buying fish online

[andy1985]

I have purchased couple of times from online store but both times not all of the fish survie, i just dont know what i am doing wrong, what should i be doing driffrently from buying fish from a shop please help

 

[frankthetank]

First off where are you getting the fish from? There are a few online stores I've heard of that are pretty good. http://www.liveaquaria.com a lot of people have bought from there with good experiences and they have a 14 day guarantee I believe so if they arrive dead you can get new ones.

Another thing is, how are you acclimating the fish? All your parameters okay?

 

[andy1985]

I live in the uk and it the two sites a purchased from have good reputaions,

I leave the fish in the bag for hour and put small amount of tank water in the bag after 30 mins,

i purchase fish from local fish shops and they are fine being introduced to my tank it just seems to be just online fish which are a problem

 

[muckieman]

they probley duy from not hvaing enough h20. drip alcmate them much easer on the fish and you

 

[andy1985]

whats that never heard of it?

 

[andy1985]

can anyone say they would die if prameters are fine?

 

[cassharper]

shipping puts a lot of stress on fish. Even with the best shipping methods, fish will sometimes die. I do agree on drip acclimating though.

Method:
Put fish in a container that will 1) safely hold them with the water from the store and 2) hold more water.

Put container next to tank

Take airline tube and place in tank (I use suction cups) and other end in container for fish.

Start a syphon and either 1) Tie a knot in the line to keep it to just a drip or 2) get one of those valves for air line tubing to regulate flow

I will stick an air bubbler in there, but I hear it's unnecessary. I usually let it got for a few hours and they will be easily acclimated to your new water.

 

[gomezladdams]

Drip method is the way to go.I add some ammolock,and drip at a rate to triple the water volume in 2-3 hours then put the fish in my tank.

 

[andy1985]

So put a plastic container and slowly drip some the tank water into the container.

 

[TurboVinny]

i would float the bag atleast an hour or more if there is a huge temp difference