acclimating a new fish

[pennybabe01]

what the average period to acclimate. I just bought a royal gramma and have the do the "add a 1/4cup every 15mins". I bought another royal gramma about 2hrs ago and it died before i even got done with the process. all of my levels are good and my lfs replaced my fish for free. Just didnt know if anyone had any suggestions.

 

[Atari]

Float the bag for at least a half hour before opening it. Then set up a drip using airline tubing and drip water from the tank into the bag for about another 2 hours. During this time you can re-float the bag in the tank for a few minutes if you think the temp might be dropping.

If you have a refractometer you can keep comparing the salinity in the bag to your tank.. once they match you should be good to add the fish.

 

[pennybabe01]

i have no clue how to do the drip method. but thanx for the idea on floating the bag.

 

[gear-head]

Drip method is superior IMO

Here's a link to the article explaining it. The only thing I would add, is that I put a small 25w heater in the bucket if I'm dripping for more than a few hours (in the case of inverts for example)

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=18

 

[Atari]

I think it's important to find out what salinity your LFS keeps its tanks at. If it's much lower than yours then you will need to do a slower, longer acclimation.