Acclimating fish from online

[dinger28]

Hey guys. I am ordering fish from Liveaquaria later this week and was wondering how best to acclimate them when they get here. They will be going in my quarantine tank. I have heard both drip acclimation and bag floating were good, and wasn't sure if one was better than the other for fish coming from online. Let me hear your suggestions please. Thanks!

Matt

 

[Twistofer]

I like the Float Method for most fishes. Drip is slower, but very necessary for your inverts.

 

[foreveralone]

I dripped mine. My healthiest fish have come from LA/Divers Den.

 

[r1racer]

I usually drip if the salinity is off by more than.02 other wise floating is good enough.

 

[Dmorty217]

Float the bag for 30 mins and drip acclimate the fish over the period of a hr or more depending on the fish. Check the salinity the fish was shipped in compared to the tank you will be putting the fish in, if fish are coming in at a lower salinity than what they will be housed at acclimating will take longer.

 

[albano]

LA has acclimating instructions on their website and includes those written instructions with every shipment

 

[Sk8r]

Neither. Set up your quarantine tank to their shipment salinity and skip acclimation except for a 15 minute float for temperature; but do test the water with your refractometer to be sure they're right. Call and ask them.

 

[dinger28]

Thanks sk8er! Appreciate the feedback!

Matt

 

[HumbleFish]

+1 to what Sk8r said. LA posts SG info in their FAQs here.

The California facility maintains a specific gravity of 1.018- 1.020 for fish and 1.023 - 1.025 for corals and inverts at a water temperature of 76 degrees Fahrenheit. At our Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility, the Coral System maintains a specific gravity of 1.025 at a water temperature of 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit. The Fish System maintains a specific gravity of 1.025 at a temperature of 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit.

Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility = all Diver's Den specimens
California facility = everything else

 

[Palting]

+1 to what Sk8r said. LA posts SG info in their FAQs here.

The California facility maintains a specific gravity of 1.018- 1.020 for fish and 1.023 - 1.025 for corals and inverts at a water temperature of 76 degrees Fahrenheit. At our Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility, the Coral System maintains a specific gravity of 1.025 at a water temperature of 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit. The Fish System maintains a specific gravity of 1.025 at a temperature of 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit

Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility = all Diver's Den specimens
California facility = everything else

Neither. Set up your quarantine tank to their shipment salinity and skip acclimation except for a 15 minute float for temperature; but do test the water with your refractometer to be sure they're right. Call and ask them.

These ++. I would set my QT to 1.018, as fish will tolerate lower salinity much better than higher salinity much, much better. Temp acclimate for no more than 15 minutes, then release fish. Slowly adjust the QT salinity to match your DT over the whole observation period.

 

[albano]

I would set my QT to 1.018, as fish will tolerate lower salinity much better than higher salinity much, much better. Temp acclimate for no more than 15 minutes, then release fish. Slowly adjust the QT salinity to match your DT over the whole observation period.

So if a Divers Den fish arrives in 1.025 water, you say to temp acclimate it for 15 minutes and release it into 1.018 QT water....but slowly over the next few weeks raise it BACK to 1.025 (or higher) to match the DT !

Is this really what you meant?

 

[r1racer]

For 90% of fish this is overkill...a simple float or dip is well enough.

 

[Palting]

So if a Divers Den fish arrives in 1.025 water, you say to temp acclimate it for 15 minutes and release it into 1.018 QT water....but slowly over the next few weeks raise it BACK to 1.025 (or higher) to match the DT !

Is this really what you meant?

You are assuming and quoting the wrong numbers, but still, in a way, yes. As quoted by Humblefish, the CA facility of LA maintains their fish at 1.018 to 1.020. So worst case scenario is that you get a fish in a bag of water that's at 1.020. You drop the fish in to your QT that's at 1.018. That's only a 0.002 difference, downward. Easily handled by the fish. Certainly better than leaving that fish in a bag now open to air and rapidly going stale. If you want to be precise, you can raise the QT to 1.018 to match the bag salinity, so long as you can do it rapidly. IMO, anyway. Check my sig .

My LFS keeps his reef fish in tanks at 1.026, together with reef. I routinely do hyposalinity treatment as part of my QT. When I purschase fish from him, the QT is also at 1.026. I temp acclimate for 5-10 minutes, then drop the fish in. After 24 hours, I drop the salinity to 1.009 the next 48 hours. Fish don't care. After 6 weeks, I raise it back up to 1.026, same as my DT, but that raising the salinity part takes a week or more.

 

[XtremeATC]

I have used both the float method, and the drip method, and both have worked fine. I usually just float the fish for about 15-20 min, then pour the fish into a bowl and then slowly add tank water for about 1-1.5 hours. I have had great results using this technique.

 

[HumbleFish]

I have used both the float method, and the drip method, and both have worked fine. I usually just float the fish for about 15-20 min, then pour the fish into a bowl and then slowly add tank water for about 1-1.5 hours. I have had great results using this technique.

IME, drip works fine if you're buying the fish from a LFS and driving straight home. But when buying online; it's often 12-24 hrs (or longer) between send & receive times. Without getting all scientific about it; the fish poops in the bag, and you've got about 30 mins after you open that bag before you'll start to see an ammonia spike. Some fish tolerate it, some don't. But it's not good for any of them. So, for those who wish to drip acclimate fish they buy online I suggest keeping an ammonia reducer on hand and squirting some in before the 30 mins are up. I think some online vendors already include an ammonia reducer in their "acclimation package".

For corals/inverts you can drip all day long, no matter where you buy them from. The amount of waste (and subsequent ammonia) they produce is negligible.

 

[Twistofer]

Blue Zoo Aquatics includes an ammonia reducer as well as a drip line. Both LA and Blue Zoo are reputable dealers in my opinion. Most of my losses were usually my fault.

 

[ca1ore]

IME, drip works fine if you're buying the fish from a LFS and driving straight home. But when buying online; it's often 12-24 hrs (or longer) between send & receive times. Without getting all scientific about it; the fish poops in the bag, and you've got about 30 mins after you open that bag before you'll start to see an ammonia spike. Some fish tolerate it, some don't. But it's not good for any of them. So, for those who wish to drip acclimate fish they buy online I suggest keeping an ammonia reducer on hand and squirting some in before the 30 mins are up. I think some online vendors already include an ammonia reducer in their "acclimation package".

For corals/inverts you can drip all day long, no matter where you buy them from. The amount of waste (and subsequent ammonia) they produce is negligible.

THAT pretty much sums it up!