Oh, rewatching these old gems have been fabulous! Totally worth breaking in my new channel. Thanks to the team, hope Lamont's new adventures in life are bringing him joy, I forgot how much I enjoyed these, When I bring fish straight home, I acclimate them in a specimen container, and dump the water and fish into a net with the water going into outdoor plants. Fish goes in the Q/T. Ordered fish? If ammonia is in the bag noticeably, fish gets netted and straight into Q/T Otherwise, I acclimate in the specimen container again with the goal of no water going into my tanks. I don't keep aggressive fish anymore, when I did all fish got netted out into a bucket with the filter and I rescaped the tank once my new fish were done with Q/T. Then everyone went back into the tank at the same time, and the massive redo generally kept the new fish from being at the bottom of the pecking order and spread the aggression out across the entire tank as they re-establish themselves and incorporate the newbies at the same time. Typically, that would trigger spawning behavior while all the males in the tank are committed at proving their value.😅
Truth is, acclimation is a lot more than matching water parameters. It takes days or weeks to fully acclimate to the new water, tank space, tankmates, decor, even the outside of the tank (like your face always looking for them or the cat hitting the glass trying to catch them through the glass). My mum complains that our new rasboras are not red, but 1- they've been in the tank for 5 days, 2- there's corys in the tank darting to the surface every now and then, 3- there's 3 cats that like to walk around the tank and look at the fish for hours. All that can stress a fish that's 2cm long.
I’ve learned a lot from your page... growing up my parents always had fish but I’m new to this doing it on my own I’m actually in the cycle moment for my tank
I use a quarantine tank for a couple of months. I keep a 29 gallon & a 55 gallon just for plants and I use them for quarantine. If I can't use those, I have some 35 gallon totes I can use - filling one or two from my 125 gallon or a 55 gallon. When I bring in new fish, I dump their bag into a bucket. A separate bucket for each bag of fish. Then I run an airline hose drip into the bucket. I add a control valve to reduce the flow to about 1 drop per second. When I've got about 4-5 times the water as they arrived in. Then I use a net to retrieve the fish and add them to the tank. I repeat this same process going from my quarantine tank to which ever tank they are going into.
Hi Cory can I make a suggestion can you do a video on beneficial bacteria & the one in the bottle. I know you explained about the nitrogen cycle on your earlier videos , can you do a test cycle a tank your way , and cycle another tank by using products like Seachem (New tank syndrome), Fluval (cycle), API ( Quickstart) & both tanks have the same parameter , I am curious to see what are the results - are these big companies rip us off or there's a help the nitrogen cycle ( for example let's say it takes 6 weeks to cycle a tank naturally , but using those products they will take 4 weeks to cycle a tank)
Great video Cory. I'm having my first South American cichlids shipped by express mail this week and although I understand the chemistry behind plop and drop, I'm nervous about my first attempt. Usually, I bucket acclimate from LFS. Your video has given me the confidence to proceed. Thanks! Question. Since pH is a non issue for shipped fish as bag pH usually drops, is having my tank's gH close to the breeder/shipper's one less stress factor for the fish? Also, would your method change for breather bags (which you can't float).
I heard that fish acclimate easier to cold water than warm. so what I do is turn off my heater (preset) a day 'fore adding the fish, then turn it back on two days later. what's ur opinion on this method
Awesome video. I was doing it all wrong. Now I can go get me some more fish. I have 2 Neons left I had 4. I have 3 Ghost Catfish, 4 Tiger Barb's which I hate and I'm going to take back I've had them for 5 months and they are mean and don't like them. I have 2 Cherry Barb's and 3 male Guppies left. I tried a Cory cat a while back and it didn't last a day. My tank was bad not cycled good. What snails or bottom feeders or fish do you recommend for a planted 20 gallon tank. Thanks for all your help.
+SevernRunAquatics You can also run a saturated salt solution. Basically a bucket with so much salt in it and water that no more salt will dissolve. Or you can wash the net in hot chlorinated water and let air dry between uses. No way will be perfect, but each way has different diseases that would be resistant to the method. Including the soaks.
Hey Cory, are you saying drip acclimation works better if your water parameters are similar to the water in the bag? Also I think a cool idea for your show here would be to have guest participate and maybe call in or pre record short conversations with viewers. I would love to do this personally, and it would be an awesome way to get viewers involved. I'd love to do some sort of collaboration like that. Great video today!
