Best way to acclimate fish?

[Shiina107]

This is simply a question open to all to give their opinions about acclimating!!

I would like to restock a tank of mine that has gone through a small crash (sadly) and would like to see about picking up 10 bleeding heart tetras. They would go through a whole acclimation and quarantining process however due to their expensive price per fish, i would really like to just know if most are wild caught or not, i read breeding in the home aquaria is very rare and i know that wild caught fish are less likely to adapt to things like pH and simply die. My pH in my water stays at around 8-8.2 and my water is actually very very soft because it goes through water softener. I keep all sorts of tetras, loaches, some dwarf puffers and bettas, even angels and different catfish. Everything i have bought so far seems to love my water! But I am just nervous i guess to spend upwards of 40+ dollars on a group of these fish to have them die in the quarantine period. x,x

If anyone knows the best way to acclimate fish let me know! Everyone has different ways and thoughts on the subject so i'd love to hear it. Do you drip your fish? Simply float them? Or like Rachel O'Leary and just drop and plop? Personally, i have used all these methods and had equal amounts of success tbh. Although when i simply "plop and drop", i find the fish enter the tank less stressed as odd as that sounds. They often take food right away and rather than hide and become visually stressed, they seem to be exploring their new home and inspecting current inhabitants.

 

[King Fisher]

Most fish bags are half full with water when you get new fish. I usually open them, float them, fill the bag 80% full of water with my tank water, and clip the top of the bag to the tank with a chip bag clip. I'll continue to float it until the water in the bag is within 1 degree of the tank water. I then put them right in the tank. I just did this a couple months ago with 6 discus, 30 Cardinal Tetras, 30 rasboras, and 15 wild caught Adolfo Cory cats without any problems or losses. I've been doing it this way for several years now.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello Shi...

Don't know that there's a "best way". I take 20 minutes to get my new fish used to their new water. I turn out the tank lights. Fish calm down at dusk, so this makes the process easier for them. I rinse off the bag from the store and float it in the tank. I'm not a fan of quarantine tanks. If you do a good job of selecting fish, you don't need it. Besides, healthy fish in pure water conditions aren't going to be infected by something. Anyway, during the 20 minutes, I pour a little of the tank water into the bag a few times. It doesn't take long for the bag water to come to the same temperature as the water in the tank. At the end of the time, I tip the bag a little just to allow the new fish to swim out. Then, I throw away the rest of the bag water. I don't worry about a little water from the bag getting into the tank. Again, healthy fish in pure water conditions aren't going to catch anything. I turn the tank lights back on and feed the fish a little, so they can start getting used to their new roommates.

Easy peazee,

B

 

[Andy Sager]

This is simply a question open to all to give their opinions about acclimating!!

I would like to restock a tank of mine that has gone through a small crash (sadly) and would like to see about picking up 10 bleeding heart tetras. They would go through a whole acclimation and quarantining process however due to their expensive price per fish, i would really like to just know if most are wild caught or not, i read breeding in the home aquaria is very rare and i know that wild caught fish are less likely to adapt to things like pH and simply die. My pH in my water stays at around 8-8.2 and my water is actually very very soft because it goes through water softener. I keep all sorts of tetras, loaches, some dwarf puffers and bettas, even angels and different catfish. Everything i have bought so far seems to love my water! But I am just nervous i guess to spend upwards of 40+ dollars on a group of these fish to have them die in the quarantine period. x,x

If anyone knows the best way to acclimate fish let me know! Everyone has different ways and thoughts on the subject so i'd love to hear it. Do you drip your fish? Simply float them? Or like Rachel O'Leary and just drop and plop? Personally, i have used all these methods and had equal amounts of success tbh. Although when i simply "plop and drop", i find the fish enter the tank less stressed as odd as that sounds. They often take food right away and rather than hide and become visually stressed, they seem to be exploring their new home and inspecting current inhabitants.

It all depends on the fish you are acclimating. Some fish need more time to acclimate to a new water than others. It all depends on where the fish come from, how sensitive they are change and how close, parameter wise, the 2 waters are to each other.
It's always better to have a new fish die in Quarantine than in your main tank imo. You don't know what they may be bringing into the main tank.

 

[rlederer]

On wild caught vs tank bred fish - I'd say the majority of fish one gets from your local fish store are tank bred. Certainly most of the common fish - tiger and most other barbs, zebra danios, guppies, angels, discus, bettas, some gouramis, many cichlids, many tetras, etc. are bred at fish farms for the hobbyists. And breeding in home aquaria is not at all rare. I have bred dozens of species at home. My problem is getting rid of the offspring.

As far as acclimating, I just float the bag of new fish in the tank to equilibrate the temperature, then strain the fish out of it, discard the water they came in, and dump them in the tank. I don't ever remember having a problem.

 

[Shiina107]

I’m so glad I got so many people engaged! I loved reading all your replies!! So interesting how one aspect of the hobby has so many ways of doing it!

 

[Barliman]

Another vote for plop and drop here. Never had a problem with it, but, as the discussion shows, there are a lot of good ways to acclimatize your fish.

Good choice on the Bleeding Hearts, btw. I love those fish.