How do you acclimate or not? Why?
- Thread starter msjinkzd
- Start date
My preferred method for shipped fish is to equalize temp in the unopened bag, then pour into a net and add to the tank.
I always temp matched my fish then open the bag up into a bucket and start drip aclimation for a good 20 minutes. But I was monitored the temp changes and really without a heater in the bucket your dropping temp really fast probaly from the flow of the drip. The drip had to be almost a open flow instead of a drip to not loose temp. And then what's the use in a minute you already have more tank water then bag water. I am supposed to pick up some small rainbowfish from a breeder this weekend, I was planning on doing drip acclimation but after reading this I think I am just going to float to temp match then net. The guy is local anyway so the chemistry of the water would be the same whether it mattered or not I would be covered.
Has anyone ever tested these theories? I would be interested to see someone setup a experiment. Take the dirtiest tank water you can find and bag it in a few different bags. Leave it for a couple days then try a different method for each. Open the bag up and test ammonia, temp, ph, and TDS which each method.
I can do this but I don't have a TDS meter, but I can do temp, ammonia, and ph and have a drip system I can use. Does it really matter to have fish in the bag, I don't want to stress any of my fish out if I can just use dirty tank water?
I can do this but I don't have a TDS meter, but I can do temp, ammonia, and ph and have a drip system I can use. Does it really matter to have fish in the bag, I don't want to stress any of my fish out if I can just use dirty tank water?
And that's just what I'm going to do tomorrow when my little Dario's come!
Pretty much that's what I've always done with any fish I bought or fish that a breeder friend gives me. No problem so far except with the cory's I bought at the beginning. None of them made it past 24 hours or so...twice!
Well, normally the pH in the bag water is quite low (from being driven down). From what I understand, as long as you are going to a higher pH than the bag water, the fish do really well.
I attended a talk by discus Hans a few weeks ago. He said even with the stendkers and even the wild discus he brings in, as long as the tank pH is at least marginally higher, he just plops and drops. I have done this now for the past year with all my imported fish and noticed a staggering increase in survival.
I don't currently have a tds meter either, but I have tested out the different methods taking note of the pH, ammonia, and survival rates. I will have to see if I can find my notebooks (if you saw my fishroom right now, you would understand why I say "see if I can find").
As for testing the theory, you would need a source of ammonia in the bag otherwise it would jsut stay dirty tank water.
ohh I see so pretty much you need fresh fish waste. Well I don't want to stress any of my fish so I guess that won't really work. Still a good read, I will be temp acclimating and dropping in from now on.
irishspy
There is a stargate in my aquarium.
I float the bag to equalize temperatures, then add 1 oz. of tank water every 15 minutes for 1-1.5 hours to get the fish adjusted. Then, net them out and into the tank.
