Acclimation Tips

[DomH]

Hey all,

Today I wanted to go over acclimation and find your tips and opinions on it.
My way:
First, all I do is float the bag to get the temperature close, then I dump the fish into a net and let the water go into a bucket and put the fish in the tank. The reason for this instead of drip acclimation they are still going to get the shock but they won't be banging against the bag and stressing out even greater. I find this way of acclimation is far superior to drip acclimation because for drip acclimation to have any actual effects you would drip for say 1 every 2 seconds for at least a day.

If you any have a disagreement just post it down below I will not get offended.

Thanks All


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[Byron]

Your method is followed by some, and supposedly without problems.  How much luck plays into this is unknown.  Different species of fish can have very different reactions.
 
I have never used drip acclimation, but I do mix the tank water with the bag water, usually twice, sometimes three or four times, depending upon the species.  I do this in the bag (removing some of the store water first may be helpful, depending upon how much they put in the bag).  The process takes up to an hour, less with just two mixes.  I wait 15 minutes or so between mixes, adding roughly a cup of tank water each mix.  This results in a water mix of 2, 3 or 4 parts tank to 1 part initial bag water accordig to the frequency.  At the end I net the fish out of the bag and into the tank.  Like you, I never allow the bag water to enter the tank.
 
The problem the drip/mix methods are intended to eliminate is shock to the fish.  This can be caused by pH, TDS, GH (this is actually part of TDS), and KH (temperature already being dealt with).  It could be logically argued that the store tank water is likely to be much worse for TDS (total dissolved solids) than the home aquarium water, and as the fish are consequently going into much better water, the effect will be less than the reverse.  But there is more to it than this.
 
Fish have a complex series of internal processes to maintain a stable homeostasis.  When almost any aspect of the water chemistry changes, they have to adjust accordingly.  Take pH for instance.  The pH of the fish's blood must be maintained at a constant level, along with the acid/alkali balance in the blood.  Water continually enters the fish via osmosis through every cell, as well as in the gills.  This can have a devastating effect on the homeostasis if the environmental water suddenly changes.
 
I admit that mixing the bag/tank water in as short a period as an hour may not fully compensate for significant changes.  But it seems a bit safer than no water mix.  It will be interesting to see others' opinions.
 
Byron.

 

[DomH]

Thanks for responding and I have done it like this also. As you said it depends on the fish and where it comes from. If I'm getting it from a breeder I might put a cup of water in, but if it's from a Big box store I'm not wasting time pouring water into worst water.


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[cowgirluntamed]

I'm also interested in this topic. For the most part, if I've bought from a store, I do the mix suggestion that Byron does. Though I normally do it every 5 mins over the course of an hour, give or take. But I want to buy fish online soon and they will be shipped overnight. I don't remember now who did the video...but it was at a big fish thing and the question was asked to a few different big fish people. They said to temp acclimate them, then put them into a net and straight to the tank. It had something to do that while the bag is closed...that the ph and other stuff is not toxic but once opened...everything quickly turns toxic. I'm not sure how this is...but I'm still going back and forth on just dumping the fish into the tank or doing the mix method. I don't want the fish to die either way and have me waste my money. (Another note...I'm going for tetra species but I have moderately hard water. I'm sticking to the ones that can handle it a bit better though, if that helps.)

 

[DHJac]

Since I have a brackish tank at about 1.012 SG and all the LFS keep them in fresh water, I have to drip acclimate over about 1 hr to give them time to adjust to the salt.  I put the fish and all the store water in a bucket and slowly increase the drip rate over the hour.  When I'm ready to add them to the tank, the method I have found best is to use a small tupperware bowl to transfer them.  This seems to be a lot less stressful than netting them and minimizes the amount of store water that gets into my tank.  I just push them towards the bowl with a net and they happily swim right into the clear container.  

 

[Ch4rlie]

Have to admit when i first started the hobby I did do the drip acclimatisation as this was the advice given at the time and like many myths, i wholeheartedly believed it until I did further research.
 
Drip acclimitasation only really works if you are recieving wild fish from far different water types, and even then it will take far more than an hour to fully acclimitsise them to your specific water parameters, more likely to take several weeks if not months. It entirely depends and its something that I would not recommend the average fishkeeper to do. Much research and knowing how tds, gh, kh works would be a requirement at least.
 
However, I have no argument at all for those who do water and temp acclimisating with tank water into the LFS bag, but whenever I do this (rarely tbh) I tend to wash the outer bag with tap water as usually the LFS staff will put the bag into their display tank water whilst netting the fish you require. So pathogens could possibly be on the LFS bag after this.
 
But now, if I have bought fish from a nearby LFS, within an hour or hour and half max, I simply net the fish straightaway into the tank. Main reason is, if your tank water is good, at correct range of ph, temp and hardness for the specific specie you hvae bought, then there should be no reason why the fish cannot cope with this at all. The only time a fish will react, is if the tank water temperature is at or above their extreme range will you see any affects.
 
Much less stressful this way than being in the bag with its own ammonia and cramped confines for any longer than it has to imho.
 
