How to introduce a fish arriving in the mail to the tank?

[redtailshark34]

I have a blue phantom pleco arriving tomorrow and was wondering what the best way to introduce him into my tank would be. I know that water can become toxic if you float them too long since they’re in bags so how should I introduce him?

 

[Sunnyspots]

I would do it the standard way of about 30 mins acclimating in the bag floating, then adding tank water periodically, then fishing him out into the water after about an hour. But I've not heard about the water becoming toxic while floating

 

[AbbeysDad]

Plop 'n Drop - Acclimate for temperature only (usually about 15 minutes), then quickly open the bag and pour through a net into a waste bucket and put the fish directly into the quarantine tank.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Clean the outside of the bag off in tap water. Then temperature acclimate for 30 minutes. After that, start the drip acclimation.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Plop and drop, as described in post #3 above.

 

[AbbeysDad]

PLEASE NOTE: NEVER do drip acclimation especially with fish that have been shipped and spent any length of time in the bag with water - why? ... the water in the bag becomes slightly acidic so lethal ammonia is converted into relatively harmless ammonium. (a good thing since otherwise the fish would likely die in transit!). If you introduce water with drip acclimation, the ammonium will convert back to lethal ammonia and potentially kill the fish!!!
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Note: drip acclimation was originally thought to slowly introduce fish to a different water chemistry. However, experts agree that it takes fish several days or even weeks to acclimate to a different water chemistry so drip acclimation just isn't effective...besides, for shipped fish, as mentioned above, serious harm to gills and/or death can occur.

 

[Metalhead88]

Same way you normally acclimate. Float it for 30 minutes, add only the fish into the tank. It'll take days for the fish to fully acclimate.

You're going to want to get the fish out of that dirty water asap. Do not drip acclimate.

Drip acclimating sounds good, but when you factor in how dirty the water is in that bag (even from a short trip home from the lfs) you realize that dirty water should not take any part in the acclimation of the fish.

 

[Sunnyspots]

I would do it the standard way of about 30 mins acclimating in the bag floating, then adding tank water periodically, then fishing him out into the water after about an hour. But I've not heard about the water becoming toxic while floating

I have now!

 

[kribensis12]

PLEASE NOTE: NEVER do drip acclimation especially with fish that have been shipped and spent any length of time in the bag with water - why? ... the water in the bag becomes slightly acidic so lethal ammonia is converted into relatively harmless ammonium. (a good thing since otherwise the fish would likely die in transit!). If you introduce water with drip acclimation, the ammonium will convert back to lethal ammonia and potentially kill the fish!!!
---
Note: drip acclimation was originally thought to slowly introduce fish to a different water chemistry. However, experts agree that it takes fish several days or even weeks to acclimate to a different water chemistry so drip acclimation just isn't effective...besides, for shipped fish, as mentioned above, serious harm to gills and/or death can occur.

Ditto @AbbeysDad - 100% accurate.