Acclimating Fish In Your Aquarium With Plants
Once you have an aquarium set-up, adding fish to the mix can be quite fun. However, while you’ve carefully set up their future home, you need to make sure it is a safe and easy transition for any new fish. The last thing you want to do it acclimate your new pets incorrectly, which can lead to shock and stress. We have two options to effectively acclimate your new fish with your existing aquarium with plants and other fish.
Use the “Floating Method”
When you purchase a new fish or many schooling fish, you will take them home in a plastic bag from the pet store. The “floating method” entails leaving the fish in the bag, and placing the bag inside the tank and letting it float in the aquarium water for fifteen minutes, so the water in the bag becomes the same temperature as the water in the tank.
After fifteen minutes, you can cut open the bag and slowly start to add a half cup of water from the tank into the bag every four minutes. Once the bag is full, pour out about half of the water and place the bag back into the tank to float. Again, start adding water every four minutes until the bag is full again. After the bag fills again, you can then carefully place your fish into the tank with a net and let them explore the aquarium fish and plants in their new home.
Use the “Drip Method”
The “drip method” can be a better option for sensitive fish, and small shrimp. However, keep in mind that drip method requires more supplies than the floating method. First, you’ll need large aquarium buckets and airline tubing. You will want to fill one of the buckets half-way with aquarium water and float the fish in the bag at first (like above). After floating the animal(s), pour the contents of the bag at a forty-five degree angle into the bucket (so the animals stay submerged).
Then, set up a siphon drip with one end of the airline in the tank and one end in the bucket. Loose knots in the tubing will regulate the flow of water and air from the tank to the bucket. Ideally, the drips should be between two and four per second from the aquarium with fish and plants into the acclimatization bucket. After a length of time, notice when the water in the bucket had doubled. At this point, you can dump out half of the water and let it double again. After this, you can carefully transfer the fish into the aquarium without exposing them to air.
Complete Aquatic Systems has a proven track-record of providing retailers with everything they need to serve customers nationwide. We specialize in hermetically-sealed plastic tube plants grown in sterile, disease-free environments, and we’re always on-hand to provide you with tips and best practices for setting up your tank. So, if you would like to inquire about anything in our full catalog of aquatic plants and decor, please contact us today.
