How to drip acclimate

When you buy new animals for your aquarium, it's important to acclimate them to your current aquarium water before putting them in the tank. This is to make sure that they get used to the water parameters and temperature very slowly, otherwise they might get a shock and even end up dying in the worst case.

There are many different methods of how to go about acclimating your animals. In this article we will talk about drip acclimation.

Drip acclimation is a great method to safely introduce aquatic animals to your current aquarium water. This method is suitable for all types of animals, like fish, snails and crustaceans. It also doesn't matter if yours aquarium setup is new or old.

In this article we will give you a step by step guide to safely perform the drip acclimation method, as well as a material list with all required items.

Needed Materials

Step by Step Guide

  1. When buying aquatic animals, they will most likely come in a bag. It is best to place the bag in a bucket (we recommend using a 2 gallon bucket). Open the bag, by cutting it open, untying the knot or removing the rubber bands. Make sure to open the upper side of the bag, not the bottom!
Cardinal Tetra bought at local fish store. Cardinal Tetra bought at local fish store. Placing the bag with fish in a 1-2 gallon bucket. Placing the bag with fish in a 1-2 gallon bucket. Bag with fish standing upright in bucket. Bag with fish standing upright in bucket. Opening the bag by removing the black rubber bands. Opening the bag by removing the black rubber bands. Turn the top of the bag inside out to give more stable opening. Turn the top of the bag inside out to give more stable opening.
  1. Now you need to prepare the air tubing with the suction cups. Depending on what kind of suction cups you have, you can either clip or insert the air tubing into the suction cups. You should add 2 suction cups to the tube in total.
Air tubing with two different suction cup variations. Air tubing with two different suction cup variations.
  1. Now place one suction cup with the air tubing inside your aquarium. It is important that the air tubing is a couple of inches beneath the water level. The other suction cup needs to be placed outside of the aquarium. By doing so, the air tubing is mounted securely during the process.
One suction cup placed inside the aquarium. One suction cup placed inside the aquarium. The other suction cup placed outside of aquarium. The other suction cup placed outside of aquarium.
  1. Now you need to tie three loose knots into the tubing. Why three? Because while this method also works with just one knot, three knots give you much more control of the water flow. By tightening each knot individually, you can fine tune how many water drops flow into the bag in a very exact way.
Three knots tied into the air tubing. Three knots tied into the air tubing.
  1. Now you need to carefully suck on the air tubing end which is not in the aquarium water. A quick suck should be enough to start the water flow from the aquarium into the tubing. At this point water will rapidly flow out of the tubing, so make sure to place the bucket underneath.
  2. In order to stop the waterflow, make sure to tighten the three knots. With each knot tightened, you can immediately see the impact on the water flow going from fast flow to slow dripping. In case it doesn't drip at all, try to loosen the knots a bit more. If the water flows rather then drip, tighten the 3rd knot or add some more knots to the tubing
Water flowing through the air tubing into the bucket Water flowing through the air tubing into the bucket After tightening the three knots the water is constantly slowly dripping. After tightening the three knots the water is constantly slowly dripping.
  1. Now you need to place the dripping tubing end into the bag with your aquatic animals and be patient. It is safer and less stressful for your aquatic animals if the dripping procedure is done slowly over several hours rather then in minutes. The whole process should take at least 1-2 hours. Make sure to check on the water level in the bag from time to time, in order to prevent the water from overflowing. If needed, you can scoop out excessive water with a cup in order to control the water level.
Placing the air tubing with the dripping end into the bag with fish. Placing the air tubing with the dripping end into the bag with fish.
  1. After acclimating your animals to the water parameters, it is finely time to acclimate them to the temperature. First turn off the aquarium light. This will help to keep the stress level low (imagine being in the spotlight in a new environment - not so nice). Now scoop out any excessive water from the bag, but make sure the aquatic animals still have enough space to move / swim around. Now you can seal the bag(make sure there is air in the bag) by tying a knot or place the bag with the open side upwards into the aquarium. Make sure it floats and non of the water in the bag goes into the aquarium. You don't want to contaminate your aquarium water with foreign water. It may contain medicine , bacteria or who knows what.
Open bag with fish tucked to the aquarium panel, ensuring it won't tip over. Open bag with fish tucked to the aquarium panel, ensuring it won't tip over.
  1. Leave the bag for 30-60 minutes in the dark aquarium. The water temperature in the bag will adapt to the water temperature of your tank.
  2. Now take the bag out of the aquarium and place it back into the bucket. Place the bucket close to the aquarium so the animals are not without water for too long when moving them from the bag to the aquarium (this is stressful for them). Take your fine mesh Fish net to gently scoop out the animals (for snails its best to use your hands). Carefully and calmly bring the fish net to your aquarium and place it in the water. Tilt the fish net until the open side is slightly turning to the bottom and wait until the animal leaves the fish net. In case the aquatic animal doesn't want to leave the Fish net you can slowly and gently move the the fish net from side to side, creating a bit of flow to support the aquatic animal to leave or if nothing helps, tilt the fish net until the open sides fully shows to the bottom and gently raise the fish net out of the water. (For snails it is best to be placed on the ground with the flat side. In case they are having challenges getting up, help them).
Place temperature acclimated bag back into the bucket. Place temperature acclimated bag back into the bucket. Use a suitable fish net to gently scoop out the fish from the bag. Use a suitable fish net to gently scoop out the fish from the bag. Make sure the open side from the fish net is slightly pointing downwards. Make sure the open side from the fish net is slightly pointing downwards.