Shipping can be safe for guppies when acclimation is calm and consistent. Most problems happen at the last step: people panic, rush, or over-complicate acclimation. Shipped fish arrive stressed, and stress makes them more sensitive to sudden changes. The best acclimation method is simple, gentle, and avoids avoidable shocks.
Top acclimation mistakes
- Rushing temperature: dumping fish into a tank with different temperature shocks them.
- Over-long drip acclimation in dirty bag water: ammonia dynamics can change as oxygen increases.
- Pouring bag water into the tank: it can carry waste and trigger issues in smaller systems.
- Bright lights + busy tank mates: new fish get hammered by stress on entry.
The simple acclimation version that works
- float the sealed bag 15–20 minutes for temperature matching
- open bag into a small bucket and add small amounts of tank water over 20–30 minutes
- net fish into the tank and discard the bag water
- keep lights low and feed tiny amounts once fish settle
First-week rules
Don’t do deep cleaning, rescapes, or big changes in the first week. Let fish settle, watch behaviour and appetite, and keep the environment calm. If anything looks off, test ammonia and nitrite first. Water stability is the best “medicine” in the first few days.
Acclimation doesn’t need drama. A stable, simple routine consistently produces better outcomes than complicated methods that keep fish in shipping water too long.
