If your fish tank is already cycled and you are adding new fish, it is best to introduce livestock gradually, only adding a few fish at a time dependant on the size of the aquarium. This allows your filter adequate time to adjust to the extra waste being added by the fish by building/increasing their bacterial colony, as more bacteria needs to grow in order to break down any extra waste.
If too many fish are added at once, this will overload your filtration system and the bacterial colony within the filter and fish tank. So say, you had 2 fish in your tank and went on to add 10, the aquarium would only have enough bacteria to cope with the waste of 2 fish. So by adding 10 fish, you are essentially increasing the amount of waste going into the aquarium times 5.
The filter needs time to grow enough bacteria to cope with this extra waste, so if it is not broken down- this will mean that Ammonia and Nitrite levels will increase and stay in your fish tank until enough bacteria has grown to break it down (which can take weeks). Ammonia and Nitrite is lethal to fish, and only a small amount (0.25ppm) is enough to kill them.
We recommend that you continuously test your water and keep track of your water parameters. If you test your water and Ammonia/Nitrites are high, perform a 20% water change every few days until ammonia and nitrites are brought back down to normal.
If the water quality in your aquarium is stable after a week or two, proceed to add fish gradually, a few at a time, spaced out by a couple of weeks at a time. I would recommend testing the water before adding new fish to ensure that it is safe to do so.