How long do you acclimate your new fish?

I hastily added some feeder fish for my turtle last night after a short acclimation and found them all dead this morning. Made me realize (again) how important acclimating fish is.

How long do you do it for and what technique works for you?

[smiley=yaknow.gif]


matt

 

Be thankful it was feeder fish

 

I empty the bag into a 3-5gallon bucket and only pour enough water for the fish's dorsal area barley breaks the surface, the using airline with a knot or 2 ( try to get a fast constant drip, faster than for coralsand inverts) i let the dripline sit until the bucket is full. the time varies but is usually 15-30 mins depending on the fish type and the difference of water(i always test the stores water to see the difference) parameters. After the bucket fills, its into the quarentine tank for as long as i see fit. then the same proceess when i put the fish in its final place but i dont use knots and give it 5-10 mins to acclimate. Then I drink a brew and come here to excercise my brain and fingers..... ;D

 

Yep.  

So how do you (and everybody else) acclimate your fish?

I typically float the bag for 10-15 minutes, then add maybe a 1/3 cup of water from the tank. Float for 5-10 more minutes and add another 1/3 cup. Then do one more round.

So I guess that's around 30-40 minutes. Never failed me. Except for the 15 version used on the feeder fish. (I also bought about 14 of them too, which probably didn't help.  )

Never tried the drip technique.


EDIT - LOOKS LIKE WE WERE TYPING AT THE SAME TIME sea_splender! I forgot about the bucket part. Good to know.

 

I float the bag for about 10 to 15 minutes to, but then I use a 10 cc syringe to put water in about every 3 to 5 minutes until full, then I pour some water out and fill it up again.

 

Well, I float the fish for a few minutes only to adjust the temp and in it goes. I do try not to let to much of the bag water into the tank.

I trust my LFS's stock and water params and so far have never had a problem or a loss

John

 

Matt

I'm more like you. I float the bag for 15min. and then use my baster, squirt some tank water in, wait 5-10 min, then do it again. Total time like you 40 - 50 min. ;D

 

in my plumbing I have a T part on the way back to the tank. on that is a ball valve and a short piece of flexible tubing. That is great, I use it for the water changes too, just put that in a 5 gallon bucket, turn it on, and turn it off when it gets full. no mess. I take that water for water testing too.
And of course (back to topic) for acclimating fish and everything else.
I put a big jug with fish and very little water (same for inverts) into my cabinet, turn on that tubing to a drip and wait. After about an hour I put the animal in the tank. Good part about that is, that it's dark and the fish isn't stressed because of light.
I also turn off the light in the tank for a while.

 

I have to admit, it really depends on were I purchased the fish. Some LFS use copper in the water of the fish only tanks, but maintain excellent water quality, while others have very low PH and so I try to acclimate based on previous Tank conditions.

Also I think Fish success has a lot to do with how long the fish has been in the Tank at the LSF. I attribute the loss of my Lemon Peal Angle to the fact that I was at the LFS hours after the fish had been acclimated to the LFS tank. Then I yanked it out and acclimated it again. It didn't have a chance. Unfortunately sometime the Rare and interesting fish suffer the same fate, as they are often scooped up too soon after their very long plane ride.

But Back to topic. I float fro 20 and than drip line until bag is double the Water volume. Then remove 1/2 the water then do it again. Then into the tank. After that I spend the next hour trying to find the new little bugger

J

 

Same as J for me, drip... remove half then drip again. Always depending on the fish too... sometimes if its an eazy fish to acclimate ill dump a cup or so of tank water in the bag, let it float and repeate.

Never had a bad experience with my technics. and there is only one LFS that i trust there water so i never dump the water in the bag in my tank except when its from that one LFS.

Marc.