Ive been advised by Steve_89 to ask about acclimatising my new ray via a drip method, i was wonding if any one knows how i would go about this? thanks.
How do i acclimatise a ray via the drip method?
- Thread starter rust9000
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Check out the first picture on this post of mine http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32721. It shows the airline tubing hanging out the top of my aquarium dripping into the cooler i have my new fish in. To keep the rate down to just a trickle either tie a knot in the tubing or with mine the glass tops were heavy enough to pinch the tubing so the rate of water flow was little more than a drip. You just take some water out as your container fills up and let this go on for about two hours. GOOD LUCK!
I use an airline tube and clamp it with a small c-clamp. The c-clamp lets me easily fine tune the rate of the drip.
I usually use a test kit to test the water parameters of the tank and the water in the bag before dripping as well. If the ph is too low in the bag, as in the 5's, I set the drip really low. If it's set too fast, the pH will rise quick and any ammonia present on the bag water will become toxic to the fish. To help with this, I use a separate siphon to a separate container, so I have the drip from the tank to the bag and another from the bag to a smaller another bucket, Sort of like an automatic water changer. This will gradually replace the water in the bag with tank water and eliminate enough of the bag water to eliminate enough of the ammonia toxicity factor.
On the other hand, in the rare instance that the water parameters are just about equal, I'll float the bag for temperature and then drop the ray in.
On the other hand, in the rare instance that the water parameters are just about equal, I'll float the bag for temperature and then drop the ray in.
Thanks guys, then once i have added all the water to the bag, do i net the ray out, oor put all the water back into the tank?
If you use the traditional drip method, you should empty some of the water out before letting the ray out into the tank. If you use the water changing drip method, theoretically, you should have the same amount of water you started with in the bag. Either way, you should submerge the bag and let the ray swim out into the tank. Netting/dumping ends up causing some stress to the ray, so I wouldn't recommend it.