+SevernRunAquatics I've been thinking that would be neat also. I haven't wrapped my head around what the best way to achieve it is yet. But perhaps in the future I can figure out a way for people to easily pull that off.
Oh by the way, I would say if your water parameters are very close, you can drip acclimate if you want too, it may be a little safer. However if you're acclimating large numbers of fish it would be easier to just dump them. The trick is to do whatever you feel is the least amount of stress on the fish.
I thought this video was very helpful, so I am not commenting because I dislike the video, however I do have a question that I haven't found addressed yet (if it has already please point me in the right direction). I am about to start a new tank, the plan is either a 20 or 29 gallon, and I am wondering if there is an order in which I should introduce fish? My plan is a betta community tank, so thinking peaceful fish, maybe some schooling and some livebearers and a few snails, maybe a small pleco if we go with the 29gal. Do what fish are best to add first? What fish are best to add last? Is it better to add them all at once or stagger the different types? Thanks!
So if I'm moving from QT tank with a 6.2 ph to my main tank that has an 8.2 ph I should bag them in QT tank water and float them in the main tank, add seachem safe and then start slowly adding main tank water over an hour or so time. Then strain them through the net and add them to the main tank?
Poring them into a net and putting them into the aquarium is how I do it. Otherwise you'd poor them into a bucket and acclimate that way assuming there is no ammonia in the bag.
I have a question. I just received an 8 inch tigrinus 24 hours in the bag. The guy who shipped me the fish didn’t tell me how to acclimate. It was the first time I got fish delivered. So I decided to drip acclimate. After about 45 min I threw the fish in the tank and headed to work. When I got home I saw one of the gills was red. Looked like ammonia poisoning. 3 days later the gills are a little pink but pretty much getting back to normal color. He still hasn’t ate anything yet. Should I be concerned or just give him more time?
I just ordered some fish (n. Brichardi) online and opted for overnight shipping. The seller said they keep their pH is around 7.8. My new tank (no fish in there yet) I set up for Lake Tanganyika at a pH of 8.6-8.8. Should I still not drip acclimate because of the sudden ammonia build up when opening the bag? What about the difference in pH?
1deaver im preparing right now for a shipment im getting in a couple weeks...just boguht me a new 20 gallon high to house some fish for a couple weeks and try to return it for a bigger tank haha the manger told me i can return it if i dont "use it"
Hey Cory. I just got a new fish in the mail. It was my first fish I ordered online. And I did a drip acclimation for 45 min but dripping fast. After I threw him on the water I notice some ammonia burns on one of his gills. My tank water has no ammonia or nitrites. Do you think he will be ok? I wish I would have watched this video before I got the fish.
All my fish but two died out of 30 I bought from a online fish store by just dumping the fish in a net then putting them in the tank. Hopefully they'll do better next time
If I get small fish I frequently leave them in the bag till night and when the room is completely dark I open the bag up and dump the new fish in. Hope that the big fish will not notice the new small fish.
But, in other videos, don't you always tell everyone to acclimate the fish directly into a quarantine tank first, just in case the new fish have some kind of " problem " that needs to be treated so your other fish don't end up with the same "problem " and take a chance on losing a lot more fish than just the new ones ? 😷
Oh, rewatching these old gems have been fabulous! Totally worth breaking in my new channel. Thanks to the team, hope Lamont's new adventures in life are bringing him joy, I forgot how much I enjoyed these,
When I bring fish straight home, I acclimate them in a specimen container, and dump the water and fish into a net with the water going into outdoor plants. Fish goes in the Q/T.
Ordered fish?
If ammonia is in the bag noticeably, fish gets netted and straight into Q/T
Otherwise, I acclimate in the specimen container again with the goal of no water going into my tanks.
I don't keep aggressive fish anymore, when I did all fish got netted out into a bucket with the filter and I rescaped the tank once my new fish were done with Q/T. Then everyone went back into the tank at the same time, and the massive redo generally kept the new fish from being at the bottom of the pecking order and spread the aggression out across the entire tank as they re-establish themselves and incorporate the newbies at the same time.
