How do you NOT let bag water from the pet store in your tank?

HI guys

Common sense has it that it's not a good idea to let the water from the pet store into your own tank. How do you prevent it, though, when you tranfer the fish to his new home?

 

I have a special glass bowl that I pour my fish into to acclimize them. Every 15 min I add another cup of tank water until I have added more water to the bowl than was there to begin with then I pour all into this big blue net I have. Support the net with a wet hand and take them immediately to their new home and gently lower the net down into the tank and let them swim out. Voila' no tank water was introduced into my tank! then teh glass bowl is rinsed with very hot water to clean it.
Hope this helps
carol

 

that's how I do it!

 

yea, that's the best way to do it. I hate the dirty tank water and the debris that's often in the bag with how dirty the tanks are.. of course that was fish at deathco, but even getting them from cleaner places, it's a good procedure for most fish.

 

yea, that's the best way to do it. I hate the dirty tank water and the debris that's often in the bag with how dirty the tanks are.. of course that was fish at deathco, but even getting them from cleaner places, it's a good procedure for most fish.

Yep because you never know what's there that you can't see
Carol

 

when I first got fish there was a snail in the bag and I just dumped the whole bag in! (I was so inecperianced then) and now I just got them under controle (tiger barbs eat them!) ;D

 

I usually will float the bag (turn the lights off to keep them from messing with the water temp), then gently pour the bag out into a handy container and net the fish from there.

 

Oh I see. Thanks guys.

I hate netting, you see. It's bound to be upsetting for the fish. But then again some dodgy parasitic disease that I've imported from the pet store would upset them too, hey.

 

I just put my hand in the plastic and take the fish out and throw it in the tank.

 

Really? Doesn't that freak them out? I can do that with fish that know me, but fresh from the store, I'd not dare.

 

I just put my hand in the plastic and take the fish out and throw it in the tank.

How stressful! You don't acclimate them to the new water conditions?
carol

 

Am sure he acclimates them, but once they're acclimited, he does that hand thing. Right, b0n3ZA?

 

lol guys lighten up
I need to bring some sarcasm to this forum. You guys are waaaaay too up-tight haha.

Ofcourse I don't do that -

 

We use a bucket...usually. We add water from the tank until 15 minutes has passed.

 

I do what Carol and Harley and who ever else does!

 

I hate netting, you see.

Actually, I dislike it, too. I tend to get pretty small fish, and even the smallest net seems to stick to them rather than flow around them, and I always worry about the time that they are unable to breathe. I'm dreading when I have to move the shrimp, as I can't use the net. They're so small they'd get caught in the weave of the net.

 

Never thought of my shrimps. Let's hope I never have to catch them from out of the tank!

 

I have used a net on full-grown amano shrimp. They're a bit easier than fish once you catch them, because they can use their legs to disentangle themselves. (I swear, they are really smart critters) The ones I got from Dino, though, are really tiny. I'm afraid that part of their carapace could actually make it through the weave.

 

I actually float them in the bag for a bit, then gently pour some water out of the bag and add some of the tank water, wait a few minutes, add a little more water (floating them in-between). Then I carefully pour out most of the water into a bowl. When there's just a little water left in the bag (with the fish in it), I pour that and the fish straight INTO a net, and all you have is fish in a net! (which means I don't need to chase them around the bowl with a net!) So the bowl's under there in case you miss them with the net, but it's easier than chasing the fish around. Then I just put them straight into the tank from the net.

 

Yup, float in the bag, gently pour into bowl, acclimate, pour into net and into the tank they go. Sounds like the common method. I don't like chasing them around in a bucket or bowl.

 

If there's enough water in the bag, I'll let them swim in a bucket and drip acclimate them. Otherwise I'll drip 'em until the bag has enough water for them to swim in the bucket. To put them in the tank, I either net them or scoop them by hand. If the water is trustworthy, I just slowly pour in the bucket and watch for falling fish.

 

I float bag...for 20... minutes and then I net the fish out

 

You don't add water from your tank to your fish' bag? How does he get used to pH, n'ates, etc.?

I float bag...for 20... minutes and then I net the fish out

 

The ever popular turkey baster is great for that.. you can suck some water out of the bag & discard it then put some tank water in the bag and slowly acclimate that way.

 

If there's enough water in the bag, I'll let them swim in a bucket and drip acclimate them. Otherwise I'll drip 'em until the bag has enough water for them to swim in the bucket. To put them in the tank, I either net them or scoop them by hand. If the water is trustworthy, I just slowly pour in the bucket and watch for falling fish.

I tried that but found it rather took long and was a bit messy...

 

idk I never thought about that well I guess that's something I should do thanks dilo

You don't add water from your tank to your fish' bag? How does he get used to pH, n'ates, etc.?

I float bag...for 20... minutes and then I net the fish out

 

No probs, Cory. I only have started doing that recently too, like a couple of months ago. I also thought the temp was enough, but I guess they really need to get used to the 'components' of the water too.

 

cody...lol..not cory.....I guess if you think about it ...it makes a lot of sense I just thougth the shock was from ...the sudden temp change....like if you ever sat in a hot tube and then jumped in a pool..

 

OMG OMG OMG. I am obsessed with corys, it's crazy!

Well for sure the sudden temp change is really bad for them, so definitely good to be floating the bag too, you know.

 

cody...lol..not cory.....I guess if you think about it ...it makes a lot of sense I just thougth the shock was from ...the sudden temp change....like if you ever sat in a hot tube and then jumped in a pool..

I love to do that!

 

Show me the LFS that actually takes care of it's stock, maintains it's tanks and is staffed by knowledgeable people, and I'll show you how.. until then, any and all store-bought fish, and even those given to us by friends, are floated in a quarantine tank and then given two weeks in it to prove they're not about to add some kind of infection to our main tanks.

That two-week quarantine period actually gives them a chance to acclimatise temperature-wise( most LFS are air-conditioned while the area in our apartment where we keep our tanks is not), water quality-wise( if the water source serving that LFS is different to mine, even after treatment) and diet-wise( most LFS feed their stock the cheap stuff, our fish get the good stuff!)