2 Fish 1 Bag?

NJBillyV · Apr 7, 2021

So I'm moving a bunch of fish from QT to my display tank and I was wondering if it's OK to put two fish in the same bag for transfer?

I drip acclimate so they'll be in there together for quite a while, they are all peaceful fish. For example, I have a Cardinal Fish and a Royal Gramma in one QT, can I put them both in the same bag for transfer??

Thanks.

Reef. · Apr 7, 2021

Why a bag, I would use something bigger, especially if doing 2 at the same time.

I would use a bucket.

landlubber · Apr 7, 2021

the more water volume the longer you have to play around before ammonia mounts or the temp dips

NJBillyV · Apr 7, 2021

OK I could use a bucket, good idea. So 2 fish in 1 bucket (or more?)?

Reef. · Apr 7, 2021

landlubber said:
the more water volume the longer you have to play around before ammonia mounts or the temp dips

ammonia won't be an issue as he is only moving them from one tank to another, fish spend 24+ in bags, 30mins isn't going to be an issue and water temp stays more stable with bigger volumes not less.
I always temp acclimatise after dripping anyway.

Reef. · Apr 7, 2021

NJBillyV said:
OK I could use a bucket, good idea. So 2 fish in 1 bucket (or more?)?

I would only do more if there is a great need, not to just save a bit of time, it's a stressful time, why add to it if you don't have to.

CMMorgan · Apr 7, 2021

@Reef. You've got this one. OP - what he said....

sharpimage · Apr 7, 2021

If the parameters are close, no need to acclimate at all. Just plop and drop

NJBillyV · Apr 7, 2021

Reef. said:
I always temp acclimatise after dripping anyway.

Yea I was thinking about that, how am I going to temp acclimate if I have them in a bucket??

landlubber · Apr 7, 2021

Reef. said:
ammonia won't be an issue as he is only moving them from one tank to another, fish spend 24+ in bags, 30mins isn't going to be an issue and water temp stays more stable with bigger volumes not less.
I always temp acclimatise after dripping anyway.

i read this wrong.
after re-reading this i would spend my time getting the temps and salinity close and just net them and drop them. the in-between is overdoing it if you're using the same salt mix which is all but certain.

Tcook · Apr 7, 2021

My QT is in my office 2 miles from the DT at home. I transfer in a blue Lowes bucket with a gallon of water. At home I dump a 32 Oz cup of DT water in every 10 minutes 2-3 times. Scoop up in a plastic colander then dump.

Reef. · Apr 7, 2021

NJBillyV said:
Yea I was thinking about that, how am I going to temp acclimate if I have them in a bucket??

I fill the sink with warm warm put the bucket in that, the bucket soon heats up, give it a stir whilst it's in there.

Reef. · Apr 7, 2021

landlubber said:
i read this wrong.
after re-reading this i would spend my time getting the temps and salinity close and just net them and drop them. the in-between is overdoing it if you're using the same salt mix which is all but certain.

ph and alk are very important, the same salt doesn't mean these will match the tank water.

homer1475 · Apr 8, 2021

Umm only questions I have......

If your going from a QT to DT, why does your QT not match your DT? The whole idea behind Qt is to observe, get fat and healthy, and to get the fish ready for your DT parameters.

Going from QT to DT, just plop and drop. No idea why a drip, or any acclimation for that matter is needed.

If your QT doesn't match your DT when the fish are ready for the DT, your doing QT completely wrong. PH is of no concern IMO, Ive dropped fish from 7.6 to 8.4 without an issue. If your tanks are within normal reef PH ranges, PH is of no concern.

Why does everything in this hobby have to a 15 step procedure? Sometimes people way overthink things and cause way more problems then if they had just done it in the first place without thinking.

Tcook · Apr 8, 2021

Mine do match. I add water for temp matching the bucket.

Tamberav · Apr 8, 2021

If salinity and temp are close then I just add them. Never been a problem. Sitting in a bag is a stressful experience.

I mean I even do tank transfer method with tap water and freshly mixed salt and the fish go through with ease.

Only time I drip is when salinity is a large difference. I recently dripped two radiant wrasse in one bowl and they were fine together.

Jay'sReefBugs · Apr 8, 2021

I've already seen 2 girls 1 cup . Not falling for the 2 fish 1 bag thing.....nope

Tcook · Apr 8, 2021

Tamberav said:
Only time I drip is when salinity is a large difference. I recently dripped two radiant wrasse in one bowl and they were fine together.

What was your starting and ending SG? Were these shipped radiant's or from the LFS?

Tamberav · Apr 8, 2021

Tcook said:
What was your starting and ending SG? Were these shipped radiant's or from the LFS?

Well I got them from LFS but they were still in the shipping bags as they just came in. They never even made it into the LFSs tank.

I basically took water from my DT then added RODI to get it down to 1.018 as that is the salinity they tested at in the bag.

I then moved them directly (no shipping water added) to the new 1.018 water. I did a peroxide bath (1.25ml per cup) then again moved them to a new bowl of fresh 1.018 water.

I then dripped them from there up to 1.026. I probably did it over and hour. I didn’t time it but did a pretty steady drip.

So they were never exposed to rising pH that causes toxic ammonia in shipping water since I just put them in new water immediately that was matched.

They rested for a few days in an observation tank at the 1.026 and eating great (ate the same day I bought them) so now they started hybrid TTM tonight. First move went great. I use tap water for my hybrid TTM (with prime) to save on water and no fish has ever gave a hoot.