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What is the proper way to transfer Corydoras from the shipping bag to the tank without getting shipping water into the tank? Hand catching?

When receiving fish, I always use the same method. I place a 10 inch net over top of a 5 gallon bucket and slowly pour the water through the net into the bucket. No chance of getting shipping water in the tank and a lot easier than trying to net out of the bag.

Larry Vires

I do something similar - pour water into a waste container the drop fish with minimal water into tank. Or pour fish into spare container and hand-transfer fish to tank if easy to catch.

Cheers, Eric

pleco_breeder wrote: ↑06 Jul 2017, 03:26 When receiving fish, I always use the same method. I place a 10 inch net over top of a 5 gallon bucket and slowly pour the water through the net into the bucket. No chance of getting shipping water in the tank and a lot easier than trying to net out of the bag.

Larry Vires

This is what I do, too.

Some people preffer to drip acclimate fish and then net them out just as others mentioned. By pouring the water into a bucket that has a net on top. Water from the shipping bags is usually dirty so best is just to temp acclimate by floating the bag and just drop them into the tank. I wonder how many people have been stung by the Corydoras´ dorsal fins when trying to hand catch them...

AntonioAG wrote: ↑07 Jul 2017, 06:28I wonder how many people have been stung by the Corydoras´ dorsal fins when trying to hand catch them...

I've been poked a few times, and usually by the pectorals, nor dorsal... but never (yet) deeply and I've never (yet) experienced after-effects. As stated above, (if the fish are docile), hand catching avoids the hazard of snagging a spine in the net and potentially injuring the fish. Also, in my experience, a hand moves around a bucket or tank less clumsily than a net.

Cheers, Eric

I use the pour through the net method. I do not treat corys any differently than other fish.

However, under no circumstances do I do any form of acclimation. For temperature there is basically no need. All the papers I have read regarding fish and temperature says the same thing. If fish are at either extreme end of their acceptable temp. range such that they are exhibiting symptoms of the water being either too hot or too cold, the proper action is to return them ASAP to proper temp. water without any need or thought for acclimating.

As for any other form of short term acclimation, I have come to understand they are basically either a waste of time or actually harmful to fish. Again all the papers I have read indicate real acclimation takes weeks for all the physiological changes to work themselves out. Acclimation periods prior to lab research usually indicate fish are held in acclimation tanks for 2- 4 weeks. If water parameter changes are so radical as to be harmful to a fish, a few hour acclimation will not help as far as I understand things.

Finally, extended transport time tends to build up ammonia levels in the water. At the same time CO2 is building up which acts to lower the pH of the water. This changes the balance between NH3 and NH4 (the lower the pH the less NH3). Upon opening the bag the co2 is allowed out, the pH can rise rapidly and the toxicity of the ammonia also rises rapidly. I always plop and drop to be safe.

Finally, the nastier the bag water might be, the more important it is to get fish out of it and into clean water.

As always, just this fish keepers take on this issue.

bekateen wrote: ↑07 Jul 2017, 14:20

AntonioAG wrote: ↑07 Jul 2017, 06:28I wonder how many people have been stung by the Corydoras´ dorsal fins when trying to hand catch them...

I've been poked a few times, and usually by the pectorals, nor dorsal... but never (yet) deeply and I've never (yet) experienced after-effects. As stated above, (if the fish are docile), hand catching avoids the hazard of snagging a spine in the net and potentially injuring the fish. Also, in my experience, a hand moves around a bucket or tank less clumsily than a net.

Cheers, Eric

On a very weird way I have always wanted to be poked by a corydoras. I want to know how it feels lol!

AntonioAG wrote: ↑08 Jul 2017, 02:50On a very weird way I have always wanted to be poked by a corydoras. I want to know how it feels lol!

LOL indeed. I can help you imagine that. Go find a sewing needle about the same thickness as a fin spine. Hold it in one hand, about 1/4 away from the point, then here's the complicated part: Stab it into a finger on the other hand. Then dip your fingertip in 90% rubbing alcohol for 2 minutes to make it sting. How is that complicated? If anybody sees you do that and asks why, just say, "It's complicated."

Cheers, Eric

Is there no fear of spines getting stuck in the net? I've sometimes heard that hand-catching is best, though how common this practice actually is I don't know.

Yes that is a fear, seriously. That's why I hand catch whenever possible. Only when the fish are so excitable or spastic that I think their efforts to evade my hand pose more risk than entanglement in the net do I use a net by choice.

There is always a risk of having issues because of netting with any fish, more so with catfish. However, the quality of the net will make a big difference. Those cheap white nylon things sold as nets, and usually included with beginner kits are of no use other than to catch fin rays or odontodes. The more coarse types are less likely to have any hang-ups, but are coarse and I've often wondered about the safety of using them because of it. There are a couple of brands of a more dense synthetic which seem to address both of these issues. In my case, the 10 inch net I mentioned is a pond net with a short handle. Fewer holes, but the holes are substantially larger. I've never had a shipped fish hang in it, but wouldn't begin to be able to imagine using it to catch any kind of fry as most of them would swim through without ever knowing it was there.

Larry Vires

Yes, there is always the risk. I once netted out an Otocinclus with those cheap nets plecobreeder mentions and it almost ended up in disaster. The oto got one of his dorsal rays stuck in the netting but thankfully he managed to untangle pretty quickly. No damage whatsoever. I would try to aim for nets with big enough holes so that rays cant get easily tangled on them.