Jim Karanikas here from Tropical Fish World, again teaching about aquarium success. Now, the aquarium is ready for new fish. So, we have purchased them at a store. We saw that they are healthy and we have got some fish in the bag here to add to the aquarium. So, the first thing we are going to want to do is place the bag in the aquarium and let the fish just float there for about ten minutes. This will allow the temperature of the water in the bag to equilibrate to the water temperature in aquarium. So, we don't choke the fish. So, we will let them sit there for ten minutes and we will be right back.
Alright, we have waited ten minutes, the temperature in the bag is now same as in the tank. So, the fish are ready to get used to the actual water in the aquarium. So, we are going to take a scissors and we are going to cut the top of the bag off of here and we are going to add a little water from the aquarium into the bag. Now, reason why we do that is because not all the water from the fish store is going to be the same as the water is in your aquarium. The pH, the ammonia levels, the hardness levels, so, we want to make sure that they can get used to the water in your tank. So, we add a little bit in there and we can fold it over the top of the aquarium and we can place the hood on top of it or as I did my scissors here. Just to suspend them there, we want to wait another 15 minutes so that they get used to your water now and then we are going to put them into the tank.
Okay it's been 15 minutes. Now the fish are ready to go in the aquarium. You could see they are trying to get out of the bag and join the friends. So, let's take the bag out and we are going to put them through in that and not put any of the water from the fish store into our aquarium. That's one way that disease is going to get in your tank and if the fish store has used any other types of buffers or chemicals in the water that you don't want in your aquarium. Let's not go ahead and take that chance of putting it in the tank. So, we are going to take the bag. We are going to flip it upside down and very carefully just bring the water through the net here. So, we trap the fish in the net and then put them in the tank. Just going to carefully just let them loosen here, let them swim out and then they go.
Now, I would to talk a little bit about adding fish to your aquarium and what's the appropriate amount to add to the aquarium. If your tank is a brand new aquarium you want to add two to three fish for one gallon in a small tank and in a larger aquariums about one fish per five gallons and they are going to your only fish for about three to six weeks. This will allow bacteria to grow in the grab of the aquarium and in the filter and colonize in there. So, that they will eat the fish waste to break it down and make the aquarium safe for the fish. Once you get your water tested and you don't have any ammonia, nitrate left in there and three to six weeks has passed by, then you can add more fish to the tank.
Now, I don't recommend putting more than perhaps half of which you have already have in there at one time. You can add fish about once every two to three weeks to the aquarium. You want to give some time in between adding fish to make sure that they are happy and healthy and they have acclimatized in your tank, then they are eating well. Aquarium can hold about one inch of fish per gallon. That is appropriate unless you have a very small aquarium or very large aquarium. This tank here is about 50 gallons. We probably have about 65 to 70 fish in here but because they are smaller I can get more in here. If they were larger fish, obviously I couldn't put a bunch of them in here, maybe, just one large fish would fit in this size of the aquarium. But most aquarium stores will help you with that if you have any questions about how many fish to put in or how many total fish you can have in your aquarium. Right, next we are going to talk about which fish get along with each other. Fish compatibility one on one.
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