It depends a lot on the hardness etc of the water you have in your tank compared to the water the fish were being kept in in the store. Usually we buy fish locally from stores that use the same tap water we do so it might be that the change in conditions between tanks is not significant but if the change is too great it will certainly be very stressful to the fish and possibly fatal.

I've used this method before (actually some random dude at the pet store told me about it while we were looking at fish). Although my bucket is huge, so I started off the drip in one of those chinese food takeout soup containers, put the fish with store water in there (makes it much easier to since you just invert and slowly remove bag), and put the container inside the bucket. I let it drip for a while, and when the small container has overflowed enough into the bucket, I carefully remove the chinese food container and continue the drip.

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Fish can be cute. Just watch a bunch of happy corys in the same tank together. They're like little zoidbergs, but without the awkwardness or ineptitude... well maybe a little awkwardness and ineptitude.

Great job of describing this method, I saw some articles on line that want you to "drip out" up to 20% of your tank water,I have a 95gallon tank, It would take me all day, I like your method best and cant wait to try it out.

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90 gallon, 1 Iridescent shark, 2 Pleco, 3 Goldfish, 5 Cory cats, 2 Nerite snails
5 gallon hex, Blue Crowntail Betta, 1 nerite snail,

Great description the exact method i use in fact! I do have a hint for the winter months though.

I tend to use a low tech low cost work around for the wintertime to keep the water warm while dripping. I take a large canning jar. and fill it directly from the pressure relief valve of the water heater ( usually just shy of 190F. bundle up the drip line in the hot water and back down to the bucket between the temp change of the water from the tank to the heating jug and back down again you can work out (it is a bit of a science) the temp to be just about tank water temp (unless you have a molten tank...) I can typically get the drip water just about tank temps so the scoop and drop isn't quite as dramatic for the little guys.

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When you pay that cash or swipe that card you are making a bond with that animal that you will treat it with love and respect, and its needs will be met, first and foremost (unless you have kids...) I don't care if you have to eat ramen noodles or nothing at all to feed your cat dog fish rat whatever. That's the bond you made! Life is precious!

I have a question. I've read about both methods, drip and float, at different sites on the Internet. Most of them say not to add the water the fish came in to your aquarium. Why is that? Seems to me that the amount of water I'm adding to a large tank like my 55 gal is not going to change the parameters by very much. Also if your worried about bringing in something contagious, the new fish are going to do that anyway.

DLH

I would agree that it probably wont change the paramaters much... but whats in it?

Bacteria, faeces, ammonia nitrates nitrites... parasites.. gunk and crap... Even the best LFS (and very much so a petshop) will have things floating around that you dont necessarily want to have in your tank. I have been dripping and scooping for a long while and had no trouble at all! although before when i just floated and poured i often lost a handful of fish from some unknown in the water.

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When you pay that cash or swipe that card you are making a bond with that animal that you will treat it with love and respect, and its needs will be met, first and foremost (unless you have kids...) I don't care if you have to eat ramen noodles or nothing at all to feed your cat dog fish rat whatever. That's the bond you made! Life is precious!

The slime coat on a fish gives it natural protection so it won't always be carrying parasites, fungal or bacterial infections that are in the water. Some parasites like ich have a free swimming stage when they are not attached to the fish so it is possible to infect a tank with the water from the bag even if there were no parasites on the fish. Also there could be pesky algae or unwanted snail eggs, hydra etc in the water. Most of the time it's no big deal but seeing as there is no need to add the water most people prefer not to just in case.

Awesome idea, but if I used aged water want the temps be way different. I usually take 10% of the water and then use tap water and try match it to the tank temp as best as I can, I am new to this so any help is needed thanks.