Even though many people don't consider it necessary...I drip acclimate everything that goes into my tank
. Here's how I do it-
- Get a piece of airline tubing, a large clean pitcher and a bucket
- Place the fish and the water from the bag into the pitcher
- Drop in a single drip of Prime to neutralize any ammonia that has built up in the bag
- Put the pitcher in the bucket to catch any overflow
- Start a syphon from your main tank with the airline tubing, tie a knot or two in the tubing so it slows the water flow and creates a slow drip...maybe one drip per second
- Let the tank water drip into the pitcher slowly
- Check back in a while, when the pitcher is full, pour out half of the water and let it refill a second time (you can do this many times depending on how long and slowly you want to acclimate)
- Once you feel he's acclimated thoroughly...net the fish (pouring the water from the pitcher through a net works well) and place the fish in the tank...don't let the store water get into you tank
- Then you enjoy your fish