matt11390

Hi Everyone,

First post here. I was reading in another thread about acclimation and how some of you do it by floating bags. I am curious to hear from those of you who have successfully kept cardinals for a long period of time about another way to acclimate them.

I have worked in a couple of local fish stores in the past and learned to acclimate cardinals, as well as most fish, by placing them in a bucket and using a drip line to slowly acclimate the cardinals over a long period of time. The bucket is a typical home depot bucket and it would probably take two hours to drip acclimate them. Most of the time we had a higher survival rate doing that way. Do any of you acclimate your cardinals in this manner and do you see any difference in their survival rate?

sirdarksol

The drip acclimater and the bag floating acclimation are pretty much the same technique if they're done properly. The advantage of the bucket form is that, with the drip acclimater, you can sort of stop paying attention. The disadvantage is a lack of heating.
The advantage of the bag floating is that you've got the water around the bag maintaining the proper temp, but the disadvantage is that you have to pull water out of the bag periodically, and replace it with tank water.
The one that I do depends on the size of the fish I'm dealing with. Larger fish go in the bucket. Smaller fish (and thus, smaller bags) get floated.

Oh, and Welcome to Fishlore!

mrsmuffin

I acclimated my cardinals with the bag method when I brought them home a couple of months ago and they are all still healthy and happy!

Lucy

Hi Matt, Welcome to Fish Lore

I don't have cardinals, I couldn't find them, they are so pretty. So I went with neons and I also use the bag method.

Fish Addict

I've heard that the drip is better because it is a lot slower, and I usually hear when fish are sensitive during acclimation, you should do a drip. I have also heard that during floating the bag, it can get a lot warmer, since it is floating right under the lights...

Fish Addict

Also, you can adjust the speed so it can only take about half an hour or less...

Lucy

I've always shut off the lights, not only because of the heat, but I think it reduces the stress.