In fact, if the livestock has been in the same bag and water over a considerable period of time, over 24 hours, opening the bag actually has an affect on the ammonia level in the water, the oxygen creates a reaction with the bag water therefore ammonia and ph levels will be at dangerous levels once the bag is opened. There is much more to it than that but basically that is what can happen.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

 
In fact, if the livestock has been in the same bag and water over a considerable period of time, over 24 hours, opening the bag actually has an affect on the ammonia level in the water, the oxygen creates a reaction with the bag water therefore ammonia and ph levels will be at dangerous levels once the bag is opened. There is much more to it than that but basically that is what can happen.

So...it's best to just get the fish in the tank asap then? After temp acclimatising anyway? Would it be ok in my case for the tetras and my moderately hard water? I have no idea what they are kept in from the website I'm going to get them from(petsolutions). I just want to know I won't kill my fish! Lol. (Glowlight tetras, von Rio flame tetras, neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, and peppered corys.)

 

[Byron]

 

 
In fact, if the livestock has been in the same bag and water over a considerable period of time, over 24 hours, opening the bag actually has an affect on the ammonia level in the water, the oxygen creates a reaction with the bag water therefore ammonia and ph levels will be at dangerous levels once the bag is opened. There is much more to it than that but basically that is what can happen.

So...it's best to just get the fish in the tank asap then? After temp acclimatising anyway? Would it be ok in my case for the tetras and my moderately hard water? I have no idea what they are kept in from the website I'm going to get them from(petsolutions). I just want to know I won't kill my fish! Lol. (Glowlight tetras, von Rio flame tetras, neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, and peppered corys.)
 

 
This seems a situation where you have to weigh which method will be worse than the other.  If I were receiving fish by mail, I would tend to open the bag and float it in the QT so that the fish can swim out.  I know this is getting the ammonia and pathogens in the QT, but it is probably less stressful on the fish.
 
A rise in temperature is less stress than a drop, and chances are your tank will be as warm or warmer than the shipment water, so that is less of a concern.  The species mentioned are somewhat hardier than would be many others, and almost certainly will be tank bred fish, not wild caught.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

 
This seems a situation where you have to weigh which method will be worse than the other.  If I were receiving fish by mail, I would tend to open the bag and float it in the QT so that the fish can swim out.  I know this is getting the ammonia and pathogens in the QT, but it is probably less stressful on the fish.
 
A rise in temperature is less stress than a drop, and chances are your tank will be as warm or warmer than the shipment water, so that is less of a concern.  The species mentioned are somewhat hardier than would be many others, and almost certainly will be tank bred fish, not wild caught.

Hmm....i could always float the unopened bag for a bit to get the temp right too. Then open the bag to let them out if I did it that way. I suppose it depends on how they look when i get them if I want to put the bag water in the tank or not too. I do plan on using some Dr. Tim's One and Only when I get them too even though at least in one tank that will hold part of them just fine. I figured it may be a bit less stressful to give the bacteria load an extra boost. The other tank I am going to use won't be as established so I will want the bacteria as well.(10 gallon with one baby bristlenose pleco). I planned on doing two sets of ordering. 2 groups in the established 20 gallon and one group in the ten. Then one group per tank in the next order. (The neons will be last order and they will stay in the 20.)

 

[Ch4rlie]

This seems a situation where you have to weigh which method will be worse than the other.  If I were receiving fish by mail, I would tend to open the bag and float it in the QT so that the fish can swim out.  I know this is getting the ammonia and pathogens in the QT, but it is probably less stressful on the fish.
 
A rise in temperature is less stress than a drop, and chances are your tank will be as warm or warmer than the shipment water, so that is less of a concern.  The species mentioned are somewhat hardier than would be many others, and almost certainly will be tank bred fish, not wild caught.

 
This is actually a method that is fairly common amongst experienced keepers and breeders from what I've heard anyway. The idea usually being that these are the only fish in the tank and the pathogens will not affect any other livestock anyway. ANd of course with good maintenance and water changes etc, these pathogens should not get any worse.
 
Keeping a close eye on using this method and knowing what to look out for is essential really.
 
Agreed about the temperature, of course if just a degree or two difference either way, should be fine but always worth watching out for, and yes, most fish bought now are tank bred, wild caught are now becoming more scarce, for good reason.
 
 

Hmm....i could always float the unopened bag for a bit to get the temp right too. Then open the bag to let them out if I did it that way. I suppose it depends on how they look when i get them if I want to put the bag water in the tank or not too. I do plan on using some Dr. Tim's One and Only when I get them too even though at least in one tank that will hold part of them just fine. I figured it may be a bit less stressful to give the bacteria load an extra boost. The other tank I am going to use won't be as established so I will want the bacteria as well.(10 gallon with one baby bristlenose pleco). I planned on doing two sets of ordering. 2 groups in the established 20 gallon and one group in the ten. Then one group per tank in the next order. (The neons will be last order and they will stay in the 20.)

 
There are ,at the moment, no real hard and fast rules about any of these methods, there is a number of variables that must be taken into account, Number of fish in the bag, ratio of how much water v how much air, fish species, length of time of transportation, temperature/weather during transportation and so on and so forth
 
So it really is a matter of determing, as Byron says, in assessing and what you feel would be best course of action to take as each situation could be different.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks Ch4lie! And Byron! Lol. I guess I will cross that road when I come to it. But at least I have some tools to be able to accomplish it!