Typically, that would trigger spawning behavior while all the males in the tank are committed at proving their value.😅
Truth is, acclimation is a lot more than matching water parameters. It takes days or weeks to fully acclimate to the new water, tank space, tankmates, decor, even the outside of the tank (like your face always looking for them or the cat hitting the glass trying to catch them through the glass).
My mum complains that our new rasboras are not red, but 1- they've been in the tank for 5 days, 2- there's corys in the tank darting to the surface every now and then, 3- there's 3 cats that like to walk around the tank and look at the fish for hours. All that can stress a fish that's 2cm long.
I’ve learned a lot from your page... growing up my parents always had fish but I’m new to this doing it on my own I’m actually in the cycle moment for my tank
Anybody else feel like Lamont should have a Irish accent Lol I just feel like one of these vedios it's just going to pop out lol
I do the good ole float the bag technique then dump into a net and add xD
I use a quarantine tank for a couple of months. I keep a 29 gallon & a 55 gallon just for plants and I use them for quarantine. If I can't use those, I have some 35 gallon totes I can use - filling one or two from my 125 gallon or a 55 gallon.
When I bring in new fish, I dump their bag into a bucket. A separate bucket for each bag of fish.
Then I run an airline hose drip into the bucket. I add a control valve to reduce the flow to about 1 drop per second. When I've got about 4-5 times the water as they arrived in. Then I use a net to retrieve the fish and add them to the tank.
I repeat this same process going from my quarantine tank to which ever tank they are going into.
What about the ammonia issue that Cory mentioned?
yesss I've been waiting for this video
+Alex Yen Thanks for watching :)
Love all the great tips here in this video.
Hi Cory can I make a suggestion can you do a video on beneficial bacteria & the one in the bottle. I know you explained about the nitrogen cycle on your earlier videos , can you do a test cycle a tank your way , and cycle another tank by using products like Seachem (New tank syndrome), Fluval (cycle), API ( Quickstart) & both tanks have the same parameter , I am curious to see what are the results - are these big companies rip us off or there's a help the nitrogen cycle ( for example let's say it takes 6 weeks to cycle a tank naturally , but using those products they will take 4 weeks to cycle a tank)
Been wanting a video about this thank you guys!!!!!
+Nathaniel Graff Thanks for watching!
hey I watch what I love
Thanks for the info guys! Fun and informative as always :-)
Great video Cory. I'm having my first South American cichlids shipped by express mail this week and although I understand the chemistry behind plop and drop, I'm nervous about my first attempt. Usually, I bucket acclimate from LFS. Your video has given me the confidence to proceed. Thanks!
Question.
Since pH is a non issue for shipped fish as bag pH usually drops, is having my tank's gH close to the breeder/shipper's one less stress factor for the fish?
Also, would your method change for breather bags (which you can't float).
I heard that fish acclimate easier to cold water than warm. so what I do is turn off my heater (preset) a day 'fore adding the fish, then turn it back on two days later. what's ur opinion on this method
As a note I'm a small time Apistogramma/Corydoras breeder and would enjoy coming on and talking about related topics.
Awesome video. I was doing it all wrong. Now I can go get me some more fish. I have 2 Neons left I had 4. I have 3 Ghost Catfish, 4 Tiger Barb's which I hate and I'm going to take back I've had them for 5 months and they are mean and don't like them. I have 2 Cherry Barb's and 3 male Guppies left. I tried a Cory cat a while back and it didn't last a day. My tank was bad not cycled good. What snails or bottom feeders or fish do you recommend for a planted 20 gallon tank. Thanks for all your help.
thanks guys , fine job
please remind me how to sterilize a net
also should I sterilize my siphon between tanks?
You can buy specific net sterilizing fluid.
+SevernRunAquatics You can also run a saturated salt solution. Basically a bucket with so much salt in it and water that no more salt will dissolve. Or you can wash the net in hot chlorinated water and let air dry between uses. No way will be perfect, but each way has different diseases that would be resistant to the method. Including the soaks.
+Aquarium Co-Op i like the bleach method too.
Hey Cory, are you saying drip acclimation works better if your water parameters are similar to the water in the bag? Also I think a cool idea for your show here would be to have guest participate and maybe call in or pre record short conversations with viewers. I would love to do this personally, and it would be an awesome way to get viewers involved. I'd love to do some sort of collaboration like that. Great video today!
