Talk:Beginning Fishkeeping-Choosing your first Fish

re: opening the bag: you add the bag water to the tank? i never do that. mainly because the bag water is always full of poopy and yuck that got stirred up while the fish was being netted...--Cat 04:03, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

Hi Cat, that is of course your choice. But from my experience any minor amount of poo in the bag will be greatly out numbered by the poo and decaying food created 24 hours later by the fish. :-) --Quatermass 04:15, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

you shouldn't have decaying food if you're not over feeding hehehe. i see what you're saying. but i still don't like adding the yuck water! --Cat 06:38, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

Hey this is beginners we're talking about. ;-) --Quatermass 09:30, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

Regarding 'online purchases' section
Personally I hate coming across statements that say I should not do something and then don't tell me explain why. So why not redirect the user to another article where they can find out why this is the case if they want?

Brian, I also don't understand why you suggest that temperature acclimation be only perform on bags closed for > 6 hours. Shouldn't this be done on all bags regardless of the time interval? --Quatermass 04:15, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

all fish i've had from online purchases have not lasted longer than 3 months in my tanks. i blame the posting and the fact that these fish could easily have come from a tank on the otherside of the country with ENTIRELY different water conditions, thus not liking my rock hard london water. bleh. i don't buy livestock online anymore. --Cat 06:38, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

Probably they don't add an ammonia removing chemical or some salt like the professionals do. --Quatermass 09:30, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

I'm looking for the article actually, I think its somewhere on AquariumAdvice but its been some time since i was a regular there. I meant that if the bag has been closed for >6hrs doing water acclimation can turn the water toxic because of the fresh atmosphere. So always do temp. acclimation, but if the bag has been sealed for a while you should not leave the fish in the old water once the bag has been opened. --Brian 08:31, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

I see where you're coming from. --Quatermass 09:30, 23 October 2007 (CDT)