Acclimating new fish

Betty

Betty

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Curious how you do it? And do you do it differently depending on how long the fish have been in the bag, like from the lfs to home in a short amount of time compared to shipped in and fish in the bag a day or two?

After bringing the temperature up to match the tank do you net them and put them in or do you gradually add tank water to the bag first or do you drip acclimate?
 
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alexmuw

New Member
I've heard so many things about acclimating fish.

Personally, I drip acclimate them. Get a tube of airhosing and siphon water to the bag. Put a clip on it so it drips into the bag instead of a steady stream of water.

Some say NOT to add tank water to the bag, but I don't understand why not. I would think adding the fish directly to your tank could cause shock (different pH, hardness, etc...)
 
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censeoflife

New Member
I always add tank water to the bag, watch the fish, make sure none have some crazy adverse reaction over the next half hour or so then pop em right in.
 
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protocl

New Member
Add tank water into bag. Allow fish to adjust to tank temp.
As for PH shock; all of Seattle's water PH is about 7.
Both my tanks PH is 6.8 to 7.0
 
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hbluehunter

New Member
It really depends on the fish and who i got if from.. Like said above i'll add tank water to the bag, and then drain the water and dump, or if it's my rays i'll always drip them for awhile and then net and dump.. Or if it's a fish from a buddy that has a trusted tank i'll just dump.
 
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alexmuw

New Member
I have hard, well water, it's reliably around 7.8 pH. That's why i "drip-em" for a while. It makes perfect African water.
 
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sandnuka

New Member
If water parameters are very close to mine I float the bag... then net the fish and put it in... dont like to mix the water from the bag because it usually has allot of ammonia, nitrite depending how long they been in there...

Now if it is a fragile fish... or the water parameters are completly different... example, Got some discus and the water they were at was super hard and ph 8+, so i put them in a bucket.... would drip water from my tank in the bucket, then dump half the water out, and do it again.... took about 4 times (1 hour) then i netted them and put them in the tank. I have never lost a fish this way!
 
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regan24

New Member
For saltwater I'll drip acclimate. For a WHILE. The saltwater paramaters are so much more strict and deadly if not acclimated right.

For just freshwater fish it depends... Sometimes I'll just float and dump, sometimes I'll fill the bag up slowly with tank water, I don't think I've ever dripped for freshwater... Well I haven't PERSONALLY done it at home but elsewhere I have dripped angelfish and neons lol. Anyway I like the trickle bag method... Slowly let some tank water into the bag, that's the best way.
 
Paintguy

Paintguy

Active Member
I sing them a song to get used to the acoustics around the tank. Oh.. and a few flashes from the camera so they know what they are getting in to.
 
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regan24

New Member
Paintguy said:
I sing them a song to get used to the acoustics around the tank. Oh.. and a few flashes from the camera so they know what they are getting in to.
Click to expand...
Lmao. I like to haze them. Make them do a few keg stands before tossing them in, ya know, test their skill, prove themselves.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I have a dip and pour like in the LFS. I put the fish in there, bag water and all. Then I do the drip siphon over the course of about 15 minutes. Then I net them and add them to the tank. Seems to work pretty good for me.
 
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GoodnNuff

Member
I used to float for 15 mins then dump. I've lost far too many fish and introduced too many nasties to the tank that way. Now I drip for anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, and net the fish to transfer it into the new tank. Usually with the tank lights off and I'll often leave the tank dark for an hour or so after introducing the fish.
 
Cory

Cory

Administrator
Staff member
The prodecure recommended by Conway Tropical Fish. And Practiced by us.

Bring a styrofoam container, or hot/cold bag to have the fish bag put into for transport.

Open the bag the fish came in, and add water to it every 15 minutes for one hours. With the goal of doubling the water they were shipped in.

Then net them out of the bag and into the tank.

When dealing with territorial fish, before this process is started you would:
Do a 20% water change, rearrange all decor in the tank, to reset territories(great time to gravel vac)
Top it off, start acclimation process.
Before fish is netted into the aquarium, feed a large pellet food so that new inhabitants have a mouth full, then release new fish.
Leave the light on for the first night. When the light goes out, is when the territory disputes start. So allowing them to fully acclimate for at least 24 hours before they have to fight is best.

Few things I'd advise against. Floating the bag.. It stresses the fish out more. You'd be better of just dumping them in there. When a fish is floating, it's being harassed by other fish, and it can't hide, when it sees fish swim by, will lead to even more stress.

Also $20 fish add up. When you have a tank of 50 neons, and mollies and platies etc. All cheap fish, it only takes 1 fish with disease to kill all of them. So keep that in mind when you're calculating risk.

Obviously it's always advised to quarantine new fish first. But few practice this method.
 
Betty

Betty

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I always have one or two coolers in my car just for that purpose. :) You never know when you'll need one!

One thing you mentioned, Cory, that I've never done is to leave the lights on the first night. It makes sense now that I think about it. I've read to do the opposite, turn lights off when introducing new fish, but I know for a fact that my mbuna do a lot of fighting at night after the lights go off. I hear it sometimes and see the evidence in the morning.

Thanks everyone for your input.
 
Cory

Cory

Administrator
Staff member
Betty said:
I always have one or two coolers in my car just for that purpose. :) You never know when you'll need one!

One thing you mentioned, Cory, that I've never done is to leave the lights on the first night. It makes sense now that I think about it. I've read to do the opposite, turn lights off when introducing new fish, but I know for a fact that my mbuna do a lot of fighting at night after the lights go off. I hear it sometimes and see the evidence in the morning.

Thanks everyone for your input.
Click to expand...
Knowing your fish is always best, being that I deal in africans a majority of the time, it's recommended to leave the light on to reduce the overal stress/aggression. In a different tank, say of neons, or nocturnal catfish, it'd be beneficial to leave the light off when acclimating.
 
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Ash-Rayne

New Member
You wanna float them to allow the water temp to even out and gradually add tank water to the bag to even out the water chemistry in case the pH, water hardness, etc is different. I like the tube drip idea. But I'm curious how you'd do that while floating the bag to prevent the bag water from staying the wrong temperature.

Not sure where you heard that it's bad to add tank water to the bag...maybe you had it backwards? Adding tank water to the bag is GOOD. Puting the bag water into the TANK is bad. lol Once the fish has acclimated for at least half an hour to an hour, you should use a soft net to place them into the tank. Dumping the bag into the tank may seem like a less stressful means, but can affect the other inhabitants of the tank by changing the water chemistry (if it's a smaller tank) and netting the fish into the tank minimizes the transfer of unwanted debris, etc. The fish may look healthy, but the water may not be. There is always the chance of free-floating parasites and stuff that just hasn't attached itself to the fish yet (especially with pet store fish).
 
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