Acclimatising

[rhiannon35]

Hi i have ten corydoras julii being delivered tomorrow by apc overnight delivery from england to northern ireland and could someone tell me do i feed them when i get them acclimatised to my tank or should i leave a day or two to settle in also when i acclimatise them what would be the best way and how long would it take as i dont want to harm my fish the ph in the lfs is 7.0 my tank is 7.8

 

[minxfishy]

The best Ive found to acclimatise is to put the bag with the fish into the tank water to let them adjust to the temp for roughly 30 mins.. Then every five minutes, take a cup of the bag water out (throw it away) and put a cup of the tank water into the bag. I do this for about 30 -45 minutes, then net the fish into the tank itself. (not a large cup)

Also leave the tanks lights off for several hours and give a small feed before you go to bed.

Other have different ways but this works for me

 

[Miss Wiggle]

generally the standard practice is to open the bag and float it in the tank for 15 mins or so, then add some water from the tank to the bag, leave it another 10 mins or so, add a bit more water (do this a couple of times) then release them into the tank, leave the tank lights out overnight and don't feed for 24hrs

here's quite an interesting topic about diff acclimitisation methods and their benefits/drawbacks if you fancy some further reading.

http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/20...cclimitisation/

 

[shibby]

all i do is float for 20 minutes then release, i dont do the whole mixing tank water unless im doing marines because 20-30 minutes of dipping wont really get the fish used to a new ph, just added stress of having a cup out and in every 5 mins, but thats just the way i do it and not lost one yet.

 

[shibby]

*doubled*

 

[Mr Bliss]

That was a very interesting article you linked, Miss Wiggle! It makes perfect sense too, since in nature fish constantly swim through thermoclines in the water and get exposed to quick pH and temperature changes every time it rains. But they don't get naturally exposed to high levels of ammonia or sudden changes in CO2.

Logically, it'd follow that the higher the pH of your tank water is, the more dangerous it would be to mix it into the bag (on top of the pH change caused by the loss of CO2). Ammonia gets ~10 times more poisonous when pH goes up by 1 (or more accurately, the proportion of ammonia to ammonium gets ~10 times higher). In an extreme case, going from pH 6 to pH 8, the proportion of toxic ammonia would increase 100-fold. Temperature affects this as well: higher temperature means higher proportion of toxic ammonia, but to a lesser degree (about 50% increase when going from 22C to 28C).

I think this is really worth some consideration. One 20 gram (4-5") fish that's been fed sort of generously could easily produce 12mg of ammonia during a longer transport (assume it has eaten 2% of its body weight the day before, or 400mg; 3% of typical fish food ends up being converted to ammonia). How much water is in a typical bag? Two liters? That'd be 6 ppm of total ammonia+ammonium in the bag; major toxicity if exposed to anything but pretty acidic pH!

Am I missing something? Because looking at those numbers, I think I'll avoid doing any water mixing (and premature bag-opening!) in the future, following the instructions in the article Miss Wiggle posted instead.

By the way, if anyone's interested, I ran into this handy ammonia/ammonium proportion calculator.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

If I get home with a new bag full, I just check if my tank water is warmer than the bag water, I just release, but if the tank water is colder, I let them float until the water temps have stabilised..... I Always say that you can take cold water to a fish (water changes) but you cannot take a fish to cold water....

 

[Miss Wiggle]

That was a very interesting article you linked, Miss Wiggle! It makes perfect sense too, since in nature fish constantly swim through thermoclines in the water and get exposed to quick pH and temperature changes every time it rains. But they don't get naturally exposed to high levels of ammonia or sudden changes in CO2.

Logically, it'd follow that the higher the pH of your tank water is, the more dangerous it would be to mix it into the bag (on top of the pH change caused by the loss of CO2). Ammonia gets ~10 times more poisonous when pH goes up by 1 (or more accurately, the proportion of ammonia to ammonium gets ~10 times higher). In an extreme case, going from pH 6 to pH 8, the proportion of toxic ammonia would increase 100-fold. Temperature affects this as well: higher temperature means higher proportion of toxic ammonia, but to a lesser degree (about 50% increase when going from 22C to 28C).

I think this is really worth some consideration. One 20 gram (4-5") fish that's been fed sort of generously could easily produce 12mg of ammonia during a longer transport (assume it has eaten 2% of its body weight the day before, or 400mg; 3% of typical fish food ends up being converted to ammonia). How much water is in a typical bag? Two liters? That'd be 6 ppm of total ammonia+ammonium in the bag; major toxicity if exposed to anything but pretty acidic pH!

Am I missing something? Because looking at those numbers, I think I'll avoid doing any water mixing (and premature bag-opening!) in the future, following the instructions in the article Miss Wiggle posted instead.

By the way, if anyone's interested, I ran into this handy ammonia/ammonium proportion calculator.

Jury's still out for me but it's certainly food for thought isn't it!

I've actually not had the chance to try that method myself (been a while since I got any new fish) but we may be getting some this weekend so I might try it.

 

[rhiannon35]

Well my juliis arrived about an hour ago i am in the process of acclimatizing them.Six of them are going buck mad round the bag floating in the tank and the other four dont seem to be moving i tested the bag water ph its 6.6 and my tank is round the 7.6 mark today any advice on what i should be doing to keep stress at a minimum

 

[lilfishie]

just keep adding water to the bag bit by bit, keep the lights off on the tank

 

[rhiannon35]

Hi lilfishie how long do you think acclimatising should take as im off to work in a hours time.The fish should of been delivered at noon today which would of giving me plenty of time.

 

[rhiannon35]

Well i decided to skip work LOL to look after my new babys they seem to have sttled ok so far apart from one who hasnt really moved at all.I just wanted to ask is it normal for them to be darting about they are so lively and comical to watch they also seem to be trying to get to the top but not quite making it as they are still quite small are they trying to get air or what is going on

 

[OldMan47]

If your fish are being shipped a long distance over a period of days, the "plop and drop" method is usually recommended. What it amounts to is letting the fish stay in the sealed bag and get their temperature right, then open the bag, net the fish and place them immediately into the tank and pour the shipping water down the drain. It sounds like a rough way to handle the fish but they will do better than using other methods because of the CO2 issue that was addressed in the link.
If your fish are only in the bag an hour or two, it is best to drip acclimate them. In that case, the CO2 will not have become an issue so a nice gradual acclimation can take place. To do a drip, take a container and open the bag, fish and all, into the container. Get a piece of air tubing and tie a loose knot in it. Get a siphon going into your container from the fish tank. As soon as the siphon is working, snug up the knot so that water only flows at one or two drops per second. Once the volume in the container is 3 or 4 times what it started, the fish will be in water that is almost tank water. At that point you can net them into your tank and pour the container down the drain.

 

[rhiannon35]

Well the plop and drop seems to have worked ok so far i had the fish delivered from england to an island of northern ireland where i live apc overnight shipping they have settled in nicely even the one that was a bit lathargic is scooting about like nobodys business he hadnt moved from i put him in yesterday afternoon but when i came down this morning he was the most active.Question about feeding they are abot 3-4cm plus tail how much would they need and whats the best food when they are so small.