How to Acclimate Tropical Fish to a Home Aquarium Using the Floating Bag Method
Having a home aquarium is truly rewarding but along with it is responsibility and time to make sure that our fish stays healthy, happy and active.
Before you engage in a hobby like this, make sure you have already read the most important information especially when it comes to setting up the aquarium and acclimating the fish to its new home.
More often than not, when we buy fish from the store, we are instructed to float the bag in the tank for 15 minutes and then release the fish.
This is wrong because the only thing you are acclimating your fish into is the temperature.
What about the water chemistry in your tank? Ask the fish vendor to test the store's tank water for you and note the pH level, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings.
When you get home with the fish, test your own water so you'll have an idea how the two tests differ from each other.
This will provide you with the right insight on how long it will take to acclimate your fish into its new environment.
There are different methods to acclimate tropical fish to home aquarium and one of these is the floating bag method.
This method is the most common and it works really well.
A lot of hobbyists fail to realize the importance of having a quarantine tank.
You don't have to purchase an expensive tank for this, a simple one will do.
You have to be careful when floating a bag full of unknown water in your aquarium.
After buying the fish, go home right away to avoid ammonia build-up in the bag (fish waste).
Once you get home, remove about 25% of the water from the bag and then replace it with the same amount of water from your tank.
Float the bag in your tank and bring down the hood opening on the bag's open end to secure it.
Add about 1 cup (less if the bag is smaller) of the tank water to the bag every 10 minutes.
Keep on doing this for an hour and after an hour, use a small net to remove the fish from the bag and gently place the fish into your home aquarium.
The logic of the floating bag method is to slowly get the fish acclimated to your tank so you should not just dump the water bag into your tank.
If you're not careful, you are increasing the risk of exposing your aquarium to any parasites or diseases present in the fish vendor's tank.
Before you engage in a hobby like this, make sure you have already read the most important information especially when it comes to setting up the aquarium and acclimating the fish to its new home.
More often than not, when we buy fish from the store, we are instructed to float the bag in the tank for 15 minutes and then release the fish.
This is wrong because the only thing you are acclimating your fish into is the temperature.
What about the water chemistry in your tank? Ask the fish vendor to test the store's tank water for you and note the pH level, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings.
When you get home with the fish, test your own water so you'll have an idea how the two tests differ from each other.
This will provide you with the right insight on how long it will take to acclimate your fish into its new environment.
There are different methods to acclimate tropical fish to home aquarium and one of these is the floating bag method.
This method is the most common and it works really well.
A lot of hobbyists fail to realize the importance of having a quarantine tank.
You don't have to purchase an expensive tank for this, a simple one will do.
You have to be careful when floating a bag full of unknown water in your aquarium.
After buying the fish, go home right away to avoid ammonia build-up in the bag (fish waste).
Once you get home, remove about 25% of the water from the bag and then replace it with the same amount of water from your tank.
Float the bag in your tank and bring down the hood opening on the bag's open end to secure it.
Add about 1 cup (less if the bag is smaller) of the tank water to the bag every 10 minutes.
Keep on doing this for an hour and after an hour, use a small net to remove the fish from the bag and gently place the fish into your home aquarium.
The logic of the floating bag method is to slowly get the fish acclimated to your tank so you should not just dump the water bag into your tank.
If you're not careful, you are increasing the risk of exposing your aquarium to any parasites or diseases present in the fish vendor's tank.