Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Introducing New Fish into Tank

2K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  Snoeflayke 
#1 ·
I'm curious as to how people introduce new fish into the tank when bringing them home from the pet store. Here is what I do:

1) Keep fish bag sealed and place directly into tank and let it float for about 10-15 minutes so the temperature of the water inside the bag gets closer to the tank temp.

2) Open the bag and take a cup of water from the tank and slowly pour it into the bag of fish and clothespin the open bag to hood of tank.

3) Wait another 5 minutes or so and then transfer the fish from the bag into the tank.

Any other tips, suggestions or methods people use?
 
#2 ·
I notice a far greater success rate of acclimating fish without killing them when I do the dip method. I will float them for 15 min or so and then usually just let it drop slowly for an hour or two. I'll then take the temperature and if its not the same I'll take whatever container I am dripping the fish in and float it for 15 min. I usually do this for all fish, even hardy fish, but if I'm being lazy and it's a hardy fish and prefers high pH/hardness (like my water) I will sometimes do the float, and add water. I usually add a cup of water, about 20 min (usually because I forget) later add another up, for about 3-4 times until it is full and then I dump out most of it into the sink and add another cup or water, maybe one more cup, and then I net them and put them in the tank. An interesting method I would consider trying is testing your aquarium water and them the water in the bag, and seeing how far apart the parameters are. Then you can judge how much acclimating they need.
 
#3 ·
I do almost the same thing, only I add tank water a few times so it takes maybe 20 minutes to get the fish in the tank. I've never lost a fish to acclimation - even the ones I get shipped from elsewhere in the country.
 
#4 ·
Do you guys use a quarantine tank to make sure the new fish doesn't carry disease or directly into the main tank?
 
#5 ·
ALWAYS. Every new fish is given a two week heat treatment for ich and spends at least a month in quarantine.
 
#6 ·
Yes, please get a QT tank, if you don't want your current tank to go to hell...
 
#9 ·
Relaxedcrazyman, I was considering doing something similar but I realized you won't really be able to observe the fish that way. How will you know if they have a disease or how they are doing? You'll basically only be able to tell that they are alive. A 10 gallon tank is probably 15$. According to the petsmart website a lidless 10 gallon is on sale for 12.99$, so you can get a general idea of cost. I think it's worth the investment, and you can probably find somewhere to keep it that it won't be too unsightly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Crazyfish
#10 ·
I always take forever to add new fish. I wait until the temperatures match and add in a little bit of new water at a time. This interval slowly increases until the bag is full. Then I net out the fish and release them. I also do the extra time to let my current fish get used to the new ones (I've found they're more tolerant of new species after this). It takes awhile but works fairly well.
 
#11 ·
I've also found that if I feed the fish the day that I put new fish into the aquarium, they usually don't eat. They need time to adjust to the new settings and the old fish sometimes get stressed from the addition. So I give a full day or two after adding new fish before feeding the tank.
 
#12 ·
Yes that's a good practice.
 
#13 ·
I'm terrible. I float the bags for at least 15 minutes, but after that, I pour the bag out into a net and add the fish into the tank.

I guess it helps that I get most of my fish from work, and I do the water testing there myself, and I keep an eye on the fish.

It's been ages since I've lost anything other than some iffy guppies. I guess I'm lucky like that.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top