How many fish added at one time?

[fraggle]

Hey is there a rule on how many fish can get added to a tank in one shot? I'm guessing that if you do too many you'll get an amonia spike, so is there a limit?
I've get a 55G with 4 Black Widow Tetras, 4 Serpae Tetras and 2 Rummy nose tetras, I want to bump all those up to a school of 12, can I add them at once or do they need to be a couple of weeks or days apart?

(there is also 2 corys, a betta and a bristlnose in the tank, I want to bump the corys up too)

Thanks! :22:

[Dave66]

Hey is there a rule on how many fish can get added to a tank in one shot? I'm guessing that if you do too many you'll get an amonia spike, so is there a limit?
I've get a 55G with 4 Black Widow Tetras, 4 Serpae Tetras and 2 Rummy nose tetras, I want to bump all those up to a school of 12, can I add them at once or do they need to be a couple of weeks or days apart?

(there is also 2 corys, a betta and a bristlnose in the tank, I want to bump the corys up too)

Thanks! :22:

Two weeks between additions is standard. Add four more cories, wait two weeks, add 4 rummy nose, wait two weeks, six rummies. Two weeks later, four more serpeas, and so on until you're fully stocked. I know patience is tough, but your sanity and the life within will benefit from staging additions.
Stage out additions like that and you'll never see an ammonia spike. I'd practice drip acclimations for the fish you will add. Tetras are pretty hardy fish if they are properly acclimated; poor acclimation (in bag) often results in diseased fish.

Dave

[fraggle]

Thanks Dave!
I kinda figured that it would be something like that. I was going to order a bunch of fish from an online place, (I've got some from them before, but only 6), as they are heaps cheaper than the LFS's here, but I might just go the LFS, as paying for shipping with only a few at time would defeat the purpse of saving money, but I do want to save my fish more than save my money!

I havne't done the drip acllimatizatin before, I leave the bag to float for 15-20mins, then open it and add about 1/4 cup of tank water from the bag, then about 10 mins later add about another 1/4 cup, keep doing that til the bag is full and then let them go.
Is that wrong? How do I do drip?


Cheers!

[Rue]

No, doing it that way is fine...just make sure you never add any 'store' water to the tank...just to be on the safe side...

To drip, you take a long length of airline hose (buy it at pet stores) tie a knot in it. The knot becomes your drip control...

Place the fish a little lower than the water level so the water drips down into whatever you have the fish in (bag, bowl, etc.) adjust the knot so the water drips at a slow but constant rate (similar to an IV drip!). You might have to put a weight on the line to hold it in the tank...a bean-bag type thingy works well.

A drip is better than the cup method just because it's more gradual...however in most cases the temp. won't stay the same because the fish is no longer in the tank. In a warm house/climate it's not an issue...but up North in a cold house I don't like doing it, so I use the cup method.

When I do the cup, I dump some of the store water out of the bag first...and then add 1/4 cups of my water every 10-15 minutes. I do this for an hour with FW and a good 2 hours with SW...

[NickFish]

Drum had a good link to how to drip acclimate awhile back. Can't seem to find it though. You really only need to drip with SW fish.
I just float the bag adding tank water and taking out bag water every 5 min. for an hour. But let it float for 15-20 minutes before adding any water.

You could probably add 4-6 fish every 2 weeks, depending on the size.
6-8 cories would be a good number.

[fraggle]

Thanks for that guys! been a great help.

[NickFish]

No problem!
Always glad to help out!