All Animals at this Time:
1. Float the bag in your tank to get the animals used to the temperature in your aquarium.
2. Wait 15 minutes, or until the temperature has been equalized.
3. Add animals to the tank, discard shipping water and any towels used in the packaging.
4. DO NOT DRIP ACCLIMATE.
It is normal if many of the shipping bags have little water, and a wet paper towel. They were shipped that way purposefully.
Important: Snails may go through shock during shipping, and be closed when they arrive. You should give them time to come out of their shells and move around before deciding they didn't make the trip. If you are concerned for their health, please shoot us a picture and we can assist you.
Shrimp, Emerald and Pitho Crabs - may go through shock and be still if they have been shaken or are cold on arrival. Please acclimate to temperature for 30 minutes in the bag to see if they show movement even if they initially appear lifeless in the bag. Their mouths will be the first thing to move. After being temperature acclimated for a an hour these two species should be moving or otherwise responding to stimuli.
Top Snails, Cowries and Halloween Hermits must be righted when added to the aquarium. Top snails include Trochus, Astraea, Turbo and Turban Snails. They cannot reliably flip themselves over, especially when stressed.
You may find this to be different than the acclimation procedure you are used to carrying out. The reason we ask our customers to use this procedure is during the shipping process, ammonia levels in the shipping bags build, while the pH level goes down. As the ph goes down the toxicity of ammonia also goes down. However, when your tank water with normal pH is introduced to the shipping bags or they are exposed to fresh air the pH rises, so does the toxicity of the ammonia, and you will be poisoning the livestock. Please don't do this and certainly never let livestock sit out in buckets exposed to fresh air for a long period of time. It is even worse if you mix species from different bags into the same bucket because ammonia from some bags can then pollute all the species. Please don't acclimate them this way, we do not wish to accept the additional risk involved. We also do not cover obstacle course or climb out of XYZ challenges. Certain species, especially sand burrowing animals, will never climb out of the contraption and they will sit in water that is stagnating. We do not accept the extra risk associated with such challenges.
Many orders will contain empty hermit shells for hermits to move into free of charge, like those containing our quick crews with hermits. They will be similar in shape to snails we sell, please check for dry bags of empty shells before you add items to your tank.
Macroalgae and Mangroves:
1. Float the bag in your tank to get the macro used to the temperature in your aquarium.
2. Wait 15 minutes, or until the temperature has been equalized.
3. Add macroalgae and mangroves to your tank, discard any water.
If you have reason to believe that there is an issue with the health of your cleaners please notify us as soon as possible.