+SevernRunAquatics I've been thinking that would be neat also. I haven't wrapped my head around what the best way to achieve it is yet. But perhaps in the future I can figure out a way for people to easily pull that off.
+Aquarium Co-Op I believe you can record skype calls? I'd love to be your first guest!
+Aquarium Co-Op support.skype.com/en/faq/FA12395/how-can-i-record-my-skype-calls
Oh by the way, I would say if your water parameters are very close, you can drip acclimate if you want too, it may be a little safer. However if you're acclimating large numbers of fish it would be easier to just dump them. The trick is to do whatever you feel is the least amount of stress on the fish.
Aquarium Co-Op I generally do not deal in huge numbers so I tend to drip acclimate or float the bag and gush some water in every ten minutes or so.
What happened to quarantining first
I thought this video was very helpful, so I am not commenting because I dislike the video, however I do have a question that I haven't found addressed yet (if it has already please point me in the right direction). I am about to start a new tank, the plan is either a 20 or 29 gallon, and I am wondering if there is an order in which I should introduce fish? My plan is a betta community tank, so thinking peaceful fish, maybe some schooling and some livebearers and a few snails, maybe a small pleco if we go with the 29gal. Do what fish are best to add first? What fish are best to add last? Is it better to add them all at once or stagger the different types? Thanks!
Most aggressive fish should go in last. "cleaner fish" in after schools of fish etc.
So if I'm moving from QT tank with a 6.2 ph to my main tank that has an 8.2 ph I should bag them in QT tank water and float them in the main tank, add seachem safe and then start slowly adding main tank water over an hour or so time. Then strain them through the net and add them to the main tank?
Normally going up in PH is not bad for the fish. If you went from 8.2 to 6.2 then Ed n acclimate slowly.
Hi Cory, how do you recommend acclimating when the fish is shipped and its in a breather bag & you can't float it in your tank
Poring them into a net and putting them into the aquarium is how I do it. Otherwise you'd poor them into a bucket and acclimate that way assuming there is no ammonia in the bag.
I have a question. I just received an 8 inch tigrinus 24 hours in the bag. The guy who shipped me the fish didn’t tell me how to acclimate. It was the first time I got fish delivered. So I decided to drip acclimate. After about 45 min I threw the fish in the tank and headed to work. When I got home I saw one of the gills was red. Looked like ammonia poisoning. 3 days later the gills are a little pink but pretty much getting back to normal color. He still hasn’t ate anything yet. Should I be concerned or just give him more time?
More time, typically Tigrinya only eat live food at first
I just ordered some fish (n. Brichardi) online and opted for overnight shipping. The seller said they keep their pH is around 7.8. My new tank (no fish in there yet) I set up for Lake Tanganyika at a pH of 8.6-8.8. Should I still not drip acclimate because of the sudden ammonia build up when opening the bag? What about the difference in pH?
Everybody should quarantine their fish when they first get them or you can play your luck and lose your tank full of fish
exactly. We've all learned the hard way and its not worth it
1deaver im preparing right now for a shipment im getting in a couple weeks...just boguht me a new 20 gallon high to house some fish for a couple weeks and try to return it for a bigger tank haha the manger told me i can return it if i dont "use it"
Hey Cory. I just got a new fish in the mail. It was my first fish I ordered online. And I did a drip acclimation for 45 min but dripping fast. After I threw him on the water I notice some ammonia burns on one of his gills. My tank water has no ammonia or nitrites. Do you think he will be ok? I wish I would have watched this video before I got the fish.
i used to be all over that old tank syndrome not knowing that it was a thing lol
All my fish but two died out of 30 I bought from a online fish store by just dumping the fish in a net then putting them in the tank. Hopefully they'll do better next time
If I get small fish I frequently leave them in the bag till night and when the room is completely dark I open the bag up and dump the new fish in. Hope that the big fish will not notice the new small fish.
+Jon Leiend Yep sometimes this trick works well. Depends if you have any fish that hunt at night.
Orphan fish?🥺💔
But, in other videos, don't you always tell everyone to acclimate the fish directly into a quarantine tank first, just in case the new fish have some kind of " problem " that needs to be treated so your other fish don't end up with the same "problem " and take a chance on losing a lot more fish than just the new ones ? 😷
I just dump them aong with all the water right into the tank . . . I don't bother floating them or nothing.
keggerous nice.