Adjusting new fish?

Question

What is the proper way to adjus new fish to a tank, I was told that taking a little water every 10 mins and adding it to the bag isnt the correct way, What is the correct way?

Thanks.

Answer 1

i allow the bag to sit in the tank from 30mins to 2 hours.

Then i open the bag and every 5 mins add some tank water.

When i feel that the fish is good, i net the fish out and add it to the tank, that way none of the bag water goes into my tank

Edit: ok.... maybe i should of put it depends where u get it from, thats what i do when i get my fish imported from overseas, as they been in the bag a long time and are gases.... but their is nothing wrong with what i do ffor that thumbs down.

Answer 2

Floating the bag and releasing as everyone else has been saying is most likely fine. if you just brought home an expensive fish then i would go a little further and set up a drip. A lot of the time the reason some fish are more expensive is because either they arent very hardy fish so keeping in captivity is more difficult or its a rare species or a combo of the 2. So with a cheaper fish (in most cases) should be fine just floating the bad maybe adding some water and realeasing over a 15-30min time span. With the more expensive fish or inverts id do a drip acclimation from anywhere from 30 min -2 hours. I def feel when you drip acclimate they go into the tank already more lively and seems to reduce stress on the animal. Most will say its not needed but you may change your mind if you bring home say $100 fish and it dies with in 2 days leaving you wonder if you took the extra time to dripp acclimate it would it still be alive. So depending on what your adding to the tank should determine how you acclimate.

Answer 3

Acclimating New Arrivals
Once you get your new, healthy specimens home, the next challenge is to keep them healthy. It is alwas advisable to quarantine all new arrivals for 2 to 4 weeks before adding them to the display to be sure they really are healthy. Diseases often take one to two weeks or longer to show themselves. After quarantine, proper acclimation is the key stocking the tank successfully. First, do not rush the process. Fish are extremely sensitive to rapid changes to temperature and water chemistry.

At the very least, turn off the lights and float the shipping bag in the aquarium long enough for the water temperature to match that of the aquarium, a minimum of 30 minutes. When releasing the fish into the aquarium, net it out of the bag. Never add fish store water into your tank!

A better approach to acclimation is to float the bag for fifteen minutes (again, in a dark tank to limit stress) then add 1/4 cup of aquarium water. Repeat this every 15 minutes for an hour, then net the fish into the aquarium.

The best way to acclimate fish is to place the shipping bag below the level of the aquarium and slowly drip in aquarium water through a narrow siphon hose. Airline tubing works well for this purpose. Tying a loose knot in the tubing allows you to control the flow rate. You want to aim for a very slow trickle: one drop every second or two. Let this go until the bag is full (it's not a bad idea to put the bag in a bucket to catch any overflow if you forget about it). At this point you can net the fish into its new home.

Answer 4

I'll tell you something from my twenty years of keeping fish - people like to overcomplicate.

Here is what you need to do. Float the bag in the water for 15 minutes to let the temperature match that of the tank. That little bag of water takes no longer then this to adjust, so keeping it in there for an hour or two is overkill.

Then, scoop the fish out of the bag and into your tank. Drain the remaining water.

That's it. You can make it as comlicated as you wish, but don't need to. I never go through all the crazy stuff sometimes recommended, I never loose fish upon introduction or get any other problems either.

Answer 5

You could do a drip line. 1. Put the fish and the bags water into a bucket close to your tank. 2. Take airline tubing. 3. Weight it down on one end. 3. A bit before the other end (that isnt weighted) tie a knot and make sure water from your aquarium just drips not fast, slow but not to slow. 4. To get it to drip the one in the aquarium move it up and down to get the air pushed through by the water and it should start to drip. 5. Make sure the knot is tight enough. 6. Leave it going for about 2 hours. 7. Take the fish out with a net and put them in your tank. <--- Only do this when the pH at the store was much different from your tanks pH. (example: my stores was 6.4 mine was 7.4)

The simpliest and easy way to acclimate is to set the bag with the fish and water in it on top or in the aquarium water for 15-20 minutes. Then take them out of that water and put them in your aquarium. Then your good to go! :]

Answer 6

I always float the bag in the tank water for about 15 minutes. Then I pour out the water in the bag and place the fish in the tank using a net. Some people float the bag and then slowly add tank water to the bag until the water is about the same as in the tank.

Answer 7

Float them for about 20 minutes and gradually add tankwater to their bag. When the bag is half tank water and half store water, scoop the fish from the bag and let it into the tank. Good luck!

Nosoop4u

By the way, I copied this directly from one of my previous posts that was exactly the same question. Please don't be lazy.

Answer 8

I always float the bag containing the fish on the top of the tank, and then do partial water changes every fifteen minutes. Keep it up for about an hour or so. You just want to make sure the fish has time to adjust to the temperature and water in the new tank so it doesn't go into shock.

Answer 9

I've always been told to put the bag in the tank (with the fish in it) for about 20 minutes, then release them into the tank.

Answer 10

Usually, the best way is to place the bag into the aquarium to let the temperature adjust slowly. However, if you have other fish that could be agressive, they could bite the bag until it breaks. If the fish is being put in a colony, yes, put the bag in the aquarium, but if it's alone in the tank, it's not really necissary, inless the temperature gradient is very steep.